The first Hatchet film was an absolute blast. I originally watched it as it featured Robert Englund (Freddy), Kane Hodder (Jason) and Tony Todd all in the same film but found a film that was fresh, funny, gore -packed and (this is a first for horror films it seems) had a cast you liked and didn't really want to see killed off.
Hatchet 2 continues the story of Victor Crowley (Hodder) who was accidentally killed by his father (Hodder sans makeup) whilst 3 kids burnt his house down. Now Crowley stalks the swampland picking off whoever dares to cross his path with his handy array of tools (namely the titular Hatchet).
So almost five years later here is Hatchet 2 and it starts exactly where the last left of. To the second, so you really have to watch the original to get a good understanding although there is a good portion near the start given over to the MacGuffin.
The cast again resembles a horror movie convention - Tony Todd gets a much expanded role, Kane Hodder appears in two different roles again but this time we are joined by Tom Holland (Director of Child's Play and Fright Night), R.A. Mihailoff (Leatherface in the third Texas Chainsaw Massacre film), and makeup legend John Carl Buechler.
The first half of the film is the problem sadly. Once we get out of the swamp and back to New Orleans we, as mentioned, get told the whole back story again, then meet the new lambs to the slaughter. Again due to the film taking a while to get going the new characters don't have enough time to develop as last time, and the hilarious script has to take a back seat (there are still some great lines though) in order to get the plot and our cast back to the swamp land.
But when we get there the film is an absolute joy. The kills flow fast and still manage to be original, and like the original there is no cutaways, no MTV style editing just old school American horror.
I'm not going to spoil any of the ways the cast are despatched here but suffice it to say that Victor Crowley got a B&Q gift voucher for Christmas.
It would be interesting to see if a third Hatchet film happens as it was made painfully clear during the film that you can never really kill Crowley (that doesn't stop them trying though) but personally I'd like to see what else writer/director Adam Green can do in the horror genre.
***1/5
A tiny step down from the original, lacking its likeable cast and humour somewhat but when the kills start they don't stop. A worthy sequel.
1 comment:
I've seen the director's other horror film, Frozen, and was quite impressed despite it's lo-fi nature. Hatchet seems to be in a league all of its own, but I'm still interested in checking it out now!
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