By the mid-2000s, the neo-slasher trend marked by Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Urban Legend, had died off. Torture porn, New French Extremity, and the horror remake craze replaced the slasher revival and the found-footage phenomenon was just around the corner. As a result, when Adam Green’s purist slasher movie Hatchet released in 2006, it was going against the grain. But Green’s over-the-top slasher wouldn’t have fit in with the neo-slasher era of the late 90s. Though Green and Anchor Bay positioned the movie as ‘good, old-fashioned American horror’, Hatchet looked and felt more like the Friday the 13th series once it hit Jason Lives. Though critics weren’t overly impressed, the fun slasher found enough success to pave the way for three sequels.

Synopsis

Bored partying at Mardi Gras and still missing his ex-girlfriend, Ben and best friend Marcus decide to take a swamp tour. But their inexperienced guide ignores warning and strands the boat in a remote and forbidden area of the swamp. Legend says that the ghost of Victor Crowley haunts that area of the swamp. Though the tourists are skeptical of the warnings, it’s not long before the deformed Crowley is stalking them through the swamp.

Hatchet Re-Visits The Latter Half of 80s Slasher Movies

No one’s going to mistake Hatchet for a classic horror movie. Writer and director Adam Green turns in a bloody love letter to the slasher movies of the latter half of the 80s. In this regard, Green isn’t even emulating the peak of the subgenre when Friday the 13th beget its early sequels and decent knock-offs like My Bloody Valentine or The Burning. Instead, Green was re-visiting the silly, over-the-top gore of post-Jason Lives slashers like Intruder or Doctor Giggles. Regardless Hatchet absolutely work as an insane ode to practical gore effects and unstoppable killers. Green doesn’t bother pretending that he’s making high art or offering subtle social commentary, Instead, Hatchet identifies the classic tropes of the subgenre and dials them up. Or at least most of them.

…Green was re-visiting the silly, over-the-top gore of post-Jason Lives slashers like Intruder or Doctor Giggles.

While the neo-slashers that immediately followed Scream were relatively tame in terms of gore, Hatchet absolutely embraces graphic death scenes. From its opening scene, Green treats us to dangling intestines from one victim and the death scenes only get more brutal. Over its brisk 83 minutes, Victor Crowley rips one victim’s head in half, skins off most of one character’s face with a sander, and rips another victim’s arms off. No one dies off screen. Green ensures gorehounds get their full helping of on-screen brutality. Most importantly, Hatchet doesn’t waste your time with cheap-looking CGI gore. As promised, Green delivers ‘good old-fashioned American horror’ that’s accomplished courtesy of some very impressive practical effects.

Victor Crowley Marks the First Memorable Slasher in Years

No slasher movie is complete without a compelling villain, a terrible place, and a tragic past. In her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws, Carol Clover identified several characteristics of slashers, which included these elements among others. If you look past the 1980s, the slasher subgenre hasn’t introduced many noteworthy villains outside of Ghostface from the Scream franchise. But Hatchet’s Victor Crowley proves to a be a memorable killer, reflecting the best aspects of 80s slasher villains as well as qualities of the ‘tragic monster’ seen as early as the Universal Monsters. Green’s backstory and mythology – simple and consistent with the subgenre – still works well.

…Victor Crowley best recalls the makeup effects for Jason Voorhees from later 80s sequels Jason Lives and Friday the 13th Part VII: Jason Lives.

In addition to his backstory, Victor Crowley instantly stands out as a grotesque and imposing slasher killer. Once again the practical make-up effects are impressive. Arguably, Victor Crowley best recalls the makeup effects for Jason Voorhees from later 80s sequels Jason Lives and Friday the 13th Part VII: Jason Lives. Diehard slasher fans may also see bits of the deformed killer from the obscure Canadian horror movie, Humongous. Not surprisingly, horror veteran Kane Hodder (Death House) plays Crowley underneath a lot of latex and makes the killer one of the most intimidating in recent slasher history.

Hatchet Foresaw the Increasing Trend of Fan Service in Movies

As previously mentioned, Hatchet isn’t a ground-breaking movie. By and large, Green opts to re-package latter 80s slasher tropes into a bloody tribute to the subgenre. Nevertheless, Green does anticipate a trend in movie-making that’s more common today than in the aughts. And that’s fan service. If you’re a lifelong horror fan, you’ll undoubtedly appreciate all the cameos from genre legends. There’s Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Tony Todd (Candyman), and John Carl Buechler. Even Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans get a bit of fan service – Mercedes McNabb (Harmony) has a memorable supporting role. No, Green doesn’t build an entire movie around Easter eggs like some contemporary movies. But it’s the kind of nostalgia that’s currently defining entertainment.

Nevertheless, Green does anticipate a trend in movie-making that’s more common today than in the aughts. And that’s fan service.

For what was essentially an unknown entity in 2006, Hatchet also boasts a pretty good cast. In addition to the horror stalwarts mentioned above, Joel Moore (Avatar), Deon Richmond (Scream 3), Parry Shen, Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project), and Richard Riehle (Texas Chainsaw 3D) all turn up. As much as Hatchet embraces classic slasher tropes, however, it deviates from the formula in its treatment of these characters. While there’s plenty of stereotypical slasher characters, the three principal characters – Ben, Marybeth, and Marcus – are all sympathetic. There’s a bit more investment in the characters then you would find in a typical slasher movie. And Green isn’t shy about pulling the rug out from under your feet.

Hatchet a Classic Slasher for a New Century of Horror

Unlike Friday the 13th, Halloween, or A Nightmare on Elm Street, Adam Green’s Hatchet isn’t a ground-breaking slasher movie. While it’s a ridiculously fun horror movie that perfectly captures an era, it’s not likely to be hailed as a classic. Maybe it’s because Hatchet emulates the backslide of the ‘Golden Era’ when the slasher was simultaneously getting sillier and sliding into decline. Nevertheless, Green anticipated the nostalgia that would eventually characterize not only horror, but movies in general. Whether it’s the cameos, the tone, or its practical gore effects, Hatchet saw the future obsession with intellectual property and the childhood of Gen-X before it happened. And Green did it without actually recycling a past movie.