I first bought Hatchet whilst looking for cheap DVDs to entertain us whilst on holiday. I'm a sucker for a good old horror, so we got it, and an hour and a half of pure entertainment followed.
Adam Green's mainstream debut takes on a familiar slasher plot: a bunch of people, stranded in a swamp after a botched ghost boat tour, being terrorised and picked off by horribly disfigured Victor Crowley, a man accidentally killed by his father by a hatchet blow to the face. Is he still alive? Is he a ghost? Is he invincible? It's not clear, but many slasher culprits tend to take on this otherworldly state.
But despite a common horror formula, Green has put painstaking effort into making the deaths as original as possible, and he does it perfectly. I guarantee you'll never have seen anything like these- they are truly imaginative gems! Having watched the features on the DVD as well, I can confirm just how painstaking the director's effort really was. He vowed to use not a single frame of CGI, and the authenticity and craft that went into fulfilling this vow is outstanding. One particularly outstanding sequence was designed specifically to show an amazingly gruesome death in a single shot to prove that no shortcuts were taken. It was one of those 'one chance only' shots, and it is the most revolting, yet most masterful sequence in the film.
Another aspect Green incorporated was, in fact, comedy. But he made a very valid point: "Comedy works in horror, as long as you don't combine the two." He exercises this tip expertly. Victor Crowley's sudden blood-splattered appearances are terrifying, yet some of the character's dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny. And somehow, neither diminishes the other.
I might also add that Green managed to recruit some top-notch horror actors- Robert Englund, Tony Todd and Kane Hodder bring their slasher expertise to the table.
Adam Green brings youthful yet artistic craftsmanship to his first big movie, and every aspect is carefully constructed to full effect. The scares are shocking, the laughs are hilarious, and the effects are spot on. This is what makes it one of the most all-round entertaining horror films I've ever seen.
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