Hatchet III Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: The police investigate the many deaths at Victor Crowley's house only to end up as more victims as Marybeth and a journalist attempt to end the curse.

Review: Something I've noticed about these films is that the makers appear to be so confused in the direction they want this franchise to go. You have the first film as an homage to '80s slashers, part two as a retread but trying to explore their own storyline more, and then you have this film as more of an action/slasher to the point that it bordered on a creature feature. As I already discussed, the writers want Victor to be like Jason, but they keep emphasizing that he's a ghost so it continue to never make absolute sense. This time around, Victor has become Jason on steroids as he's virtually a walking tank able to absorb all kinds of physical injury and regenerate almost immediately. This is especially frustrating and creates continuity errors when we see Victor go down after a single bullet in part one, and Zombie and Trent are able to hold their own in a fist fight against Victor in part two; in this entry, nothing can stop him and he can easily manhandle anyone without effort. But this isn't to say everything about this film was bad as it did a great number of things better than part two.

Once again, the film picks up immediately where the previous entry ended after Marybeth, played by my dear Danielle Harris, had blown away Victor's head. Victor quickly regenerates and Marybeth kills him yet again by cutting him in half on Victor's own giant chainsaw while taking a piece of his scalp before leaving the bayou. From here she turns herself into the police, for whatever reason, ranting about how she killed Victor Crowley. Fans of Ms. Harris should greatly appreciate the near nude body shot as all the blood is washed away, but, as much as I love her, I'm not a fan of her body-length tattoo. The sheriff, played excellently by Zach Galligan, gives one of the best monologues ever as he lays out the ridiculous plot to "Hatchet II" and demonstrates that the writers are fully aware of how idiotic and half-assed it was. The sheriff's ex-wife, a journalist, learns of Marybeth's run in with Victor and seeks vindication for her beliefs in the local legends as she probes Marybeth for information. While the two ladies discuss matters, the police have sent a large task force to investigate the many deaths and bodies saturating the bayou in Victor's wake. Even more new characters are introduced, in the same manner as the previous entries, as they have entertaining personalities and their own little quirks that make them interesting. I will say this, these films do not disappoint in regards to creative characters that do come off as realistic or at least that some good writing with implemented in their creations. Parry Shen also returns as a third character which was quite humorous as they address his resemblance to Justin's dead body.

The journalist has been convinced that Victor's ghost is trapped in a loop because he is forever seeking his father. She concludes that if the person responsible for Victor's death would give him Thomas Crowley's ashes then it would destroy the ghost once and for all. Since Sampson is dead, the only person left alive that can end the curse is none other than Marybeth. The journalist enlists the aid of a cop to retrieve the ashes as they force Marybeth to go back to the bayou to give the ashes to Victor. All the while this is occurring, the cops are being turned into mincemeat by Victor as he tears through them like a dinosaur or something. This is really annoying because he shouldn't be this powerful, but this was the direction they chose to go in. Eventually everyone is killed except Marybeth, again, as even she is brought close to death after Victor impales her torso onto a tree branch. She then smashes the urn that holds Thomas' ashes over Victor's head which does, in fact, kill him as he dissolves into sludge with only his skeleton remaining intact. Marybeth fears he will still resurrect so she poises to shoot him with a shotgun, but decides to shoot him anyway after he fails to regenerate. Parry Shen's character emerges alive with a rescue helicopter looming overhead, but Marybeth's ultimate fate lies unknown as she breathes weakly when the film ends.

I'm still disappointed that this franchise never continued with the homage route, but at least there was something new going on compared to part two. The pacing has definitely been tightened with more going on even if it's mostly shallow kill scenes. Speaking of which, the deaths are significantly better than the first two entries with much more creativity. The characters are still fun and unique and set themselves apart from the previous films so it never gets stale. The final defeat of Victor was satisfying assuming this is truly the end. And, of course, my dear Ms. Harris still turns in a performance with conviction. On the other hand, the story still felt weak and as if the writers were unsure of what to do with Victor since his plotline is paper thin, Victor was inconsistently too powerful and the filmed played out more like an action film, and the overall presentation was only slightly better than part two as a whole. I mean, this franchise has nothing on Jason, but I can appreciate their attempts. It might have been more amusing if each film further parodied the major franchises rather than drifting off into Victor's backstory which is not interesting or original in the slightest. As it stands, this is a better installment than part two, but nowhere near as fun as the original. I'd say it's worth checking out if you were turned off by part two, but if you couldn't even get into the original, what are you doing watching these films?!

Notable Moment: When we see Ben, somehow still alive, pop up only to immediately be dispensed with saying, "You gotta be fucking kidding me." It was great!

Final Rating: 5.5/10