To celebrate Halloween 2012 I am announcing the first of two very special events:
First up director and personal pal Jason Christopher is gonna get you ready for the festival of Samhain by talking about different horror films every day in October!!!....
First Up Hatchet and Hatchet II Here's Jay:
At the outset of 31 days of horror I want to say that I'm not going to do full blown out reviews on the movies I'm going to be talking about. I'm going to give a small plot detail and then go in my experiences with the movies themselves.
I remember hearing about Hatchet for the first time, I think in 2005 or 2006, I don’t really remember. I wasn’t thrilled about it at all - Yeah, great…another independent horror movie. It seemed like all horror movies that were coming out were just garbage with a gem or two in the mix. This was one of those gems. I remember watching it for the first time at my friend’s house and we were laughing and loving the horror at the same time, it was great. I remember pausing it and laughing so hard when Parry Shen’s character gets frustrated on the boat.
The movie follows Ben (Joel David Moore) whose going through a recent breakup. Him and his friends are down for Mardi Gras and try to cheer him up. It’s clearly not working because he’s more intrigued by a boat tour than naked chicks and booze.
The tour is packed with an inept tour guide, Shawn (Parry Shen). On the boat, Ben meets Marybeth (Tamara Feldman) and she’s focused on one thing, finding her brother and father (Robert Englund). The tour goes bad and the legendary Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) comes to kill!
This movie is pretty cool. Writer/director Adam Green gives his all and really wowed horror fans. I thought this director was going to pump out this movie and that’s it. Soon more features of his came out: Spiral, Frozen, Chillerama, and his latest TV show, Holliston. Green has become one of my favorite directors. He really knows how to just make a fun movie.
I wound up purchasing Hatchet weeks after I saw it but traded it in years later to purchase it on Blu Ray. Throughout the years it was mentioned that a Hatchet 2 was in the works. I was curious to see the story continue and Victor Crowley’s origin.
I heard Hatchet 2 was underway and I was pretty excited. Sprial came out with both Adam Green and Joel David Moore behind the camera (cool movie). After doing a few shorts three years had passed until the next Adam Green movie was in production, Frozen. Frozen was an awesome movie. I might post about that later in the month. So, Frozen came out that February. That October Hatchet 2 arrived.
The whole hype behind Hatchet 2--The movie was to be released on October 1st, 2010. Cool, I was even more excited that it was being released in theaters UNCUT and UNRATED. This was the first time in years that this was happening. Thankfully, I was able to see this in the theater.
Hatchet 2 picks up literally right where we left off with Hatchet, this time with a different Marybeth. I seriously hate when movies change up the actor or actress of the same character from a previous movie. Filling in for Marybeth this time around was Danielle Harris. And she kicked ass as Marybeth, so much better than Tamara Feldman. So, Marybeth makes it out of the swamp and meets up with Rev. Zombie (Tony Todd). They go through the whole background of Victor Crowley. We dig into his background, his parents, his birth, everything. It was really cool to see that happen.
Marybeth gets to her Uncle Bob played by the wonderful Tom Holland. Marybeth gets her Uncle Bob to get back to the swamp with her and take down Victor Crowley. A blood splat, fun movie this one is. Hatchet 2 had a body count of sixteen!
I watch Hatchet 2 more than the first one. Throughout the years Adam Green became a much better director and it really showed it on this one. I would have to say that’s why I probably enjoy this movie more. It’s just so much more mature than Hatchet. But, you have to watch Hatchet 1 to watch Hatchet 2 so don’t cheat here.
The movie wound up being pulled from theaters before the end of the weekend due to the movie being unrated.
I had such a huge problem with that. My mind can’t wrap around the fact that a fictional movie gets pulled from the theaters because of it being unrated. Hatchet 2 has a kill where a man gets murdered with his intestines, being pulled out and with his own insides he gets murdered. But, there are movies out there with the most ridiculous rape scenes that look and feel so real, all with an R rating, whatever.
When I was out in LA screening my flick, I was with Danielle Harris at the after party and she was just the coolest person, so nice and relaxed. We were talking about each other’s movies that were in the festival. It was really nice. During this time, Hatchet 3 was rumored.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell me anything about it. Hatchet 3 has been produced and is currently in post-production, I can’t wait. Green isn’t behind the camera this time, just writing and producing. BJ McDonnell is directing this time. It’s pretty cool to see the Steadicam operator from both Hatchet 1 and 2 to go on and direct the third one.
Both of the movies are so much fun. The first one has more comedy in it than the second one but still fun. If you’re looking for an old school style horror movie with blood and gore, this is it! Definitely check out Hatchet 1 and 2 if you already haven’t. I know you can get the movies at Wal-Mart for eight bucks on Blu Ray right now because of Halloween time. If not, I always see the movie at Best Buy. Check them out and support independent horror films.
Only 30 days left til Halloween--- what’s the next movie to be screened?
-Jay
Jay will return soon with another review in his series...
I will announce event #2 later today....(Tom smiles)
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