HATCHET II

Image by Brian Wilkins via Flickr

HATCHET II-United States-2010

Directed by Adam Green

Written by Adam Green

Starring

Danielle Harris as Marybeth

Tony Todd as Reverend Zombie

Kane Hodder as Victor Crowley/Thomas Crowley

Perry Shen as Justin

Tom Holland as Bob

Adam Greens Hatchet II was hailed as the first American horror film in over 25 years to be released unrated to major theaters. I don’t know how true that actually is. What I can tell you is that Hatchet II starts off like a blast from a double barrel shotgun and in the end it leaves you lying bleeding and dismembered and wanting more.

Danielle Harris (Halloween) takes over the role of Marybeth (originally played in the first film by Tamara Feldman). She has survived the onslaught of Victor Crowley and now she enlists Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd-Candyman) to go back into the Honey Island Swamp to retrieve the bodies of her father and brother. Reverend Zombie gets a hunting party together and we later find out that he has other plans in mind. If this were a TV Guide synopsis then this would be the part where the words ‘murder and mayhem ensue.’

Hatchet II is one of the best horror sequels since Sam Raimi‘s Evil Dead II:Dead By Dawn. It pays complete homage to the slasher film by not only casting several of its stars from previous old school slasher films (Tony Todd, Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris); but also by sheer amounts of gore and in-jokes especially suited for the slasher film crowd. There is murder by curb-stomp, boat motor and decapitation, to name a few. Not only that, but, there is also a brief reference to director Adam Green’s Frozen and also to Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Each one of these in jokes/references is in homage to the original material and never looks down on it or patronizes it.

The cast is top-notch. Danielle Harris takes over effortlessly for Tamara Feldman. I didn’t realize that she wasn’t in the first film until I checked the credits for it at IMDB.com. Tony Todd is both creepy and funny in his role as the Reverend Zombie. It is because of him that I will not say the words ‘Candyman’ five times into a mirror.

Then there is Kane Hodder. No other actor could have played the role of Victor Crowley so convincingly as he has done in Hatchet and Hatchet II. He is still the best Jason Voorhees ever and history will probably record that he was the best Victor Crowley as well, also.

In the end, Hatchet II leaves you wanting more gore, more blood and more Crowley.

Bring it on motherf—ers!!!