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.