Mercedes McNab

Hatchet

Midnight 2006 82 min

Directed By: Adam Green

World Premiere

Adam Green’s modern interpretation of the iconic late ’70s and early ’80s horror slasher flicks pits a deformed, hatchet-wielding baddie against a group of young Mardi Gras revelers on a "Haunted Swamp Tour." Filled with boobs, beer, beads, and buckets of blood, Hatchet sports a sly sense of humor and appearances by icons of the genre like Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), Kane Holder (Jason Voorhees), and Tony Todd (Candyman). But despite the many horror allusions, the film’s main draw is its classic story...On a haunted swamp tour of New Orleans, a motley crew of eight tourists and one guide are forced to abandon their sinking boat, leaving them stranded in what turns out to be the backyard of the ghost of Victor Crowley, a hideously deformed man who was mercilessly taunted by the locals and accidentally killed with a hatchet on Halloween. Local legend has it that Victor still roams the swamps, ripping victims apart with his bare hands-and the tourists soon learn there is truth to the legend. Crowley quickly starts his dismembering crusade, and the group initially freaks out in true Jamie Lee Curtis style. In between jokes about the Dawson’s Creek theme song and the shame of going to Hofstra University (Green’s alma mater), the group decides to fight back. Who among them will survive? The killer ending is sure to surprise you. - David Bushman