Hatchet III Review


Movie: Hatchet III
By: Maniac E
Date: June 14, 2013

Some legends never die

When Hatchet came out back in 2006 I didn't know where I gotten myself into with all the bad press around and with it being more of a homage towards 80tees slasher movies. In the end I really liked it and after 7 years we arrived at the third chapter of this homage franchise. Can it really still give us enough to feel statisfied and show us what it can do on its own? Let's find out.

Continuing Green's established timeline in which Hatchet I, II, and III all happen in continuation (Green is already teasing a mastercut of all three tied together as one film), we open with female protagonist Marybeth (Danielle Harris) blowing Victor Crowley away with a shotgun, which is exactly how Hatchet II ends. Thinking she's finished off the curse, Marybeth walks to the local police department, bloodied and holding Crowley's scalp, and is immediately put into custody by Sheriff Fowler (Zach Galligan) under the suspicion she murdered all the Crowley victims. What else is the cop to assume, a local ghost story killed everyone? This doesn't hold for long though, because when the first response team reports numerous corpses strewn about Honey Island Swamp, all viciously mauled and dismembered, Fowler is forced to reconsider the fact that a foul-mouthed little Southern girl was capable of such actions, and he goes out to survey the damage himself. But when night hits, stories become a reality, as Victor Crowley rises once again, slaughtering the entire first response team. Intent on ending things once and for all, every available unit is called in for backup, local and SWAT, as Fowler takes to the swamp for answers. His ex-wife Amanda (Caroline Williams) also has plans of her own, being an "expert" on the Crowley myth, and thinks she has a real way end Victor's nightly rampage using Marybeth's bloodline. Will it work?

Hatchet III

First thing I noticed during the film is that you can feel it is not on par with I and II, director BJ McDonnell does his own tricks and views on how he wanted Hatchet III to go. While he does things right in some places you still keep having the feeling things aren't ending up in the right way as far as the story goes. It all is a bit less campy 80tees style and a bit more how most movies are today. It is too bad the shock value of the kills aren't as they used to be as in the other parts, Hatchet III didn't have the all the graphical gory stuff in there. Don't get me wrong there are excellent kills in this movie but just a bit less than we are used to.

Hatchet III

Opening with a shotgun blasting a hole in the face of a grotesque brute and soon afterward treating us to the sight of a self-disembowelment by chainsaw Hatchet III announces exactly who it's aimed at right from the start. Which is one plus point for the movie luckily. What also helps is that Kane Hodder is still the freaking bad ass monster as he was in the first two movies. He is such a unmistakably intimidating brute and really is a driving force why you should watch this movie. But how much I really would have wanted this to be really good, it nearly escapes mmediocrity. Why? Well simple it is just not great acting wise it isn't a great thing and the setting in the swamp is just not giving me enough atmospheric vibes at all. Almost everything feels as it has been done in part I and II.

Hatchet III

Again if you like the franchise make sure you check it out! Because this is just part of it and most negative things I have to say about it are things only a real Hatchet lover really picks up. If you are casual watcher of the franchise watch it. For it all fell a bit flat and I really wished it would have been better, let's hope next time Green picks it up again instead of letting someone else do it. While BJ's entry for the franchise isn't on par with Hatchet I and II, there's still plenty of 80s slasher fun to keep hardcore fans watching what should be Victor Crowley's last hurrah.


2.5/5




Movie

Hatchet III

Title

Hatchet III

Director

BJ McDonnell

Country

USA

Year

2013

Cast

Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Zach Galligan