Since you can’t keep a ghastly, swamp-lurking, supernaturally resilient killer down for long, the world of horror has been graced by a new Hatchet movie, named after the series’ terrifying villain, Victor Crowley. Writer-director Adam Green recently shared more details — and a teaser — for his surprise release.
Image: Dark Sky Films
As this brief clip suggests, the movie picks up 10 years after the gruesome slaughterfest of the first three films. The lone survivor (played by Parry Shen) is, quite understandably, still haunted by his experiences — though his situation is complicated by the fact that he’s become a bit of a media celebrity, and a lot of people have come to doubt his version of events. As Green explained to Entertainment Weekly:
Some people love him, a lot of people hate him, and now he’s written a book, which he is promoting on the tenth anniversary of the events of 2007. He is convinced to do one final interview back at the scene of the massacre, where he has never returned. Simultaneously to him going back there with this camera crew, that’s going to interview him, there is something else happening that brings back a little certain somebody.
The title character will be played, as always, by the hulking Kane Hodder, who ascended into the slasher pantheon by playing Jason Voorhees in three Friday the 13th films. Green, a horror megafan who has a band called Haddonfield (shout-out to Halloween!), is fond of casting genre legends in his films; the Hatchet series counts Robert “Freddy Krueger” Englund and Tony “Candyman” Todd among its alumni, and Felissa “Sleepaway Camp” Rose is in Victor Crowley. As it happens, Green’s fandom is part of what inspired him to make his new film: In a funk after the death of Nightmare on Elm Street director Wes Craven, he began the Victor Crowley script after encouragement from the late George A. Romero, who advised him to act on fan demand for another Hatchet movie.
And if you’re one of those fans, you’ll want to know that Victor Crowley is getting a bit of an unconventional release. After the surprise premiere in Hollywood last night, and a number of planned festival screenings, Green will take the movie on the road in the US for a series of one-night events that he’ll personally introduce. No doubt Green’s weekly podcast, The Movie Crypt, will be a good source of information on tour dates. An Australian release date has not yet been announced.