Hatchet (2007)

Studio: Anchor Bay

DVD Release Date: December 18, 2007

Directed By: Adam Green

Cast: Joel Moore, Tamara Feldman, Kane Hodder, Robert Englund, Tony Todd

Brutal As Hell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Review By: Brian McNail

Yes, 5 out of 5.  You didn’t read any of the above incorrectly this movie has not only Jason and Freddy but The Candyman!  Dubbed with its original title Hatchet:  Old School American Horror; this movie lives up to everything you would think good horror should have in it.  This movie has gore, plot, cheesy dialogue and Kane Freaking Hodder killing everyone the way Jason Voorhees always should have, including Englund.

The movies main plot focuses in on Joel Moore’s character Ben who is in New Orleans during Mardi Gras after his friends drag him there to forget about a girl he dated for the past 8 years.  You would think that just by watching the opening scenes of the typical view of New Orleans that all of the bare breasts and flowing alcohol it would be easy to forget about your problems, but Ben reminds me a lot of myself in New Orleans in wanting to get away from the party and get with the spooky.  He and his friend Marcus hire out a swamp tour and go deep into the woods that are supposedly haunted by the deranged and deformed Victor “Hatchet” Crowley.  Like in any good horror movie the boat breaks down and the fun begins.  We find out that not everything is as it seems as Tamara Feldman’s character is looking for her father (Englund) and brother who went gator hunting three days earlier.  Other tourists on the tour include a sleazy Girls Gone Wild director and two bickering bimbos with some pretty nice tits and they show them almost every twenty minutes in case you forget what breasts look like.  Rounding out the troop is the tour director and a couple of older people (both of them were in Office Space) who just may be mentally retarded but I wouldn’t want to Jump to Conclusions.

This movie kicks some major ass as far as special effects.  The make-up affects on Hodder make him even more menacing than an unmasked Voorhees and the dismemberments, impalements, decapitations and all the other little goodies are a much needed addition to the stale hack slash genre.  The DVD is also LOADED with goodies, ranging from outtakes, deleted scenes, making of, commentaries with cast and crew and an onset clip of Englund, Todd and Hodder standing side by side.

I ended up renting this from my local Movies and More store however it is definitely being purchased I suggest you do the same.