Hatchet (film)

the 2006 horror film

Hatchet is a 2006 American slasher film written and directed by Adam Green. The film has an ensemble cast, including Joel David Moore, Kane Hodder, Deon Richmond, Tamara Feldman, Richard Riehle, Mercedes McNab, Robert Englund, and Tony Todd. The plot follows a group of tourists on a New Orleans haunted swamp tour, who accidentally get stranded in the wilderness, only to be hunted by a vengeful, supernatural deformed man who kills anyone that enters the swamp. The film's successes spawned a film series including three sequels. A comic book series followed thereafter.

Sampson and his son Ainsley are hunting alligators in a swamp. While Ainsley is urinating, Sampson falls silent; Ainsley finds Sampson dead before he too is killed by an unseen being. During a Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, a group of friends including Ben and his best friend Marcus decide to go on a swamp tour. They find the tour closed because the guide, Rev. Zombie, was sued for negligence. Rev. Zombie suggests they try a place farther down the street, owned by the inexperienced tour guide Shawn. Ben pays for himself and Marcus, and Shawn leads them to his tour bus, where the other tourists, Jim and Shannon Permatteo, a Minnesota married couple, two models, Misty, Jenna and their agent, Shapiro, and hot tempered Marybeth are waiting. Guiding their boat through the swamp, they are warned to leave by a hermit, Jack Cracker whose warnings are dismissed. As they venture further, the boat begins to sink which forces them to abandon it. Jim is then bitten and injured by an alligator while Marybeth finds an abandoned shack which she identifies as the old Crowley house. Marybeth tells the story of how deformed Victor Crowley and his father, Thomas lived in the house until Victor's accidental death when Thomas accidentally struck Victor in the head with a hatchet while trying to free him from the house when it caught fire due to teens throwing fireworks at it in an attempt to scare Victor. After Thomas's eventual death, Victor is now said to roam the swamp as a vengeful spirit, killing those he comes across. Marybeth warns the group that they aren't safe in the swamp, but they dismiss her story as an urban legend. As Jim and Shannon approach the house, Victor appears and kills them, causing the group to flee. Shapiro splits from the group and is killed by Victor. The remaining survivors decide to return to the house where they can arm themselves. While at the house, Marybeth and Ben discover Sampson and Ainsley's remains. Marybeth reveals they were her father and brother and she had come to the swamp to find their bodies. Victor then ambushes the group and critically injures Jenna with a belt sander. Shawn attempts to save Jenna by attacking Victor with a shovel but is disarmed and decapitated with it by Victor, who then finishes Jenna off by impaling her with the shovel. The survivors decide to lure Victor back to his house and set him on fire with the gasoline tanks in the shed. While they do this, Misty goes missing; Ben then discovers her mutilated body when Victor throws her remains at him. Luring Victor into the house, the group ignites the tanks and sets Victor on fire, but rainfall extinguishes the fires. Victor then kills Marcus and chases after Ben and Marybeth, where Ben's foot is impaled by a pole thrown by Victor. Marybeth and Ben push the pole forward, resulting in Victor to be impaled on it when he charges after them, seemingly killing him. Taking a spare boat out of the swamp, Marybeth falls into the water and is ensnared by seaweed. She sees Ben's hand at the surface reaches up to it and is pulled out; only to be met by Victor, who had severed Ben's arm and used it to bait Marybeth. The film ends with Victor grabbing Marybeth as Ben lies dying in the boat.

Director Adam Green said that he got the idea for Victor Crowley's backstory when he attended Camp Avoda in 1983 at age 8. During the first day at camp, the counsellors had warned the kids that a man named Hatchet Face would "come and get them" if they got near a particular cabin. Since Green was starting to get into horror movies, he decided to make up a backstory for Hatchet Face, which he told to the rest of the kids in his cabin that same night. This backstory, which involved a deformed boy accidentally being killed by his father who was trying to save him from a house fire, was eventually re used for Victor Crowley's origin story. In an attempt to ensue financing for the film, producer Sarah Elbert convinced Green and cinematographer Will Barratt to shoot a brief teaser trailer in New Orleans before writing the script. The teaser simply consisted of establishing shots that Barratt filmed during a swamp tour, with narration done by the young daughter of one of Elbert's friends relaying Victor's backstory. The teaser was met with widespread praise upon release, and Green was able to earn sufficient funding for the film.

Hatchet was selected for the 2006 London FrightFest Film Festival at The Odeon West End on August 25, 2006. It was introduced on stage by Adam Green who hosted a Q&A session afterwards. Hatchet was selected for Sitges International Film Festival in Spain in 2006. Hatchet was selected for Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, in 2006. The film sold out both nights, resulting in extra folding chairs having to be set up in the theater and audience members sitting in the aisles. The film won the audience award for "Best Picture" as well as jury prizes for "Best Actor" (Kane Hodder) and "Best Special Effects". Hatchet was selected for Germany's Fantasy Film Festival in 2006. As part of the festival, the film toured Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Bochum, Hamburg and Berlin.