Random Movie: Hatchet (2006)

Adam Green sure has been busy lately between the premiere of his newest film Frozen at Sundance this week as well as wrapping up filming of Hatchet 2, the sequel of today's random entry. When Hatchet first surfaced a few years ago, the biggest draw for me was the marketing for the film as a sort of callback to old-school 80s horror movies. No one (at least no one who is a friend of mine) can argue the greatness of all the cheesy, splatter-filled slasher movies of the 80s. In this manner, Hatchet somewhat succeeds as a "lost movie" from the bygone pinnacle of slasher flicks.

In the film, our heroes' venture out into a Louisiana swamp for a scary boat ride turns frighteningly real after running across Victor Crowley, a local legend who tragically died as a boy and now seeks to apparently create a bunch of amputees. The basic plot, and even backstory of Crowley, seems largely cribbed from the sub-genre classics with a deformed kid who is bullied constantly and dies at the hands of negligence. In some movies, the blatant homages would be enraging but not here. Green knows what this film owes to its predecessors and even offers cameos from genre vets of Tony Todd, Robert England, and even Kane Hodder, playing ol' Hatchet-face himself. The good thing is while the concept is similar to thousands of other movies, the execution is well-played to differentiate itself.

Unlike the source films, there was actually thought put into the casting of our leads with decent actors who can drive the story but coerce you to care whether they live or die. Joel David Moore, a hot commodity these days, was excellent as the heartbroken and socially awkward loser Ben. Deon Richmond is playing basically the same character from Scream 3 but that's cool as he was pretty funny in both. Even the final girl, Tamara Feldman is quite good as the tough chick and the damsel, depending on what was needed. We even had one of the lesser known Murray brothers!

Where Hatchet really gets it right is the gore. There's tons of it splattered around as limbs are ripped off, heads twisted, and body parts thrown throughout the woods. While this is a deviation from the 80s formula as the MPAA would have likely butchered it twenty years ago, it works well for the film as it definitely has a tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top attitude to match the blood and guts. My one complaint in this department though was that Crowley really wasn't that inventive as at least three-quarters of the deaths were either by some sort of head injury (mostly being twisted off) or body parts forcibly removed. Also, while he had a fairly decent backstory, Crowley as a serial killer didn't stand out as much as his brethren, looking like the love child of Pumpkinhead and Jason. Granted, the Hatchet series has but two titles (one of which still in production) and not dozens like the Friday the 13th series so it may be a bit early to judge on that front.

While I'm typically not a big fan of combining comedy and horror (really because most movies that try the two blow), Hatchet worked as the comedy was mostly pushed to the background when the shit started to hit the fan. As the movie progressed, some funny bits made a comeback to emphasize the upcoming scare which dragged the pace so I could have dealt with a little less of that. Regardless of the very minor flaws I have, it certainly is a fun movie to watch and experience. I will most assuredly catch the sequel later in the year when it comes out, and not just because the lovely Danielle Harris will be in it.