I don't know. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but I don't think I was the only one who actually believed "Hatchet" was going to be "Old school American Horror" as the tagline suggests. That's weird. If that sentence is a joke then it's not obvious enough. If it's meant seriously then it couldn't be further from the truth.
"Hatchet" isn't old school American Horror at all, more like "old-old school American post-Horror" in the tradition of movies who cashed in on famous horror icons by putting them into genre parodies. Movies like "Bud Abbott & Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein". Like those movies "Hatchet" includes typical genre elements (in this case gore and a slasher), but it never ever really tries to scare us. That's not a bad thing per se, if only the marketing of this flick hadn't been so misleading.
If you walk into "Hatchet" knowing that you're going to see a comedy, you're in for a good time. The jokes are coming fast, the lines are witty and the actors are all pretty funny (especially Deon Richmond steals the show). There are also some nice little cameos by slasher favorites (Robert "Freddy" Englund and Kane "Jason" Hodder appear together in yet another persiflage on the genre that made them famous, and Tony "Candyman" Todd makes a hilarious appearance, too).
Another thing that reminds me of Abbott and Costello and that prevents "Hatchet" from becoming horror in any way is the fake looking stage design. I don't know if it was done on purpose or if it was just a result of budget restrictions, but the swamp in which the characters get lost looks so like a studio it's distracting. The make up of Victor Crowley, the killer in this piece, also looks rather cheap and too much like Jason Vorheese ca. 1980. The whole movie plays like a remake of "Friday The 13th" and it's hard to tell whether that's meant to be a loving homage or if it's just a blatant rip off that writer/director Adam Green mistook for typical "Old school American horror". Add to that an unexpected abrupt ending and the confusion is perfect.
I'm still not sure what Green tried to achieve with "Hatchet". As a horror movie it sucks, but maybe it wasn't meant to be horror in the first place. As a comedy with some blood and gore in it, "Hatchet" is definitely one of the funnier movies to emerge from that sub-genre.
"Hatchet" isn't old school American Horror at all, more like "old-old school American post-Horror" in the tradition of movies who cashed in on famous horror icons by putting them into genre parodies. Movies like "Bud Abbott & Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein". Like those movies "Hatchet" includes typical genre elements (in this case gore and a slasher), but it never ever really tries to scare us. That's not a bad thing per se, if only the marketing of this flick hadn't been so misleading.
If you walk into "Hatchet" knowing that you're going to see a comedy, you're in for a good time. The jokes are coming fast, the lines are witty and the actors are all pretty funny (especially Deon Richmond steals the show). There are also some nice little cameos by slasher favorites (Robert "Freddy" Englund and Kane "Jason" Hodder appear together in yet another persiflage on the genre that made them famous, and Tony "Candyman" Todd makes a hilarious appearance, too).
Another thing that reminds me of Abbott and Costello and that prevents "Hatchet" from becoming horror in any way is the fake looking stage design. I don't know if it was done on purpose or if it was just a result of budget restrictions, but the swamp in which the characters get lost looks so like a studio it's distracting. The make up of Victor Crowley, the killer in this piece, also looks rather cheap and too much like Jason Vorheese ca. 1980. The whole movie plays like a remake of "Friday The 13th" and it's hard to tell whether that's meant to be a loving homage or if it's just a blatant rip off that writer/director Adam Green mistook for typical "Old school American horror". Add to that an unexpected abrupt ending and the confusion is perfect.
I'm still not sure what Green tried to achieve with "Hatchet". As a horror movie it sucks, but maybe it wasn't meant to be horror in the first place. As a comedy with some blood and gore in it, "Hatchet" is definitely one of the funnier movies to emerge from that sub-genre.