In our Hatchet 2 movie review, we have three of us taking a look at the movie. We all liked the movie, to certain degrees. Read on to find out who loved it and who thought it was underwhelming.
Story
It’s been one day since Mary Beth had faced the swamp dwelling killer, Victor Crowley. After going to the swamp on a tour boat the day before to try finding her father and her brother, when things went terribly wrong, she returns with an army of hunters.
Characters
Most of the characters in this movie are likable, although you do not get to learn much about the hunters who Reverend Zombie hires to come along with him and Mary Beth apart from their mercenary reasons for accompanying them. Victor Crowley’s back story is elaborated on this time, and helps to humanize his character and make the audience a bit more sympathetic towards him.
Effects
Oh.. My.. God!
This movie has the greatest murder scenes I have seen in the past few years. Each one was different than the other, and all of them were unique. Hatchet II delivered massive amounts of gore, and lots of laughs.
Final Score
I loved this movie to death, and I think that as a sequel to a horror masterpiece this movie was just as good as the original Hatchet.
There was not a second during this movie where I was not entertained, and I never wanted to take my eyes off of the screen.
I was disappointed when I heard that the movie was pulled from the U.S and Canadian theatres, but I can see why they would do it… With the amount of gore and such… But the experience would have been absolutely incredible.
And to make an incredible film even better, there was boobies.
I’ll leave you with one piece of advice for all of you: Stay out of the swamp!
Dylan’s Hatchet 2 Review
Dylan: Author & Reviewer, Death Rapper, Resident Movie Junkie
Hatchet II starts on a positive note, but never entirely captures the fun or charisma of Adam Green’s directorial debut Hatchet.
The movie starts right after the events of Hatchet 1, when Marybeth (this time played by famed Halloween victim Danielle Harris) escapes the final scene and flees to Jack Cracker’s shack on the out skirts of the swamp. After offering Marybeth his favourite beverage, Jack Cracker listens to her story of what happened in the swamp and all is well until she reveals she went in looking for her daddy and brother. It seems Marybeth’s father, Sampson was one of the boys involved in Victor Crowley’s original cruel demise that caused this curse on the area and her family is believed to be a beacon for Victor’s vengeance. Cracker, a little late in learning her identity, and a little early providing the southern hospitality after chasing Marybeth out with a shotgun is then taken out by the ‘Bayou Butcher’. I won’t say how Jack meets his end as I hate spoilers, but here is where my first problems with the film began. Victor had from what I can remember already been revealed, and he looks noticeably different. Victor in this entry more than in the last looks like a man in a suit and reminded me of these new straight to DVD sequels that don’t quite look as good as the theatrical original (Wrong Turn 2 for example was a huge drop in quality from the originals makeup effects). Victor’s appearance would not bother me so much (Wrong Turn two still managed to be on par with the original and some may even argue is the better of the two) if the quality of the gore effects didn’t also suffer in this entry.
The gore in the original seemed very realistic and bloody where in Hatchet II the gore looks more dry, I’ve learned over the years while making costumes that it’s amazing what a difference a few splashes of blood make and on the other end of the spectrum how effects can suffer when they lack that ingredient. This isn’t a constant issue through Hatchet II, but it is enough of one to make the overall project suffer.
Before being ripped apart by Crowley men and appreciative ladies will rejoice as Cracker finds scam artist/amateur porn director/Crowley victim Shapiro’s camera which holds top grade nudity far superior to that in Hatchet and also invites a cameo by the bickering bimbo amateur stars from the original. Tony Todd returns with his role of Reverend Zombie and after being confronted by Marybeth over the events of the nights he reveals an in depth back story to the true lore behind the Crowley family. In these scenes Hodder displays his acting chops incredibly making you feel even more sympathetic to him and his cursed son than ever before. In all honesty anyone with the littlest emotion in them will well up inside from the genuine sadness displayed by the big man.
Reverend Zombie agrees to help Marybeth go back to the swamp for revenge on Crowley with more intention of retrieving his lost boat with a crew of bribed locals for Crowley to target instead of himself. During this meeting we are introduced to the newest fodder for the Hodder and the archetypes are put on display. Troma founder and loveable raving lunatic Lloyd Kaufman attends the meeting in a wasted cameo with no dialogue, which is just another missed opportunity to throw on Hatchet II’s ever growing pile. The team gathered by Rev. Zombie soldiers up returning in the night to hunt down the ghost haunting the swamp. Among this group is Justin (play by a returning Parry Shen) who is looking for his twin brother and original boat tour’s lovable Asian captain Shawn. Justin is obviously in a more concerned state than Shawn bringing an appropriately less comedic approach than his brother did in the original. After a great flashback of never before seen Crowley kills, and a few good jokes that don’t come near the hilarity of the original, Victor welcomes the group to his stomping grounds by killing them one by one.
While the body count is decent, Victor cheaply uses mostly the exact same weaponry he used in Hatchet 1 to rip through the intruders, and all the effects are of poorer quality than it’s superior predecessor. As much as I stack my complaints against Hatchet II it is still a quality slasher-comedy that clips along at an acceptable pace and the nudity is much more satisfying than the original, but if all that mattered was nudity we would be watching porn not a horror movie. In my opinion, in it’s entirety Hatchet II is a dull blade compared to the original which although came before the birth of this site, I can say deserves a 4.5/5. As for Hatchet II and it’s trail of missed opportunities and lack lustre effects, I wanted to like it, but it is what it is.
Mark’s Hatchet 2 Review
Mark: Author, Editor in Chief, Video Game Addict
I enjoyed the original Hatchet and was happy to see a current film return to the roots of the 80’s slasher film. Far too long have theatres been flooded with uninspired teeny bopper drivel in the forms of the I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream & Urban Legends franchises.
While these films aren’t the bottom of the barrel they certainly aren’t as nasty, violent and scandalous as the 80’s slasher film. Filled with drugs, booze, nudity, gore and completely nonsensical plot and writing, these gems of horror cinema are held in high regard by horror fans, and viewed as lowly as pornography to the rest of the film industry and its audience.
Hatchet is all of these things. It’s writing is terrible, characters are lowly pieces of trash, save for an every present hero or heroine, and it wallows in nudity, excessive gore and features a deformed killer that lives in the woods, has long red tangled hair, wears denim overalls. Holy shit is he Jason Voorhees?! No, he’s Victor Crowley, a character that might as well be Jason because they are a nearly identical monster.
Hatchet is by no means original, it’s more of an homage to the films of the past and isn’t afraid to admit it. The first Hatchet film was all of these things, yes, but it was enjoyable and fun. Quality babes, kills and a marketable villain based off a proven formula is a winner.
I felt Hatchet 2 was more of the same. My expectations for the film were low after reading Dylan’s review of the film, and talking to him in detail about it. While I wasn’t blown away by the film, I didn’t find it to be as lacking as he did.
I enjoyed the kills and thought quite a few of them were very gory and looked excellent by Slasher film standards.
Danielle Harris was cute as she is in all of her other roles, Tony Todd got some more screen time as Reverend Zombie and even makeup legend John Carl Buechler and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3’s own Leatherface got screen time. Yes Lloyd Kaufman didn’t have any lines of dialogue, but I didn’t mind this as I don’t think he’s a wonderful and charismatic talent anyway, and didn’t take anything away nor add to the film whatsoever by being involved. Kane Hodder was good returning as Victor Crowley, who I thought looked pretty similar to his last film, but evolved a bit more, like Jason did in all of the Friday the 13th films.
After all the shit he went through from Hatchet, he had to come out of it with a few more war wounds, and bumps and bruises. I wasn’t blown away by Kane’s acting chops, he seemed pretty average to me delivering his lines. I didn’t think any of the writing and acting of the film was good, lines were delivered robotically even by Danielle Harris who is fantastic in the Halloween franchise, but being a B Grade Slasher film emphasis should be placed on the Villain and his kills instead and can be overlooked.
Overall I thought Hatchet 2 was a solid entry in the franchise. I enjoyed Victor Crowley again, I liked all of the gory kills and makeup effects and had fun watching the movie. The characters definitely weren’t as likeable or as humorous as the first film, but I thought everything else was on par with the original.
