Picking up right where the first left off, Marybeth is battling Crowley when she manages to escape and head back to Reverend Zombie’s place where she learns of her family’s involvement in Crowley’s misfortune. Marybeth is determined to go back to the swamp to retrieve the remains of her family and exact revenge on ol’ Hatchetface. By the force of blackmail, Zombie agrees to accompany her with a gaggle of heavily armed rednecks. The story is cringe-inducingly forced but all we want to see is more blood, guts, dismemberments, and other acts of violence. In that manner at least, Hatchet II does not disappoint.
The biggest problem I had with the film was that it felt more like a straight-to-video release by a bunch of guys who liked the original but lacked any of the talent that Green had exhibited in the first (or even Frozen). It is even more sad that this movie came about from the same director, a larger budget, and even Danielle Harris! The somewhat fleshed-out characters that you might possibly care about or the great sense of humor and almost self-depreciating sense of the first are totally absent. Sure the over-the-top violence and large blood spatters are still present but it is impossible to give a shit when the characters are the annoying cinematic equivalent of cardboard cutouts. Well, given that I have seen the latter Friday the 13th movies, it is not impossible but damn difficult. There is even a fair amount of backstory in the film which is nice in theory but only served to drag down the story. I mean, Crowley is already messed up, do we really need to know it was because of a curse from his father’s dying wife?
Harris, whom normally I love, was quite annoying as the faux-Marybeth. The first Marybeth was tough and determined and while Harris is able to tap into that during a handful of scenes, the rest of the time she is just whining, quivering, or cowering. Tony Todd (whom normally I am ambivalent toward) as the esteemed Rev. Zombie was actually quite good. I worried that his shtick from the first would wear quickly but the real man behind the flamboyant makeup is cold and calculating. The rest of the cast consists of some notable names like Tom Holland and AJ Bowen who were okay in their roles but were wasted before they could really stand out. I realize that is a stupid argument in a slasher movie but compared to the random, yet still endearing, fodder from the first, these characters were as thin as tissue paper. Of course, Kane Hodder returns as Victor Crowley who is a frightening sight as he chokes a man with his own intestines or takes a belt sander to a skull.
On the technical front, this installment felt much cheaper than the original. Even with purportedly the same crew as the first, everything felt and looked off. Some of the background sound dropped out, the photography looked like it was filmed on the Movie Scum video camera, and overall the film just seemed more rough around the edges than it should have been. Green’s direction though still stuck out as he is fully capable of creating a horrendous and tense scene when everything comes together. Even some of the brief moments of levity were positioned just as they were in the first. The carnage though was much better this time around with more variety in the massacre. As it was released unrated in theaters last October, this film does not hold back when it comes to the blood and guts in a manner that is difficult to take seriously yet hard not to admire if you grew up on such things.
It is not a bad movie to say the least. Sure, there are some questionable choices pertaining to the casting and production but Hatchet was not concocted for a rich look into cinema. The most disheartening thing though was that this movie falls greatly in the shadow of its predecessor. I guess in a way, that is almost to be expected.
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