hatchet

For over three decades slasher films have lived and died on the “killshot.” You know what I’m talking about: a guy in a hockey mask skewers three people on one pitchfork while doing a triple-axle on a motorcycle jumping over 15 flaming school buses. The more creatively someone could be sliced and/or diced, the more successful the movie. Hatchet proclaims itself to be a return to old school American horror, but ironically the kill scenes are a bit of a bore. It’s the victims themselves who make this derivative boogeyman flick more interesting than usual.

Writer / director Adam Green sets his story deep in the swamps of Louisiana where a mismatched group of tourists wander off Bourbon street to try a party-boat “ghost tour” that drifts into the territory of Victor Crowley, a deformed man-child whose favorite weapon of choice is, you guessed it, a hatchet. The passengers and crew meet their expectedly gruesome demises with some strong effects work and a few effective jump scares. But Hatchet has more fun with the Gilligan’s Island three hour tour-gone-bad scenario than you might think.

Led by Joel David Moore (that tall gooney guy from Avatar), with cameos from several recent big screen bad guys, Green’s film feels more like a National Lampoon comedy than a straight up splatter movie. And while it’s not as hokey as the (thankfully) retired Scary Movie franchise, Hatchet’s cast certainly beats anything the Wayans Brothers could come up with on their best day. Catch up with Victor Crowley’s bloody backstory before Hatchet 2 arrives this fall. The Anchor Bay blu-ray looks just fantastic with two commentary tracks (one of them brand-new to this edition), a Making Of, and several other featurettes.