Stars: Parry Shen, Mercedes McNab, Kane Hodder, Tamara Feldman, Deon Richmond, Joel Moore, Robert Englund, Tony Todd

Director: Adam Green

Summary: HATCHET's killer is Victor Crowley, a grossly misshapen New Orleans bayou boogeyman who suffered an accidental hatchet to the face when his father tried to rescue him from a fire. When broken-hearted college boy Ben ditches his friends during a pre-Katrina Mardi Gras in favour of a cheesy Haunted Swamp tour, he finds himself on a boat full of misfits with an inexperienced tour guide just in from Detroit. Soon, the boat is sinking, and the passengers who also include an aspiring porn director and his two stars, a middle-aged couple, and a young woman with a vendetta against Crowley--come face-to-face with the monstrous killer.

The slasher film all but died with the release of SCREAM (1996). From that point on, the genre became populated with slick studio productions starring the latest round of teen television stars, while gore and terror all but disappeared. HATCHET director Adam green clearly longs for the early days of the VCR, when films like MADMAN (1982), THE BURNING (1981), and THE PROWLER (1981) gave us psycho killers with grudges, deformities, and axes to grind—usually very graphically against the heads of promiscuous teens.


HATCHET's killer is Victor Crowley, a grossly misshapen New Orleans bayou boogeyman who suffered an accidental hatchet to the face when his father tried to rescue him from a fire. When broken-hearted college boy Ben (Joel Moore) ditches his friends during a pre-Katrina Mardi Gras in favour of a cheesy Haunted Swamp tour, he finds himself on a boat full of misfits with an inexperienced tour guide (Perry Shen) just in from Detroit. Soon, the boat is sinking, and the passengers who also include an aspiring porn director and his two stars, a middle-aged couple, and a young woman with a vendetta against Crowley--come face-to-face with the monstrous killer.


Green clearly isn't against mixing humour in with his scares---HATCHET is rather liberal with laughs and has a generally light-hearted tone. But when the gore comes in, it's strong and noxious---though usually very dimly lit, this is messy stuff. He also shows his appreciation for horror film history by giving cameos to Robert Freddy Krueger England and Tony Candyman Todd and casting Kane Jason Voorhees Hodder as Crowley. HATCHET is a lively, funny, and reverent 1980’s-style gore film that is certain to get a roomful of gorehounds howling with approval.

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Adam Green's Hatchet is a goofy, gory gas that pays tribute to the slasher boom of the 1980s by placing more hapless teens in the path of an indestructible maniac. Said killer is Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder, Jason in many of the later Friday the 13th entries), a deformed Louisiana swamp dweller who returns from an apparent fiery death to lay waste to a mixed bag of tourists and Mardi Gras revelers who've wandered into his turf on a "haunted swamp" tour. Hatchet doesn't exactly surpass the movies it's spoofing; Green's characters are dopey ciphers, and Crowley's indiscriminate killing spree negates his sympathetic origins. But the dialogue is glib and the performances funny (especially Parry Shen as the tour's unlikely guide and Joel David Moore as the lovelorn hero), and '80s horror aficionados will appreciate John Carl Buechler's outrageously gross effects (which get more screen time in this unrated cut). There are also cameos by genre vets Robert Englund and Tony Todd, as well as Joshua Leonard from The Blair Witch Project. -- Paul Gaita

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Making of HATCHET, Featurettes, Gag reel
Year:	2007
Release Date:	January 28, 2008
Runtime:	81 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	8251452
Keywords:	English, General, Horror, Occult, Hatchet
Genre:	Horror/Occult