Hatchet II, 2010.
Written and Directed by Adam Green.
Starring Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder and Tony Todd.
SYNOPSIS:
Having escaped the deranged killer Victor Crowley, Marybeth returns to the bayou with an army of gunmen to end the butcher’s reign of terror once and for all.
I happen to be quite a big fan of Adam Green and his dedication to all things horror. Principally because he is clearly a connoisseur of the genre; not somebody who seeks to use it as a platform for “selling out” into the stringent policies of Hollywood but rather somebody who has no truck with delivering the minutiae of a chastised type of cinema consistently to the fans who are like him. He is a filmmaker for the fans. However, I did believe that the original Hatchet would be his tour de force – never to be replicated nor outdone. Gratefully, I stand corrected as the sequel to the instant cult classic may just be one of those rare occasions in which the second film surpasses the first.
Hatchet 2 sees the return of some of the enjoyable characters from the original – Marybeth and Reverend Zombie – with a band of new characters, heading back out into the bayou on a search and destroy mission for the infamous “repeater”, Victor Crowley. But the hunter is not to be hunted as he resumes regular business, picking off each of those who would dare to take him on.
The thing that one can establish from watching the first film is the style of this horror – it’s an unashamed gore fest boasting the most inventive and unabashed kills. A no holds barred blood and guts frenzy like never seen before. So the sequel had the simple task of amping this intensity up a few notches. Jokes aside, it was not going to be easy to achieve this without becoming caricatural. Luckily, this is one of the pleasures of the Hatchet series; the exuberant exhibitionism of distasteful violence. So the fans, true to the conventionality of the post-slasher, will demand improvements; the body count must be considerably bigger and the gags that much funnier. Yes, tearing out a man’s large intestine and using it to throttle him until his head pops off seems ridiculous, but that is the nature of the beast. This series is out in a visceral genre of its own, saturating the viewer with gargantuan arterial sprays and projectile innards that make you speculate about the butchery to follow. In many respects, you could liken it to a funhouse or a water park ride in which you know that something particularly intrusive is bound to happen yet you still look forward to the feeling of damp underwear for the day….whether voluntarily or involuntarily.
Add to the mix an almost entirely new cast of actors intent on infusing more variety and substance to roles which could potentially be bland. There is an evident higher level of professionalism that maybe allows the commercial audience to enjoy better. Character building was never going to be one of the film’s finer aspects seeing as many of the characters come from the same backward hick civilisation as one another. Once you have seen one bumfuck countryman, you have seen them all. What the cast does do is accentuate whatever they can, which then lends itself to the personality of their respective character making them larger than life, but not in a bizarre manner. We gain further insight into Reverend Zombie and find out that he is not merely some uncouth mysterious medium but rather a unscrupulous businessman – amusingly so. Our understanding of Marybeth is broadened also as we now see her as an empathetic soul rather than just a hardened madam hell-bent on retribution. Ultimately, it is down to the juxtaposition of improved narrative and dialogue as well as casting selections. The film reads like a horror’s most honourable party list; it is a treat to have Tony Todd, Danielle Harris and AJ Bowen in the same production and their understanding of the duality of horror and humour lends the film an extra dimension. Overall, we get the celluloid equivalent of a Friday with Rebecca Black – “fun fun fun!”
If it is a smart thriller that you want, then you’re beter off waiting for another James Patterson novel adaptation. Hatchet 2 is nothing but exploitative entertainment that takes advantage of the fact that it is predominantly uninhibited. If you can get your hand on the unrated version you will witness the unrelenting carnage in all its glory but, to be honest, even the rated version must have had the MPAA soiling their suits. To me, this horror made as plain and simple as possible; death metal embodied; the genre purified and exemplified. It is not for the faint hearted but is undoubtedly enjoyable.
Daniel Davidson-Amadi (follow me on Twitter)
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