HATCHET III

Stars: Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Zach Galligan, Caroline Williams, Parry Shen, Robert Diago DoQui, Derek Mears, Rileah Vanderbilt and Jason Trost.
Writer: Adam Green
Director: BJ McDonnell

Rating: 3/5

Finding a comfortable middle-ground between the jokey tone of the first instalment and the overly grim milieu of its sequel, the third chapter in the gruesome adventures of vengeful spirit Victor Crowley is a cartoonish splatter-fest for hardcore fans of the genre.

The tone is set in a pre-credit sequence that picks up exactly where #2 concluded. Heroine Marybeth (archetypal final-girl Danielle Harris) is putting what she believes to be the finishing touches to her nemesis, Louisiana hillbilly-demon Crowley (series fave Kane Hodder). She stumbles out of the Honey island Swamp and into the Jefferson Parish Police Department, where Sheriff Fowler (Gremlin’s Zach Galligan) takes her blood-splattered visage (and the fact that she is carrying a human scalp) as reason enough to suspect her of the carnage she claims to have witnessed.

Deputies and paramedics dispatched to the scene soon fall foul of the resurrected Crowley, who favours the titular tool but is not above using his boot heel, a tree trunk or bare hands to do his bloody bidding. The sheriff and a SWAT unit (where they materialised from is never clear) face off against Crowley; Marybeth, Deputy Winslow (Robert Diago DoQui) and Amanda (Caroline Williams), a journalist with a passion for the Crowley legend make their own way to the bayou with what may prove to be the secret to ending Crowley’s spree for good.

Writer Adam Green hands the directorial reins over to BJ McDonnell, who graduates from his camera operator role on the first two films. The debutant lacks the style of his mentor, but he embraces the aesthetic of the 80’s slasher flicks upon which Green based his original (a minor hit theatrically, finding most of its fanbase on DVD). Adding to the melancholy sense of retro-fun is some earnest, over-wrought thesping, a cast rich in B-horror identities (including a loopy cameo by the great Sid Haig) and nonsensical plotting designed to serve no other purpose than get to the final confrontation.

All of which, somehow, adds up to an enjoyably daft gore-fest. The slayings are generally of the kind that inspire giggles rather than gasps; many look to be from the lower-end of the make-up effects industry that thrive on the slasher sector. Although the likes of Friday the 13^th, Halloween and Scream got respectable via studio budgets and name talent, Hatchet III more specifically recalls the output from indie outfits like Troma. Which, given the energy and thrills provided by McDonnell's bare-bones bloodbath, is perhaps exactly as it should be…

Hatchet III will screen as part of Monster Fest 2013 on Friday, November 29. Visit the website for further details.