The Hatchet franchise
 

Well to get it out of the way, I ****ing love all three of them. They all have their own strengths. Briefly summing them up...

Hatchet I was the funniest of the bunch and boasted likeable characters in the form of Joel David Moore and Deon Richmond. But the key strength that this film had was the gore. CGI? Get real! This is pure slasher horror at its best. Practical FX all the way! And it "feels" like its been taken out of time from the 80's. Basically that means its essentially plot-less and silly... But thats the charm of it. I love it. Victor Crowley is the bad ass slasher villain from modern times to equal Jason Voorhees.

Hatchet II is my personal favourite. I have lost count of how many times I have actually watched this. I've deliberately remembered the number for III (11), but if I had to estimate... At least 25. For the original I'd say just under 20. I am the Annie Wilkes fan of Hatchet haha! This one is not as funny but the story, darker tone, cast (Danielle Harris, Tom Holland, Tony Todd, R.A. Milhailof, John Carl Buechler, Kane Hodder, Parry Shenn, AJ Bowen, Ed Ackerman... Essentially loads who have appeared in so many horror movies) and kills are the main strengths here. Especially the kills... The final 20 minutes of Hatchet II are among the best moments in Slasher cinema ever! The double chainsaw kill, Tom Holland trying to save Danielle Harris from Tony Todd, Kane Hodder and R.A. Mihailof facing off, Kane ripping Tony out of his own skin after decapitating him in half... So epic!

Hatchet III I saw years later in 2013. I saw the first two at relatively the same time so the anticipation lasted for years and paid off. Its not as good as Hatchet II but its about on par with the original. Here we have more of an "Aliens" plot, with the authorities getting involved and obviously butchered. My favourite scene is where the SWAT team try to fight Crowley but fail, with Derek Mears getting his spine and skull ripped out. Hatchet II has the best kills, but displayed here are some great moments. The ending is flawless. I won't spoil it but it made me breathless and focused all the way. But I will mention Hatchet IV. Will it happen? Well this was Adam Greens (creator) personal story drawing to a close and he says another sequel is unlikely with his involvement. But he said you never know so I will live in hope...:nod:

Adam Green is a genius.

Enough with my thoughts though... What did you all think of this brilliant franchise?

Me too, all three are loads of fun, the inventive ways that people are bumped off get better with each film :nod:

Thanks for your interesting comment on the Hatchet-Franchise, Gothmogxx.

I loved the first one – saw it last month after having it on my wishlist for years – and now I am eagerly awaiting Part II which I just ordered yeasterday for little money.

Confusing though that some people who loved part I didn't like part II that much.

That would be me. :nod:

More isn't always better. Mainly i didn't care about the characters.

Well, number 1 is so good that the sequels were always going to face an uphill battle... but they are pretty good, they could have used a bit more bats@%t humor like the first tho, you know it's a good un' when you when you start comparing it favorably with Friday,Halloween and Nightmare while you're actually watching it, along with the likes of Insidious and Sinister, horror seems to be rocking well into the 21st century... roll on number 4:woot:

Rewatched the first one due to picking it up for a pittance, wasn't as much fun as I remembered. Poo. Tony Todd and 'is outrageous hac-cent etc.

Still loved the ending though.;)

Now, finally got to watch Hatchet II. A few points...

- Why does it look cheaper than part 1. Isn't it supposed to be to other way around? While Part I looked like done for the cinema, Part 2 has a digital look that I don't like at all. Especially some scenes in the swamp look strange.
- the gore also doesn't look that good. What happened here? Even worst, pacing etc. isn't that good as well, which makes the effects scenes even look worse (of course, they are still 'okay').
- the storytelling feels off too.
- There are more shocks, but the lack of humor makes it much less entertaining. I have the feeling Greenes missinterpreted why the first one was so sucessful (I already noticed that listening to the audio commentary of Part 1 one, when he was like "Oh yeah, now we are gettin' serious" and I was like "Uh...no, I actually just laughed my ass off").
- It's nice to have such a quality cast, but the movie really doesn't make use of that either.
- Least but not last, it's also a lot less sexy than Part 1, which had Mercedes McNab in it. The sex scene between the couple in the swamps is just lame and could have been executed much better (we actually saw that better almost two decades ago in Jason goes to Hell).

While I watched the first one three times in a row, I'll probably watch the bonus material of Hatchet II but then it will go to the 'archives'. Still an okay movie, btw, but okay just isn't enough compared to the great movie that part 1 was.

I absolutely LOVE Hatchet. I've only seen 2 and 3 once each, so may need to revisit them in order to really decide my thoughts on them, but I do seem to remember not liking 2 very much at all.
That said, I remember thinking 3 was a blast and really enjoying it.

Have not seen part 3 yet, I'm only familiar with parts 1&2. Love the first movie and not a huge fan of part 2, though both movies contain pretty decent gore sequences ;)

Word of advice: The UK edition is apparently a barebones release and it had no special features listed on the back when I saw it in HMV today so stick with the US unrated cut.

A guy on amazon mentioned that the Australian release has all the extras, maybe that's an alternative for fans without a Region Free player.

The German release has the extras as well, but it's just damn expensive (27 euros) :(

I will wait for a UK Blu-ray release then, I think.

Is that for Hatchet 3? If Oz has the fanciness I might pick it up while I'm here :lol:

Yes Applecore Hatchet 3. The other two have special features but this one does not for some reason...

I watched Hatchet a couple of years back and I can't remember a damn thing about it. Either I didn't think much of it or my memory is getting fuzzy. Both are quite possible explanations. I'll have to dig it out and watch again.

What is everyones favourite kills from the franchise?

Personally I always liked The double chainsaw kill with Vernon and John from Part II the best. Runners up would be Jack Crackers guts getting ripped out and used as a method of strangulation ( Part II), Reverend Zombie getting hacked in half then ripped out his skin (Part II), Mr's Permatteo getting her head ripped backwards (Part I), Marcus getting his arms ripped off in then swung headfirst on a headstone (Part I) and Victor Crowley himself getting split in two by the middle from the chainsaw (Part III).

Although I don't focus that much on the gore scenes and haven't seen part III, until now it would be this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2IcNXxl5zs

The whole sequence is hilarious though. The group get closer to Crowley's shag, real scary atmosphere, everybody's awaiting that Crowley appears out of nowhere or that someone just gets pulled into the woods – but then, BOOM, we just see Crowley in all his glory, he screams, hacks the guy in two halves and rips his wife's head apart.

I laughed my ass off during that scene.

Is the UK DVD release of Hatchet 3 uncut?

It should be. It lacks special features but there is absolutely no justification for cutting any of the scenes. If the first two got by, this one is definitely okay.

I don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere on the forum, but it seems that Adam Green has secretly made a 4th 'Hatchet' film, going under the title 'Victor Crowley'

Hatchet director premieres secret reboot, Victor Crowley

Kane Hodder Returns in New ‘Hatchet’ Film

I enjoyed the first for what it was; I thought it was actually pretty good. But the first two sequels sucked balls, so I’m not excited for this at all.

Hopefully it will get a UK release soon then[emoji16]

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This ^^^

I only own the first one, but I didn't mind the sequels, I'm sure I'll check this one out eventually

Oh wow, I'm going to see the 'Hatchet 10th Anniversary Celebration' that it mentions in that article on Saturday...

I liked the first and third films. I didn't enjoy the second. I wasn't really looking forward to what was advertised as a recut of the original film, but now I'm a little more excited. I hope it does turn out to be the fourth film. More often than not I enjoy Green's stuff.

From what you say i take it the third film is a lot better than the second. I really didn't enjoy that one much at all.

I'm probably going to be one of the few that thoroughly enjoyed the second one

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Just realised, I actually own the first 2 films on DVD, just never bothered buying the third

No, I quite like em all if I'm honest, the first is a stonking good throwback to the slasher era while the others kinda have a "Law of diminishing returns" feel, but you could do a lot worse.

Loathed them all to start with but they have grown on me by watching them on TV.

Teaser for Victor Crowley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0U3a1R50TA

Nah. Looks very cheap as well.

So Hatchet IV/Victor Crowley arrived today.

I'm a huge fan of this franchise. To me this is essentially the modern version of Friday the 13th. Victor Crowley is VERY under-rated. He's just come at the wrong time (I guarantee you everything if these movies came out in the 80's then Hatchet would be as big as Friday the 13th/Elm Street etc). Victor is my favourite modern day slasher villain.

But the film itself? Having watched it twice today (and at least two more times in the next week to listen to the commentaries) I think I can safely say its really good. It's not perfect: I definitely have some gripes with it, but they're not massive.

I think that its best I keep spoilers to a minimum. I knew nothing about this going in (I sadly ruined some aspects of the third one because I knew about the surprise cameos from certain actors among other things) so I'll just give out the basic plot. Fans won't be disappointed as this is a film for the fans of the franchise: Its been a full ten years since the original slaughter in Honey Island Swamp. Andrew (survivor from the third one) has been cashing in on his survival by turning the whole thing into a book (although everybody thinks he killed them all). He refuses to go back into the swamp though until he hears an offer of £1,000,000 to go back in for an interview. So he in tow with a documentary film crew, and a separate trio of aspiring film-makers, end up stranded in the exact spot where the chaos ensued last time. Of course he isn't actually dead for good, this is basically a modern day 80's slasher after all. One voodoo curse read aloud is all it takes to bring him back.

Green clearly isn't here to just "cash in" by bringing him back (if you read his blog he actually grew to hate Victor Crowley on account of personal troubles at the time which caused him great depression: George Romero was actually the one who inspired him to get back into it. Both he and Wes Craven get a dedication credit at the end). He loves this franchise. He is a guy who grew up with this stuff in the 80's and you can feel the love and dedication he feels towards horror films in this and the other entries. If you liked the first three you'll like this.

My only problems are that when they're on the plane for too long it can get a bit slow, some characters are under-used and don't have good payoffs and the kills aren't as good as the first two- I'd say that its about on par with the third one in the killing department (although there are a few that stand out here above the rest in the film, one of which is just amazing and a total WTF kind of moment that I'd say is one of the franchises best). These are mild things though, albeit ones that keep from (just) being as good as the first two. If I had to rank them i'd say-

1. Hatchet II
2. Hatchet
3. Victor Crowley/Hatchet IV
4. Hatchet III

Overall, satisfied. Can't wait for Hatchet V! (oh and don't turn it off when the credits start, something truly amazing happens that had me cheering even if I kind of suspected that was exactly what was gonna happen when the scene started).

Victor Crowley/Hatchet IV- 8/10. Check it out.

Excellent post Gothmogxx :clap:

I really like the first Hatchet film and agree with you about Adam Green. Sadly i really didn't like Hatchet II and haven't seen the third or fourth film. However people round here such as yourself Gothmogxx, seem to really like this latest installment so i think i'll give it a go when it comes out on dvd.

It does kind of worry me that you think Hatchet II is the best film though.

In hindsight I probably shouldn't have named the thread "The Hatchet Franchise (2007-2013)", although back then I was convinced that Green was genuinely done with Hatchet as a whole, or at least for a very long time. He just came across that way in interviews and that's basically what happened behind the scenes. Had it not been for George Romero we may not have had the movie.

Sorted. :thumb:

The first one is the funniest and it was a true return to form in terms of making slashers without excessive CGI (I don't mind CGI if done right, Hostel 1 and 2 are good examples of that, but when it gets out of control its not good).

I've always had a soft spot for II. I've loved it ever since I first saw it: this was 2011, I was 14. Already loving the first one I was determined to get the next one asap. Its kind of funny cause I got it at my local Lidl and the woman at the cash-point was refusing to sell it to me and I had to get my dad to argue with her to get it lol (I was usually quite good at getting horror films without issue but I slipped up on that occasion. Looking back I'm 99% certain that the people at my local HMV knew it was really me buying them though but they let it pass haha) I remember watching that along with Scream 4 and trying to sneak into the cinema to see Final Destination 5, good times haha. I miss being a young horror fan.

Anyway I unintentionally watched it FOUR times in 24 hours. Not by choice :lol::lol::lol: Despite what I claim on my original post on this thread back in 2014 i'm not quite as obsessive as Annie Wilkes :lol::lol::lol: I watched it the first time, then later put it on again to watch the first commentary. Then mum came in half-way into it and said that they wanted to watch it, which amazed me as the only slasher film my dad likes is... Jason X out of all slasher films (in all fairness I like that one a lot too). So not really wanting to do anything else besides watching the film commentary I kind of just went through to the living room and watched it again. Then when I got the film back I finished the commentary. THREE times in one day, I don't think I've ever done that with any other film, even if it wasn't intentional. I certainly haven't done it four times with any film in 24 hours (I watched the second commentary when I woke up next morning).

I love the death scenes in it (choked to death my intestines, jaws ripped off, hit in the face 30 times with the hatchet, head decapitated while having sex, two guys getting lifted into the air by a 7 foot chainsaw, half a head getting kicked across a table, getting cut in half and ripped out of his own skin... I wish Hatchet III and IV had a couple more like this) I love listening to Reverend Zombie explain the history of Victor Crowley. Yeah I criticised Hatchet IV for being slow but here the subject matter is interesting and they mix in kills with the flashbacks: Tony Todd and Danielle Harris's acting is outstanding here too. The whole cast is good and there are quite a lot of well known horror actors here (Danielle Harris, Tom Holland, Tony Todd, R.A. Milhailof, John Carl Buechler, Kane Hodder, Parry Shen, AJ Bowen, Ed Ackerman...) The final 20 minutes of Hatchet II are among the best moments in Slasher cinema ever! It really does feel like "the Expendables" of horror here with so many brilliant horror actors/directors all in this one house giving it their all. Tom Holland trying to save Danielle Harris from Tony Todd as Kane Hodder and R.A. Mihailof (closest we'll probably get to Jason vs Leatherface as they both played those characters at least once each) facing off and beating the hell out of each other, Kane ripping Tony out of his own skin after decapitating him in half (and the double chainsaw kill happens just before all this)... Oh its outstanding.

It does have humour in it (albeit not quite as good as the first), the character Vernon was outrageously hilarious (and he sang that funny cookie song, which I tried to get him to sing on Adam's podcast he does with Joe Lynch called The Movie Crypt. My question got asked, but I think they played a re-mixed version instead or something like that).

In fact the only issue I have with Hatchet II is the way its shot. The first one is shot very nicely but Hatchet II kind of looks a bit more cheap. Kind of digital looking as I see it. Its not something which really bothered me in a big way but I've always noticed it and wondered why they didn't just shoot it like they did the first and even the third and fourth ones so it looked even more impressive.

All in all though I love it a lot. In my recent 31 days of horror if I recall it was my 3rd highest rated film out of all 31, just behind The Thing at number 1 and The Fog at number 2 (The Fog is hideously under-rated, but that's for another thread).

Cheers Dem!

You are certainly passionate about the Hatchet films, and that is lovely to read about. :clap:

Still need to see these