Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, Tom Holland, R.A. Mihailoff, Parry Shen, AJ Bowen, Alexis Peters, Ed Ackerman, Colton Dunn, David Foy, Rick McCallum
Written by Adam Green
Certification UK 18 | US Unrated
Runtime 90 minutes
Directed by Adam Green
Adam Green's sensational feature debut Hatchet was billed as being “old school American horror”. While it was certainly an extremely enjoyable, bloody horror which was indeed done the old school way, it wasn't without its shortcomings. But what film isn't? As I have written time and time again, a sequel has to be superior to its predecessor, but so many aren't. But as far as Hatchet II is concerned, it's not only a far better film than the original, it's the Terminator 2 of slashers. In fact, it's the greatest slasher sequel of all time.
Written in just a week and shot entirely using the first draft (you would never guess), Hatchet II takes every single imperfection from the first film and drastically improves upon them. Piece by bloody piece (and there are a lot of pieces!), Hatchet II blew me away. I really enjoyed the original, but I could never have anticipated the second part would be this great. Green's evolution as a film-maker since the first instalment is quite incredible. Since the swamp was first painted red back in 2006, he's come a long, long way, having made such different films as the isolation horror Frozen, and the excellent jazz-infused, Hitchcockian thriller Spiral starring the spectacular Joel David Moore. Hatchet II is such a refined film compared to the first; it's nicely paced, tightly edited and cleanly shot. Oh, and absolutely dripping with gore.
Hatchet caused some uproar with audiences over its very sudden, blunt ending, but it was always Green's intention to make a sequel and he even had the idea for it before he made the first movie. Hatchet II picks up right where the last left off – with a bit of a scare no less – only now with the beautiful Danielle Harris in the role of Marybeth. Having survived her first encounter with the monstrous, hatchet-wielding Victor Crowley (Hodder), Marybeth returns to the deathly swamp to extract her revenge after the deformed maniac took the lives of her father and brother during a fishing trip in the opening of the inaugural film. This time the young woman is accompanied by a group of hunters banded together by Reverend Zombie (The Candyman himself Tony Todd) in an effort to silence Crowley for good. But does Zombie have an ulterior motive, or is just killing the seemingly unstoppable menace in the swamp with a team really the intention of the Reverend?
I sincerely loved this movie. Everything about it is gold to me. Between the fun cameos and witty genre references, the great number of outrageously nasty, original deaths and the casting of horror legend Tom Holland, director of Fright Night and Child's Play, it's everything I could ever want from a horror sequel. With a rather epic score that collides wondrously with the blood, guts and hilarious humour that are fluent throughout, the impact of Hatchet II on this horror fan is huge. Thank you Adam Green.
• Official Site
• Hatchet II at IMDb
• Hatchet II had its world premiere at Film4 FrightFest. Check out our full coverage