“It’s not a remake. It’s not a sequel. And it’s not based on a Japanese one.”
That’s the tagline Adam Green’s Hatchet announced to audiences during its release in 2006 – and, honestly, those three things alone made it a bit of an aberration in the genre at the time. Retoolings of classics like House of Wax, Black Christmas, The Omen, and The Hills Have Eyes were dominating the genre, and Asian horror in general was serving as a rich vein to mine for remake material. But Hatchet was none of those things – and yet, it’s one of the handful of horror movies from this era that have really endured the decades since its first release, even going on to become a slasher franchise all of its own.
Twenty years later, Hatchet is one of those movies that feels something like a time capsule back to the very specific 2000s era of grizzly, gory horror – the millennial splatter movie, if you like, featuring a soundtrack stuffed with nu-metal, more frosted eyeshadow than you can shake a dismembered limb at, and both oversexed and undersexed in the exact same yet entirely contradictory way. Set in New Orleans, it follows Ben (Joel David Moore), a college student trying to recover from a break-up with the help of his best friend Lucas (Deon Richmond) during Mardi Gras – however, Ben is less interested in what the city has to offer, and more into a boat tour around a local haunted swamp. Which just so happens to be the residence of the vengeful spirit of local man Victor Crowley after his accidental death at the hands of his loving father.
It’s an appropriately daft premise, but even now, Hatchet stands head and shoulders above so many of the rest of the dead teenager genre of this era simply by focusing on a very serviceable script and genuinely fun characters. The chemistry between Ben and Lucas feels so familiar to anyone who’s been in that kind of friendship where you spend most of the time ripping the piss out of each other, but the supporting cast are just as great; Parry Shen as the incompetent tour leader is a hoot, and Mercedes McNab (probably best known for playing Harmony on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) gives no end of daft bimbo fun, and Tamara Feldman turns in a genuinely solid performance as Marybeth, taking the tour to uncover the fates of her missing brother and father. So many films of this era and genre make it feel like you have to get past the trudging boredom of a terrible cast of characters you’re just waiting to see get killed off, but Green gives them a bit of spark and wit that keeps the film from succumbing to the same issues.
I think what really makes Hatchet the cult classic it has become since its release is not just Green’s reverence to the horror genre – but his irreverence towards it, too. Sure, you’ve got guest turns from iconic horror actors of decades past, like Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Joshua Leonard, and Robert Englund, and the whole thing drips with classic slasher-in-the-woods sensibilities, from the kills to the villain to the setting; there’s clearly a lot of love here for the genre, but Green is never afraid to have a bit of fun at the expense of the genre’s sillier excesses. Joel Murray as the thigh-rubbing creep “director” turns the genre’s standard-issue tit-flashing nudity into a recurring gag, while the gore is turned up to eleven in a series of ridiculous kills that diverge almost entirely from reality and into the realm of splatter comedy. It’s not afraid to lean into the daftness, and it’s all the better for it.
Even though it’s probably not my favourite work from Green (that would be Bringing Up the Marrow, his wonderfully weird meta-horror), it’s one of the more iconic of the modern horror franchises – and it’s easy to see why. Green’s love for the genre is written all over this work, and, if you adore it like he does, it’s a total treat to get up to your eyeballs in swamp-juice with him.
What do you think of Hatchet? Did it earn its place amongst the horror franchises of the 21st century? Let me know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this article and want to see more stuff like it, please consider supporting us on Ko-Fi. You can check out more of my work on my personal blog, The Cutprice Guignol!
By Lou MacGregor
(header image via Bloody Good Horror)
No But Listen 