Hatchet (2006)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Adam Green

Writer:

Adam Green (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

Old school American Horror.

Plot:

When a group of tourists on a New Orleans haunted swamp tour find themselves stranded in the wilderness, their evening of fun and spooks turns into a horrific nightmare.

Plot Keywords:

Swamp | Louisiana | Victor Crowley | Torso Cut In Half | Female Nudity

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Joel Moore	...	Ben (as Joel David Moore)
Tamara Feldman	...	Marybeth
Deon Richmond	...	Marcus
Kane Hodder	...	Victor Crowley / Mr. Crowley
Mercedes McNab	...	Misty
Parry Shen	...	Shawn
Joel Murray	...	Shapiro
Joleigh Fioravanti	...	Jenna (as Joleigh Fioreavanti)
Richard Riehle	...	Mr. Permatteo
Patrika Darbo	...	Mrs. Permatteo
Robert Englund	...	Sampson
Joshua Leonard	...	Ainsley
Tony Todd	...	Reverend Zombie
John Carl Buechler	...	Jack Cracker (as John Buechler)
Rileah Vanderbilt	...	Young Victor Crowley

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, sexual content, nudity and language. (edited for re-rating; previously NC-17 for extreme violence and gore)

Runtime:

84 min (uncut version) | UK:85 min | Canada:84 min (Premium movie channel) | Germany:93 min (European Film Market)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (cut) | UK:18 | Germany:18 | Ireland:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 (self applied) | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

ArieScope Pictures

Trivia:

The T-shirt with the odd-looking smiley face on it is the logo for Newbury Comics, a New England chain that sells CDs, DVDs and comic books. Director Adam Green grew up in Massachusetts and would buy his horror movies and action figures from there.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When they are standing in front of the voodoo store, they refer to Bourbon Street as being behind them. When you are really at that store, Bourbon Street is in the direction they walk. You can see the bars on the corner.

Quotes:

Jenna: Seriously Doug, I can't work with that. I'm a professional actress. I went to NYU.
Misty: [laughs]
Jenna: What's so funny?
Misty: Like anybody's ever even heard of that.
Jenna: New York University?
Misty: Never heard of it.

Movie Connections:

References Mystic Pizza (1988)

Soundtrack:

This Is The New Shit

Sean of the Swamp

Writing a review for Hatchet is almost pointless. Devotees of the horror genre will see this no matter what is written. In fact, a certain rhetorically named fan-boy website that prides itself on cool news has already lauded the movie's villain as the next horror icon. While I wouldn't be too sure about that, Hatchet does make one thing clear at least, and that's that writer/director Adam Green has undeniable talent.

Structured largely as a parody of the Friday the 13th films, Hatchet casts legendary Jason Voorhees stand-in Kane Hodder as Victor Crowley, the deformed son of a backwoods Louisiana bayou fisherman (also played by Hodder), who was presumed killed years earlier in a house fire started by a bunch of tormenting local kids.

Green follows the stock formula for such movies: take a bunch of folks, find an excuse to strand them in monster country, and let the audience revel in watching them get picked off one-by-one.

Where Green excels, however, is in his smartly written, comically-paced script that is chalk full of genuinely funny inside jokes that are blatant winks at the audience and along the way establish more of a bond with Sean of the Dead than Halloween.

In terms of horror movies, there's nothing going on here that is particularly inventive or even scary, but Green clearly isn't out to achieve that. Rather, he's paying homage to a genre that he grew up with, as is clear by the cameos he's given to icons Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) and Tony Todd (Candyman and numerous others).

Bolstered by good acting, top notch production values, and intentionally rubbery costume effects, Hatchet panders to the fan-boy crowd in glorious revelry. Clearly Green knows his audience likes to sit back, kick the Fangoria magazines off the couch, and watch somebody take a belt sander in their kisser.

While I think labeling Victor Crowley as the next horror icon in the same vein as Jason, Michael Myers, and Freddy is complete preposterousness, saying Adam Green is someone to keep an eye on is a more realistic, and complimentary laurel.