Posted on: January 13, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Hatchet / 2007 Starz / 84 Minutes / http://www.hatchetmovie.com / http://www.starzhomeent.com /

Hatchet is the latest release by Anchor Bay, and this horror (directed by Adam Green, who only had one movie – Coffee & Donuts – to eir credit before releasing this movie). There is some star power to this movie; Joel David Moore (Dodgeball), Deon Richmond (from Scream 3) and Mercedes McNab (Buffy) are all given substantial roles during the film. Of particular note, however, are the presences of Kane Hodder (Jason), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Tony Todd (Candyman). Essentially, the story goes  s soon. Some tourists are going down to New Orleans to see how scary a haunted swamp tour really is, and they end up brutalized, mutilated, and dead by the end of the film.

The original version of Hatchet came out in April; December saw the release of the “Unrated Director’s Cut”. Aside from the movie, this DVD comes with a generous amount of features that will have viewers coming back to the DVD for some time after the movie ends. This means that there is a gag reel, a very detailed audio commentary featuring Adam, the Cinematographer Will Barratt, as well as Moore, Feldman, and Richmond. “The Making of Hatchet”, coupled with the trailer, provides individuals with that much more in the way of information concerning some parts of the film that would not be explained any other way. Of course, this version is leaps and bounds ahead of the original, rated version due to the fact that certain cuts had to be made to allow certain stores to stock the original. This director’s cut puts the movie back to how it was originally intended to be screened, and the inclusion of these bonus features ensures that individuals know exactly how to take the movie.

Now, whether individuals will actually sit down to watch the features before watching the movie is another thing, but all the information is present to allow viewers to get everything that they could conceivably get out of “Hatchet”.  Green is a new filmmaker, and the strength of this film in coming off fresh despite the fact that it is a horror movie shows that Green has tremendous talent. I look forward to seeing and hearing more from Green in the near future – give Hatchet a spin (or a few spins) and then keep your ear to the ground and see what news is released about Green in the years to come.

Rating: 7.0/10

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