Hatchet III (2013) (Movie Review)
Director: BJ McDonnell
Starring: Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Zach Galligan
Coming Soon from Dark Sky Films
A search and recovery team heads into the haunted swamp to pick up the pieces and Marybeth learns the secret to ending the voodoo curse that has left Victor Crowley haunting and terrorizing Honey Island Swamp for decades.
I’ve been critical of the Hatchet franchise over the years for a bunch of different reasons. One of those reasons was because it just felt like someone took a whole lot of Friday the 13th and tossed it in a blender with Madman and Humongous, then sprinkled some genre legends on top. Hatchet III still feels that way overall. The thing is there is a whole heck of a lot of gore here to try to hide the fact and it more or less works to the point that you won’t care as much about all the little things. I still think the original actress that played Mary Beth worked better than Danielle Harris, but she remembers her accent this time and it never hurts to keep her in tight clothing on the screen. It also helps that she is genuinely funny even if her character doesn’t seem to do a whole lot. The funny and self-aware side of Hatchet III might be the next best thing to the gore. There are moments that make you laugh and the film seems more than able to laugh at its self and the franchise all together.
This is also a film that packs a lot of surprise cameos and shocks that will make the hardcore fans of the series mark-out, but not really matter to the rest of us. Some of these little pop-ups are nice to see here and there, but that doesn’t make a film. The genre legends we see in this one have mixed results. I think Caroline Williams’ character is a bit annoying and that was probably the point. I also think the small cameo from Sid Haig is hilarious and worthy of watching. The bottom line is Hatchet III has tons of gore, is funny, and well paced. At the end of the day if you love Hatchet you will surely love this and probably sing its praises a little too much, but some of the credit will be justified this time. All the rest of us will enjoy the gore if nothing else. Is Hatchet III worthy of a watch? Yep, it certainly is. It is also worth noting that I find it to be best of the three overall as well.
