ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Leofwine_draca I really enjoyed the first HATCHET film, which perfectly captured the spirit of a 1980s-era slasher film. It was replete with funny characters and dialogue, great prosthetic effects, and a wonderfully old-fashioned atmosphere and feel. So where did it all go wrong for this sequel? Well, it appears to have been written on the fly, with a storyline that copies EXACTLY the same plot as the first film: a group visit the bayous in the middle of the night, with the twist that they're now out to hunt down and destroy the supernatural killer Victor Crowley. Hell, they even bring back Parry Shen, whose character died in the first movie (by virtue of him playing the guy's twin brother).Everything that sparkled about the first film has gone in HATCHET II, to be replaced by a boring script and a dearth of imagination. The gore effects are more extreme but at the same time sillier and with worse effects, and somehow Kane Hodder's killer just doesn't look as frightening. He looks goofy, like an alien from a 1980s movie, whereas in the first film he was kept in the shadows a lot and all the more frightening for it.Finally, Danielle Harris is a poor replacement for the original actress. The one good thing this has going for it is a substantial part for Tony Todd, who merely cameoed in the first movie. Todd is great, but it's not enough to lift the film to greatness. My favourite thing about this? Emma Bell's cameo, which is a lovely reference for anyone who's seen and enjoyed the director's FROZEN.

capkronos Marybeth Dunston (Danielle Harris) goes to Honey Island Swamp to search for her missing gator hunter daddy and her brother and runs afoul of Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder). After jabbing out his eye with her finger, she makes her way to a shack where Jack Cracker (John Carl Buechler) takes her in. That is, until he learns her last name. He then kicks her out and tells her to go see Clive Washington aka Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd). As Jack sits down to watch footage from "Bayou Beavers," Victor barges in, rips his intestines out and then uses then to strangle him and pop off his head. Afterward, Marybeth goes to see the Reverend and learns all about the curse of the Crowley family... and how her father was one of three kids responsible for setting the Crowley shack on fire, leading to the death of young Victor. As a result, his ghost has haunted the swamp ever since.Seeking vengeance for her family's murders, Marybeth strikes up a deal with Zombie: He'll have his assistant Justin (Parry Shen; playing the brother of the character he played in the original) organize a posse of hunters if she gets her uncle to come along on the expedition. Marybeth comes through on her end of the deal by convincing her Uncle Bob (Tom Holland, best known as the director of FRIGHT NIGHT and CHILD'S PLAY) to come, as does the Reverend, who's able to convince a handful of people to accompany them by promising 500 dollars just for coming and an additional 5000 for anyone who's able to "kill" Crowley. Kill a ghost? Yeah, I know. R.A. Mihailoff (Leatherface from TCM III) and AJ Bowen (THE SIGNAL) are among those along for the ride. The gang take their boats deep into the swamp where they're slaughtered in various ridiculous ways by the hulking, monstrous Crowley.This both looks and feels much cheaper than the first and that's no big surprise considering the original was shot on 35mm film for 1.5 million, while this one was shot on digital for half that budget. Still, this manages to make a few slight improvements. For starters, the obnoxious, childish comedy elements have been toned down a bit here, which, in my opinion, is a good thing. Second, there's a nice flashback sequence explaining the origins of the killer. And third, Tony Todd gets to play a leading role this time out and, as per his usual, does a great job holding things together. Harris, on the other hand, I did not like. Her character is pretty grating, one-note and shrill and her come-and-go Southern accent (I THINK that's what she was shooting for at least) is terrible. The rest of the cast is so-so, though Colton Dunn deserves a special shout-out for being pretty amusing in his small part.But let's get real here, the target audience isn't really going to care much about the dialogue, plot, acting or production values: they've come here for the gore, and this delivers on that front. The director seems especially fond of head and face mutilations. There's a face sliced off, a face chopped to a bloody pulp, a face smashed to a bloody pulp, a face chopped to bits by an outboard motor and a head getting sanded down (and then smashed in) with a belt sander. Green also lets his inner 11-year-old out with "funny" murders like a guy getting decapitated while screwing his ex-girlfriend, a girl getting a hatchet buried in her ass and two guys getting their crotches simultaneously chewed up with the most comically big chainsaw you'll ever see.There are lots of film references, in-jokes and cameos here, too. Emma Bell and Shawn Ashmore (two of the stars of the director's FROZEN) both show up for second-long cameos, a few of the actresses from the first HATCHET are seen in handy cam footage and, during the hunter's meeting, you can spot genre directors Lloyd Kaufman, Ryan Schifrin, Dave Parker and Mike Mendez. Green also gives himself a cameo puking up some creamed corn on a street corner. A classy fella he is.

witster18 I'd say the first half of Hatchet 2 is a bit sillier and even campier than the first, but the films last half-hour really makes up for it.THis is one seriously gory flick. It's gorier than the original, and funnier than the original. It might actually be better than the original, but it's an awfully tight race.Adam Green still has me on the edge of my seat waiting for his next horror project. Guess I'll have to wait for the DVD release of Hatchet 3 next month - even though he didn't direct.Hatchet 2 is a little better than the original on the acting/cast front as well. In the original we see a bunch of undeveloped boobs getting knocked-off left and right. Here, there's a little more substance to who's getting their heads ripped off.This thing gets pretty intense down the stretch. Thumbs up.

cmv32261 You soon to be sociopaths really need to start watching other types genre other than supernatural psychopathic thrillers, action adventure, comedy, or science fiction. Clearly you have no taste when it comes to cinema art. After getting through the opening scene I thought to myself how completely unrealistically stupid, monster reaches into guy's belly completely disemboweling him commences to wrap the guy's intestines around his neck and squeezes until his head pops off, the guy would have been dead from exsanguination as soon as he had his intestines ripped out, doh!, dah!, completely mentally deficient. Sorry but I would have to compare the talent of these screen writers to the intelligence of inbred hillbillies. Yuck, yuck this movie sincerely sucked.