Hatchet II

• Written and Directed by Adam Green
• August 26, 2010 (Frightfest) / October 1, 2010 (US)

After she learns the truth about her family’s connection to a hatchet-wielding madman, a young woman returns to a Louisiana swamp along with an army of hunters to recover the bodies of her family and exact revenge.

Hatchet II picks up immediately after the events of the previous film. Like the day after. Scream queen Danielle Harris replaces Tamara Feldman as Marybeth Dunston who is the daughter of Robert Englund’s character from Hatchet. The great Tony Todd as Rev. Zombie gets significantly more time with his character’s goal being to not just get his boat back but to finally take care of Victor Crowley with a bunch of rednecks so Honey Island Swamp can finally be opened to his touring business. 

There’s a little bit more polish to this one in the production values, but the acting can be questionable. Much of the cast are genre notables with little to no acting creds given screentime here. Their roughness is forgivable though not acceptable but Harris and Todd sound like they are winging it.

In some aspects Adam Green learned his lessons. The gore is even an improvement. Things seem a little gooier and more in line with the better-done slasher movies. The crushing of a particular head is an especially gruesome treat for gore fans.

The mythology surrounding Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) and what he does is expanded upon but not retconned in such a way that it doesn’t mesh with Hatchet. This doesn’t do the Resident Evil bit where the last film gets undone by the next film in some way. Victor is now the product of voodoo magic and his father is made much more sympathetic though conversely a philanderer. It was nice to see the man behind the makeup, Kane Hodder, get seen on screen as the dad.

Rather than being present for horror cred Tony Todd-as-Rev. Zombie is actually an important part of the movie. He helps explain the mythology in a way that straddles the supernatural and the real world. On the one hand, he puts forward that Victor is indeed some kind of spirit. On the other, he seems to think Victor is a little more grounded though eventually he is definitely in the camp of Victor being supernatural.

This moves from cheesy and darkly humorous to almost-and I mean ALMOST-scary. A chainsaw wielding maniac is scary. An absurdly long chainsaw is funny. A decapitation is scary. A decapitation during sex that is not initially realized is funny. A missed joke involved Parry Shen returning as Justin who is the brother to Shawn (also played by Shen). I swear Shawn had an accent but not Justin. No joke there?

I could put it aside before but Hatchet II makes you think the local authorities have some belief in Victor. Or they do not. It never strongly settles which is an issue with how often they dance around it but never actually answer. The Nightmare on Elm Street series went in that direction but there is no decision made here.

My other gripe would be the muted color palette. It’s very gray and as an homage/comedic homage to the supernatural slasher genre you don’t quite get the impact of the blood and guts. Following in the visual steps of Zack Snyder just isn’t as viscerally thrilling.

Hatchet II wasn’t bad for what it is. It’s gory fun with a few macabre laughs and plenty of guts. A treat for horror geeks.