Hatchet II Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After Marybeth narrowly escapes the clutches of Victor Crowley, she manages to band together a group of hunters to retrieve her father and brother's bodies.

Review: So after gaining a small, cult following, it wasn't much of a shock that a sequel would be made, but is it any good? Well, not so much. Actually, this film is more of a hit or miss depending on the scene or idea implemented as we pick up immediately at the cliffhanger from part one except we notice some immediate changes. The actress that played Marybeth, Tamara Feldman, has been replaced by my childhood crush, scream queen, and horror icon Danielle Harris. While I thought Ms. Feldman did a decent job, this is one of the few times where I'm not all bent out of shape over a replacement; I am still annoyed because I have a sense of continuity in my mind that an actor change screws up, but if it was going to happen, I'm glad the replacement was in the form of my dear Ms. Harris. Although, I should note, you notice something odd going on with Ms. Harris' eyebrows that I can't ignore. She appears to have developed whatever this thing is as an adult, but it's not a big deal to me; I just know others will point it out so I figured I mine as well address it. But back on track...in general, the tone and atmosphere have also changed as the homage vibe has been abandoned in an effort to focus more on the film's own mythos surrounding Victor Crowley. I guess I'm okay with this choice of direction, but that was the main reason why I felt the first movie was as successful as it was; this film lacks that charm and attention to detail in various film nods.

We come to learn there was more to the Victor Crowley legend than we originally believed. Apparently Victor's father, now named Thomas, had been taking care of his dying wife in the bayou as he began to fuck the caregiver. Right before the wife died, she put a voodoo curse on the unborn baby as the caregiver died giving birth and obviously Victor was deformed. Later, it is revealed that Marybeth's father, Sampson, his brother, and some guy named Trent were the kids that accidentally led to Victor's death that fateful Halloween. A deeper understanding of the Crowley story is okay since it doesn't necessarily contradict what was explained in the first movie except that it provides a lame reason for why Victor was able to come back as a ghost. I have to say though, Kane Hodder, who plays Thomas and Victor, was looking as though he had no neck! What happened, dude? Anyway, other than these new plot elements, there really wasn't much of a story to this film which is the main detractor. I mean, you have Marybeth magically escaping only to run into Jack Cracker who dies too quickly. This is followed by Marybeth seeking out the aid of Tony Todd's character, Reverend Zombie, now in an expanded role. It's so stupid because even though Marybeth just left the bayou, she wants to go right back to get the bodies of her dad and brother. Uh, okay, wasn't that exactly what you tried doing in part one? Look how that turned out!

Zombie's plan is that if he can get Crowley to kill Trent and Marybeth's uncle, named Bob (uncle Bob?!), then that should appease the ghost. In order to accomplish this, Zombie lures in many other local alligator hunters as fodder to trick Trent into believing the scheme is legitimate while simultaneously convincing Marybeth to bring uncle Bob along. The audience is bombarded with many new characters which, to the film's credit, have somewhat entertaining personalities, but they aren't as memorable as the original cast. I especially liked Justin whom is the brother of the tour guide from part one except they are both played by Parry Shen. Other than a few token scenes and inside jokes, pretty much nothing happens for almost a full hour! This film is only 85 minutes with the credits and you can't even get to the main action until about the 55 minute mark?! Even with this in mind, the kills manage to be uninspired, too fast, and lack any kind of creativity that would have fit the characters you just spent an hour setting up. In the end everyone dies and you think it's finally over until Marybeth reveals that uncle Bob was just the guy's nickname and that her real uncle died years ago. Upon realizing this fact, Victor emerges to fight Zombie and kills him off with the best death of the film. Then Marybeth goes berserk and slashes at Victor with a hatchet until she blows his head off with a shotgun as the film cuts to black. As soon as the credits roll, you're immediately struck with this sense of wondering "what was the point?" Basically, this is the plot of part one except from Marybeth's perspective and the ghost tour has been replaced by hunters. Lame.

I don't know what happened here because this is the kind of shenanigans I'd expect if the film was made only a year or less after the first, but this had the time to be refined. In some ways, this film has a richer story than the original, but it takes too long to get going and has a general sense of pointlessness. The characters are not as interesting and the subtraction of the homage elements hurt the approach. Ms. Harris does a good job as usual, and I'm glad they added her, but I hate nonsensical changes like this especially when the director has kept the reason for the adjustment purposely vague. Eh, this was simply a mediocre film overall, and I can't really recommend it unless you already liked part one.

Notable Moment: When Jack Cracker is watching Shapiro's video and the hilarious shit that that idiot was recording with it. I mean, this scene is so unnecessary and is nothing more than filler, but it's really funny with some cameos.

Final Rating: 5/10