Hatchet III

Hatchet III

Kane and Danielle return for the final voyage in the Hatchet trilogy. But this time they have brought with them Zack "Gremlins" Galligan!!!!

Although I still can't speak for the first one, I would say if you are going to see a Hatchet movie, watch this one. While the second one wasn't bad, I did find this installment to be more enjoyable.

With what appears to be a slightly larger budget the film makers allowed themselves to have a bit more fun with this one. I think they realized that they weren't making a classic, they weren't making high art and they decided that they were just going to go over the top to entertain.

There was no subtlety in this movie. The deaths were violent and and gory. If you like your movies with blood flowing like a chocolate fountain then you won't be disappointed. Heads, limbs, intestines, spines and genitals, nothing is safe in this movie, you'll see it all here!!!

I might seek out a DVD copy of the first movie just to complete the trilogy, but it was a satisfying ending, and I am fairly confident that they are done with the series. The ending wasn't ambiguous as in Nightmare or Friday the 13th films.

Now to the best part. SID HAIG!!! He came as a surprise to me, I don't recall his name in the opening credits, although I might have just missed it. But, as always he played the crazy, racist, redneck old man. You always know what you are getting with Sid and it's rarely a disappointment. If you know of a better crazy horror redneck I'm open to hearing your suggestions, but in my opinion he's the best.

The other thing that I found interesting was the idea that these types of monsters are described as "repeaters." It was a concept they brought up in Hatchet II, and it's not anything that I recall has been explained in any other of the horror series. If it has please let me know. The idea of a repeater is a monster that returns everyday reliving the same memories over and over again, and that is why they can not be killed. It explains why monsters like Hatchet, Michael Meyers, Jason, etc. don't ever die. There was a traumatic experience that caused their demise and until that wrong has been fixed they will continue to come back over any over, no matter how many times they are "killed." To me it was just kind of an interesting concept that was actually brought up in the film.

That about sums it up for the Hatchet movies. If I do end up seeing the first one I'll come back and write a review about it. But, overall I found both II and III to be entertaining with III being the superior of the two. But, if you are a fan of horror films, especially those of the 70's and 80's I would recommend seeing either.

That about wraps it up for this post. I don't know what's next to come, but I've got plenty in my queue.

Hatchet II

Hatchet II

Full disclosure at the beginning, I did not see Hatchet it's not available on Netflix. But, I suspect that there wasn't any subtle nuance in the first film that would add a lot to the second. With that in mind, here we go!!!

Take Tony "Candyman" Todd, Kane "Jason Voorhees" Hodder and add Danielle Harris, the actress who voiced Debbie,  the older sister on "The Wild Thornberry's" and you get Hatchet II.

Overall it was an entertaining film. It really didn't bring anything all that new or exciting to the horror genre. It was a low budget old school horror movie reminiscent of 70's and early 80's horror films.

Kane Hodder does what he does best, playing a Jason-esque character here. The best description really is the relentless killing personality of Jason in the body of Sloth from "The Goonies" and you have his character "Victor Crowley."

Tony Todd's "Reverend Zombie" was the highlight of the film. As a pseudo Voodoo con-man out to make a quick buck by exploiting tourists. He thinks he has a plan on how to stop the killing machine that is Victor Crowley. But, I'm sure you know how well plans go in horror movies.

My major gripe about the film would be the acting of the lead character Marybeth, played by actress Danielle Harris. I know, I'm complaining about acting in a low-budget B-Horror Movie. But, even with that in mind it really was awful. No one goes into a film like this expecting great acting. But, it can still be entertaining when an actor goes over the top and realizes what kind of film they are in. Harris on the other hand tries to play it straight, and it just comes across as laughable. If you watch the film, you will see the awful attempts at forced tears and forced emotion and it's just not there.

So, to summarize this film wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. There were some scenes that were fairly gruesome, but for the most part it didn't go too over the top with the violence. They knew when to cut away without it being exploitative. If you're a fan of 70's and 80's low budget horror films you may enjoy this one.

I've heard better things about Hatchet III, which is available on Netflix, so I'll have a review of that one coming up shortly.