Good evening Folks

Today I am looking 3 movies for the price of one, and with this change comes a change in format to a degree. It wont be drastically different but rather than review each of these movies one by one, I will review them as whole. Why do this, you may ask? Well the answer to that is simple, because these three movies were made with the intent that people could watch them all in one sitting and follow a coherent linear story line. For you see, Hatchet 2 directly picks up minutes after the first movie ended, and Hatchet 3 picks up exactly at the second movies ending. Giving us a rarity in any genre, a trilogy of movies not set within weeks or months of each other, but hours. To add to this rather interesting take, the movie also bolsters a collection of practical special effects, due to the fact the director wanted to use as little special effects as humanly possible, and some veteran horror movie actors in the guise of Robert Englund, Tony Todd, and Kane Hodder. Honestly this is a movie(s) that any horror or special effects fan should watch, just due to how much fun they are and the call backs to classic slasher flicks. So without further delay, lets take a look at Adam Greens Horror Trilogy "Hatchet".



The next two trailers contain some spoilers. So watch them if you dont mind spoilers.

Hatchet 2 Trailer :

Hatchet 3 Trailer:

Run Time:
Hatchet - 83 mins
Hatchet 2 - 85 mins
Hatchet 3 - 82 mins

Total Run Time: 4hrs 10 mins

Basic Plot: A group of tourists embark on a late night boat ride in New Orleans on a tour of the haunted Louisiana Bayou, and its local legend Victory Crowley. Victor was a horribly disfigured man who was accidentally killed by his own father with a hatchet when some local kids light his shack on fire. However, while some on the trip believe the story is more true than fake, the truth comes to light when after their boat sinks they come face to face with the legend himself. As he takes them out one by one, the survivors who do escape seek help, and what follows is a three night massacre of a collection of victims. Can they stop him? And possibly put the ghost of Victor Crowley to rest?

What these movies do right: So I am counting these movies as both a whole and individually, due to the fact that they do all follow a linear story with each movie picking up directly after its previous entry. Hence why the basic plot section isnt longer, so to avoid MAJOR spoilers to the plot. However, this movie does a lot of things right in different places, knowing what it is and even poking fun at certain characters in the process.
First off this movie's practical effects are great. Blood, gorey, and messy goodness is found everywhere in this story. You can tell there was a lot of work put into each death. This is due to the fact that Adam Green didnt want to rely heavily on CGI effects for the movie, and it really shows.
Secondly, you have horror movie Juggernauts like Robert Englund and Tony Todd playing minor/supporting roles in the movie, yet somewhat major roles when it comes to the plot itself. They are not throw away characters that the movie could have done without, because without them the plot would be different. To cap it all off we have Kane Hodder playing the deformed mountain man Victor Crowley and his father, bringing his years of playing slashers to good use in this role.
Third in the three films one actor plays three different characters. Two being related to one another and the third pointing out that its racist to think that all Asians look alike. This is a nice little jab at the actor himself, and a little break of the fourth wall to remind you that this is once again a movie. This movie(s) adds in a lot of darkly comic moments like the one above that verge on the form of meta humor at times, that puts you at ease and causes enjoyment even if your just a casual horror fan.
The main selling point of this movie(s) is how the three films so flawlessly flow together. I have read that the directors intent was that if you were to remove the credits and opening titles you would have a full length movie. Which I have already mentioned but it doesnt make it any less true. Despite taking a total of 7 years to make, all the actors returned an honestly looks as if they shot the entire 3 movies one after the other. Granted you want to have a lot of time on your hands if you were to get through them all in one sitting,but it is entirely doable. Just be prepared for a lot of blood and guts on the way.
There is just so much I could talk about for these movies, but I also dont want to give too much away in the process.It follows the traditional deformed killer story that is a horror staple and having the legendary Kane Hodder play him brings a little Jason to Victors movements, which I will address later. Its just a fun dumb movie for fans of slasher films, who want to see a bunch of people violently murdered without and enjoy some of the meta humor in the process.

What this movie does wrong: Well, despite my overall love for the films and story I cannot deny this film has some faults in it.
Lets discuss the elephant in the room right off the bat and bring up the fact that this set up has been done to death. The deformed mountain man is a classic arch type for these kind of movies, but the feels and sounds like Jason Vorhees' story doesnt really help the movie. Honestly it doesnt help that Jason Actor Kane Hodder plays Victor either, but I dont know if this is done intentionally to be meta or not. However, thats where it kind of dips in quality. If you have seen a slasher flick you will come across all of the cliches in this movie that really become apparent as the movie goes on.
The movie also has the downside of being too meta at times. Reminding us that this is a movie and dragging us out of the story. This can become distracting at times, which isnt bad when you realize your watching some cheezy slasher flick(s). The amount of cameos of other horror film actors is also distracting, despite how cool it is to see them all in a movie or movies together.

Performance's: This movie is chalk full of all kinds of performances, from the cheezy, to the standouts, to the outright bad. We see actors from our favorite classic horrors as mentioned above, but we also see Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2's Caroline Williams, Texas Chainsaw 3's R.A Mihailoff, Your Nexts A.J Brown, Swamp Things Derek Mears, and the late Sig Haig from Devils Rejects, all appear in minor or supporting roles throughout the 3 movies. Each of the actors give good performance's with only some of the younger actors falling behind. They play familiar characters in their own right, but also bring something new to the able in their portrayals. Add to the fact that some of the in jokes of the movies relay on the characters themselves and you have to find enjoyment in it. For example both Kane Hodder and Derek Mears played Jason Vorhees respectfully, and it feels like some kind of nod to the audience when the Classic actor is being hunted by the actor from the Remake. Felt like a whole Highlander like situation to me, if I am honest.

Kills: Given that I am counting all three movies as a singular movie there is a LOT of kills in the movie(s). Each of the kills becoming more bloody and intense as the story goes on. No slasher in the history of the genre can claim to be more unique, entertaining, creative and downright brutal as Victor Crowley. Rather than stick to one murder weapon at a time, Victor prefers to get down and dirty with his victims, often using his bare hands as his weapon, but not against using any tools he finds. The kills vary from being funny to being just brutal. One that sticks out in my mind, is when Victor cuts someone in half and not being done yet, grips the mans spine and rips it out SUB ZERO style. Honestly if your not sold already, then I give up.

Personal Opinion:
I found all three of these films very enjoyable, from the acting to the effects, but especially how the three movies took place within hours of each other, had the same cast, and only seemed to get better as the story went on. As a huge fan of the slasher genre I loved that these movies played tribute the classics as well as showed how effective practical effects can still be in modern times. Since its release Victor Crowley has even become an up and rising name among icons. The movies are enjoyable, simplistic, and dont take themselves too seriously in a genre and age where everything has to be super intense or serious in order to garner peoples attention OR has to be dumbed down to appease people of all walks of life. Its refreshing story and atmosphere make it feel like it was something out of the 80/90s with gore effects of the 00s. Each movie has its own worth and only gets more enjoyable as they go on, you may miss out on a cameo here and there, but you wont be disappointed when the body count starts rising.

Overall Score 8.6/10

The three movies as a whole garner this score, due to how brilliantly they connect and the amount of effort put into the special effects and gore. The cameos are fun, the story is funny in places and dark in others, and Hatchets Trilogy are movies that honest feel right at home in the slasher genre.

These are just some fun movies to watch and get drunk to

Kane Hodder is as spooky as Victor Crowley as he was during his run as Jason despite as you said, being more or less the same villain.

I enjoyed them and I have still got to watch 2017's Victor Crowley