Adam Green’s 80s style slasher movie is the most refreshing thing I’ve seen in quite some time as it goes back to basics and does so very successfully.
The film sees Ben and his buddies head to Mardi Gras after he is dumped by his girlfriend of eight years. Ben isn’t interested in drinking and looking at boobs however, so heads off on a haunted swamp tour with his friend Marcus reluctantly tagging along. Also on the tour are porno producer Shapiro and his starlets Misty and Jenna, old married couple Mr and Mrs Permatteo and subdued loner Marybeth. The tour turns out to be lame and the group realises that tour guide Shawn is an amateur just as the boat begins to sink. The tourists soon finds themselves lost out in the Bayou but it gets worse as Marybeth reveals the legend of Victor Crowley, a hideously deformed and vengeful presence who lurks in the woods. The Permatteo’s dismiss the story as nonsense but the group soon finds out in the worst possible way that the legend is true.
The film opens well and is genuinely scary and funny throughout, the latter being largely down to Deon Richmond and Mercedes McNab. The death sequences are truly original and memorable and Kane Hodder delivers an impressive performance as ‘the next great icon of horror’.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Hatchet – it’s not a remake, it’s not a sequel and it’s not based on a Japanese one. It’s like a Friday the 13th sequel on acid and above all it’s bloody brilliant!
