The Hatchet franchise

[Cinematic Shocks]

Originally Posted by bleakshaun

Teaser for Victor Crowley

Nah. Looks very cheap as well.

[Gothmogxx]

So Hatchet IV/Victor Crowley arrived today.

I'm a huge fan of this franchise. To me this is essentially the modern version of Friday the 13th. Victor Crowley is VERY under-rated. He's just come at the wrong time (I guarantee you everything if these movies came out in the 80's then Hatchet would be as big as Friday the 13th/Elm Street etc). Victor is my favourite modern day slasher villain.

But the film itself? Having watched it twice today (and at least two more times in the next week to listen to the commentaries) I think I can safely say its really good. It's not perfect: I definitely have some gripes with it, but they're not massive.

I think that its best I keep spoilers to a minimum. I knew nothing about this going in (I sadly ruined some aspects of the third one because I knew about the surprise cameos from certain actors among other things) so I'll just give out the basic plot. Fans won't be disappointed as this is a film for the fans of the franchise: Its been a full ten years since the original slaughter in Honey Island Swamp. Andrew (survivor from the third one) has been cashing in on his survival by turning the whole thing into a book (although everybody thinks he killed them all). He refuses to go back into the swamp though until he hears an offer of £1,000,000 to go back in for an interview. So he in tow with a documentary film crew, and a separate trio of aspiring film-makers, end up stranded in the exact spot where the chaos ensued last time. Of course he isn't actually dead for good, this is basically a modern day 80's slasher after all. One voodoo curse read aloud is all it takes to bring him back.

Green clearly isn't here to just "cash in" by bringing him back (if you read his blog he actually grew to hate Victor Crowley on account of personal troubles at the time which caused him great depression: George Romero was actually the one who inspired him to get back into it. Both he and Wes Craven get a dedication credit at the end). He loves this franchise. He is a guy who grew up with this stuff in the 80's and you can feel the love and dedication he feels towards horror films in this and the other entries. If you liked the first three you'll like this.

My only problems are that when they're on the plane for too long it can get a bit slow, some characters are under-used and don't have good payoffs and the kills aren't as good as the first two- I'd say that its about on par with the third one in the killing department (although there are a few that stand out here above the rest in the film, one of which is just amazing and a total WTF kind of moment that I'd say is one of the franchises best). These are mild things though, albeit ones that keep from (just) being as good as the first two. If I had to rank them i'd say-

1. Hatchet II
2. Hatchet
3. Victor Crowley/Hatchet IV
4. Hatchet III

Overall, satisfied. Can't wait for Hatchet V! (oh and don't turn it off when the credits start, something truly amazing happens that had me cheering even if I kind of suspected that was exactly what was gonna happen when the scene started).

Victor Crowley/Hatchet IV- 8/10. Check it out.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Excellent post Gothmogxx

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I really like the first Hatchet film and agree with you about Adam Green. Sadly i really didn't like Hatchet II and haven't seen the third or fourth film. However people round here such as yourself Gothmogxx, seem to really like this latest installment so i think i'll give it a go when it comes out on dvd.

It does kind of worry me that you think Hatchet II is the best film though.

[Gothmogxx]

In hindsight I probably shouldn't have named the thread "The Hatchet Franchise (2007-2013)", although back then I was convinced that Green was genuinely done with Hatchet as a whole, or at least for a very long time. He just came across that way in interviews and that's basically what happened behind the scenes. Had it not been for George Romero we may not have had the movie.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Gothmogxx

In hindsight I probably shouldn't have named the thread "The Hatchet Franchise (2007-2013)", .

Sorted.

[Gothmogxx]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I really like the first Hatchet film and agree with you about Adam Green. Sadly i really didn't like Hatchet II and haven't seen the third or fourth film. However people round here such as yourself Gothmogxx, seem to really like this latest installment so i think i'll give it a go when it comes out on dvd.

It does kind of worry me that you think Hatchet II is the best film though.

The first one is the funniest and it was a true return to form in terms of making slashers without excessive CGI (I don't mind CGI if done right, Hostel 1 and 2 are good examples of that, but when it gets out of control its not good).

I've always had a soft spot for II. I've loved it ever since I first saw it: this was 2011, I was 14. Already loving the first one I was determined to get the next one asap. Its kind of funny cause I got it at my local Lidl and the woman at the cash-point was refusing to sell it to me and I had to get my dad to argue with her to get it lol (I was usually quite good at getting horror films without issue but I slipped up on that occasion. Looking back I'm 99% certain that the people at my local HMV knew it was really me buying them though but they let it pass haha) I remember watching that along with Scream 4 and trying to sneak into the cinema to see Final Destination 5, good times haha. I miss being a young horror fan.

Anyway I unintentionally watched it FOUR times in 24 hours. Not by choice Despite what I claim on my original post on this thread back in 2014 i'm not quite as obsessive as Annie Wilkes I watched it the first time, then later put it on again to watch the first commentary. Then mum came in half-way into it and said that they wanted to watch it, which amazed me as the only slasher film my dad likes is... Jason X out of all slasher films (in all fairness I like that one a lot too). So not really wanting to do anything else besides watching the film commentary I kind of just went through to the living room and watched it again. Then when I got the film back I finished the commentary. THREE times in one day, I don't think I've ever done that with any other film, even if it wasn't intentional. I certainly haven't done it four times with any film in 24 hours (I watched the second commentary when I woke up next morning).

I love the death scenes in it (choked to death my intestines, jaws ripped off, hit in the face 30 times with the hatchet, head decapitated while having sex, two guys getting lifted into the air by a 7 foot chainsaw, half a head getting kicked across a table, getting cut in half and ripped out of his own skin... I wish Hatchet III and IV had a couple more like this) I love listening to Reverend Zombie explain the history of Victor Crowley. Yeah I criticised Hatchet IV for being slow but here the subject matter is interesting and they mix in kills with the flashbacks: Tony Todd and Danielle Harris's acting is outstanding here too. The whole cast is good and there are quite a lot of well known horror actors here (Danielle Harris, Tom Holland, Tony Todd, R.A. Milhailof, John Carl Buechler, Kane Hodder, Parry Shen, AJ Bowen, Ed Ackerman...) The final 20 minutes of Hatchet II are among the best moments in Slasher cinema ever! It really does feel like "the Expendables" of horror here with so many brilliant horror actors/directors all in this one house giving it their all. Tom Holland trying to save Danielle Harris from Tony Todd as Kane Hodder and R.A. Mihailof (closest we'll probably get to Jason vs Leatherface as they both played those characters at least once each) facing off and beating the hell out of each other, Kane ripping Tony out of his own skin after decapitating him in half (and the double chainsaw kill happens just before all this)... Oh its outstanding.

It does have humour in it (albeit not quite as good as the first), the character Vernon was outrageously hilarious (and he sang that funny cookie song, which I tried to get him to sing on Adam's podcast he does with Joe Lynch called The Movie Crypt. My question got asked, but I think they played a re-mixed version instead or something like that).

In fact the only issue I have with Hatchet II is the way its shot. The first one is shot very nicely but Hatchet II kind of looks a bit more cheap. Kind of digital looking as I see it. Its not something which really bothered me in a big way but I've always noticed it and wondered why they didn't just shoot it like they did the first and even the third and fourth ones so it looked even more impressive.

All in all though I love it a lot. In my recent 31 days of horror if I recall it was my 3rd highest rated film out of all 31, just behind The Thing at number 1 and The Fog at number 2 (The Fog is hideously under-rated, but that's for another thread).

[Gothmogxx]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Sorted.

Cheers Dem!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

You are certainly passionate about the Hatchet films, and that is lovely to read about.

[Bringer Of Funerals]

Still need to see these