Hatchet II
“Hatchet II” is a horror movie sequel. Specifically, a slasher movie sequel. Right there, most people will know what I mean by that description. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, right? In the case of this film, pretty much.
In a way, Victor Crowley, the deformed killer in the 2005 original and the new film, is another Jason Voorhees. Instead of dying through the neglect of others, however, Victor dies in a fire some local boys started one Halloween at his home in the swamps of Louisiana, where he lives with his father. While trying to save his son, Thomas Crowley accidentally hits Victor’s head with a hatchet from the other side of the door. Since then, a legend has grown up around the swamp…and Crowley.
In this sequel, we learn more about the legend and Marybeth Dunston’s place in it. She’s the daughter that came to the swamp in the first film to look for her missing father and brother, and she’s played this time by horror actress Danielle Harris in a performance that, well, doesn’t really work. It’s too whiny, too inconsistent, and too, shall I say, amateurish for an actress who’s been in the business for 20-something years.
I have a feeling a lot of that can be attributed to writer-director Adam Green, who’s made both “Hatchet” films. In all honesty, it’s basically a “Friday the 13th”/”Halloween”/”Texas Chainsaw Massacre” clone, with gratuitous nudity, vicious kills (perpetrated by Crowley, played by horror icon Kane Hodder, who also plays Thomas Crowley in flashbacks), and sometimes ridiculous humor (which does work at times, but other times, not so much). Unfortunately, “Hatchet,” and “Hatchet II,” are not cut from the same cloth as those franchises.
“Hatchet II,” which also features “Candyman’s” Tony Todd (Rev. Zombie) and AJ Bowen (Layton)-a high school friend who is becoming a horror icon in his own right with performances in low-budget genre entries like “The Signal” and “The House of the Devil” (both well worth seeing in my most objective opinion)-is better than its predecessor in story and style (Layton’s death is an instant classic), but that doesn’t mean it’s that good overall. As a horror sequel, it’s closer to the nonsense of the “best” (i.e. mediocre) “Friday the 13th” sequels than the “Scream” sequels and “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare,” which are the best slasher sequels I’ve seen. Of course, those last three were directed by Wes Craven. And Adam Green, as the saying goes, is no Wes Craven. Who knows? Maybe he’ll become one. Right now, he’s more “meh” than master.
