Hatchet DVD Review

Hype is one of the worst things for a movie in my opinion. Granted, it garners buzz and anticipation in eager filmgoers, but more often than not it leads to an immeasurable letdown. This means that a lot of times a good film that has been hyped up to be a great film falls victim to negative backlash and gets labeled as a mediocre film.

When Hatchet (2007) first came out earlier this year it was all the rage at various horror film festivals. Fangoria, a well-respected horror publication, was one of Hatchet’s earliest supporters, and Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News touted it as “the next icon of horror.” But perhaps the most debilitating piece of hype is a self-inflicted one on the part of the film (at least from a marketing standpoint), which is the subtitle that lies right underneath the title of the film that reads in giant letters: “OLD SCHOOL AMERICAN HORROR.” Those four words carry a lot of baggage for horror fans, and they’re much too generic to sell the film properly.

After all, “old school American horror” can refer to a variety of films and subgenres: William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (supernatural possession), George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (zombie satire), John Carpenter’s The Thing (claustrophobic creature feature), Robert Wise’s The Haunting (haunted house), Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th (gory slasher), and the list goes on. Horror may be a genre unto itself, but it splits into various subgenres, each with legions of fans. As such, when eager viewers see that Hatchet refers to itself as old school American horror, every one of them has an expectation of what the film is going to be like, which leads to a lot of disappointed horror fans.

Let me get it out of the way so that there are no more false expectations: Hatchet is an old school gory slasher film in the vein of Friday the 13th but it’s also a comedy. That is to say that it’s about a group of young adults being hunted down by a homicidal maniac in the woods, but it’s also funny. There, I said it, plain and simple. Viewers looking for and expecting a film of that nature can be much more assured of a pleasurable viewing experience, so just know that going into the film.

As far as slasher films go, Hatchet is a successful and entertaining return to the genre. There hasn’t been much original work done in this style of horror ever since Wes Craven deconstructed and revitalized the genre all at once with his landmark film, Scream. Even those few movies that have been made since Scream, such as Wrong Turn, have shied away from the genre conventions and clichés that typify a slasher film. In Hatchet, however, all the characteristics are on display: a hapless group of teens lost in a forest (or swamp in this case), a misshapen murderer out to get them, and copious amounts of gore and nudity. Hatchet is the first film in a long time to embrace these conventions and have fun with them. That’s not to say that it’s a parody in the vein of Scary Movie. Writer/director Adam Green has created a legitimate horror film here, but he also knows when to poke fun at the genre he loves so dearly, which is where a lot of the comedy comes from.

Hatchet follows in the footsteps of successful slasher films of the 80s by integrating three primary elements. First, Adam Green has assembled a cast of colorful characters for the killer to stalk. One of the stumbling blocks in slasher films involves allowing us to get to know the characters in a limited amount of time so we can get to the horror quickly, but still giving us enough introduction so that we actually feel something when they start dying (whether it’s glee or sorrow, depending on the character). I’m happy to report that every character in this film is an entertaining caricature and I remembered every single one of them once the film was over. Furthermore, when they’re annoying, they’re meant to be, and when they’re funny, they’re meant to be, so there’s no misplaced aggravation or unintended laughter on the part of the viewer. In fact, it’s the over the top characterizations as well as the quirky interactions between the characters that provide a majority of the film’s comedy.

The second primary element in a slasher film is of course the integrity of the killer, and Victor Crowley is one of the more terrifying killers to grace a slasher movie. He has an interesting back story which gives him some pathos, and his appearance and demeanor can only be described as the Elephant Man on a bad day. Furthermore, Victor Crowley is played by none other than Kane Hodder, the man behind the hockey mask in the Friday the 13th series. As such, Hodder has years of experience in this type of role, and he imbues Crowley with ferocity and menace. Horror aficionados will also be pleased to find that horror veterans Robert “Freddy Kreuger” Englund and Tony “Candyman” Todd make brief cameo appearances in the film.

The third and final element of a successful slasher film that Hatchet has in spades (and my grandma should stop reading right about now) is a handful of creative and gory killings featuring innovative special effects. A large part of the enjoyment in watching a slasher for us horror freaks is in how each of the characters gets killed by the murderer, and Victor Crowley gets quite creative in how he deals with trespassers. Unfortunately, the director had to make several cuts to the murder sequences in order to get an R rating in theaters, but this DVD release includes the Director’s Cut of the film which extends it back to its full, unedited gory glory. The R-rated version of the film is available on a separate DVD release, but why have McDonalds when you can have Filet Mignon?

The Director’s Cut DVD not only includes more gory mayhem, but it also has a lot more in the way of extras than the Theatrical Cut DVD. Whereas the R-rated DVD release only contains one featurette, this Unrated DVD contains 6 featurettes/documentaries and an audio commentary, all of which are worth looking into. The featurettes thoroughly detail various aspects of production and the commentary is a lighthearted but informational affair that overlaps very little with the featurettes. Anchor Bay Entertainment has always been and will continue to be the forerunner in horror DVD releases as illustrated by the care that they have given Hatchet.

So when all is said and done, does Hatchet live up to the hype? I would probably answer no, but only because I don’t consider it to be the second coming of horror. However, Adam Green set out to make a ridiculous and entertaining horror film that pays tribute to the slasher films of the 80s, and by those standards he was entirely successful. Hatchet isn’t going to change the face of horror by any means, but it knows exactly what type of film it is and it delivers on those expectations. In the commentary, Green alludes to a sequel being in the works, and seeing as the slashers of the 80s were always followed by innumerable follow-ups, I say bring it on.