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 | Lesbianism | Death By Shovel

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

Color:

Color

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 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

ArieScope Pictures

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Adam Green]One of the people in the group of friends at the start of the film.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the older man get his leg bitten by an alligator as the tour boat is sinking, one of the girls makes the comment that with his blood in the water, the area will become an alligator feeding frenzy. However, alligators don't hunt by blood scent, as sharks do, so the man's blood in the water would make no difference.

Quotes:

Shapiro: They probably got stuck just like we did and had to walk the whole way home. Right now they're probably sitting in a Denny's or something.
Marcus: Moons Over My Hammy, yo.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Tivo (2009)

Soundtrack:

Jambalaya

An Unscheduled U-Turn

I went to see this film in part due to praise heaped on it by previous reviewers who had described it as clever and a fresh addition to the genre.

And it was .. for at least the first ~45 minutes or so.

I was immediately drawn in, the dialogue was notably above par for the genre, full of witty quips and more subtle bits of humor that reference horror classics. In the opening scenes we see notable cameos from Robert Englund ("Nightmare On Elm Street" series) and Tony Todd (of "Candyman" series fame). A respectable flashback sequence is included to introduce the "Hatchet" back story.

And so the movie takes off running, seemingly quite well. Fresh and unique, forging a new path through the wastleland of redundant slasher flicks as "Sean of the Dead" and "Scream" had done in previous years.

Unfortunately about half way through, this movie does a complete about-face. The witty banter is replaced with idiotic dribble more reminiscent of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" than the first half of the film. It's almost as if they fired an adept writer halfway through the script and replaced him with the proverbial thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters.

At this point the dam breaks, and the tired clichés pour through in droves. We are treated to a prolonged scene of foliage inspection and other such nonsense to fill the reel between death scenes. The characters repeatedly wait to flee screaming in panic until *after* they have disabled or incapacitated the title baddie. The only dread anticipation built in the second half is whether this film will be the schoolbus that was hit by the train, or the one that managed to avoid it.

Once the gore fest begins, it is eerily reminiscent of early "Troma" titles, over the top and fatuous. The "Hatchet" character even seems like it might have been modeled from the "Toxic Avenger". I can appreciate the merits of a lawn sprinkler arterial spray or projectile vomiting, on occasion, but modern film gore effects really have no excuse to still be of that "BrainDead" visual quality.

Despite the dual personalities of this film, I think it still manages to hack out a few good parts.

- 5/10 -