Movies
[BD Review] ‘Hatchet III’ Plays Like A ‘Friday the 13th’ Fan Film
Back in 2006, when Bloody Disgusting was pretty much the sole horror website in town, we caught wind of, and championed (with the help of SpookyDan) an indie slasher by the name of Hatchet. Adam Green took his childhood obsession of 80’s slashers and created his own lore, featuring Victor Crowley (played by Kane Hodder). Even though films like Saw, Hostel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of 1,000 Corpses paved the way for Green, he was the first to translate that into an indie production – while also injecting some fun into a decade littered by the term “torture porn.” At the time, he not only plastered the screen with insane amounts of gore, but also cast horror icons (Robert Englund, Tony Todd and Kane Hodder) in fan fodder that was reminiscent of Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses. It was “cool” back in 2006. Two sequels later, Hatchet plays more like a Friday the 13th fan film than an original slasher that could elevate the genre. It’s a bit stale.
BJ McDonnell directs this time around, but the screenplay is still by Green. This ties McDonnell’s hands and turns him basically into a “work for hire.” Instead of turning this franchise into something special, it sort of treads in similar waters, hoping that a higher body count is enough to impress the “Hatchet Army.”
Hatchet III opens immediately after the last film’s finale, Marybeth (played once again by Danielle Harris) has apparently just finished off Crowley. He sits right back up (an homage to Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th films) and engages her in one “final” battle that ends in epic form. It’s astoundingly violent, chaotic and fun. Marybeth drops into the Sheriff’s station with Crowley’s scalp, “I killed him.” He’s dead, for now.
While a team is sent to investigate the grounds and clean up all the bodies, Marybeth sits in prison, acts like a complete jerk, and (literally) spits in the face of multiple police trying to help. This time Caroline Williams is the new “old school” horror actress to join the motley crew, starring as Amanda, an ex-reporter hoping to clear her name after embarrassing herself with a Crowley piece. She knows that Marybeth can prove her right after all these years and simultaneously lift the curse that resurrects Victor night after night. They embark on an extremely boring adventure to Sid Haig’s (another cameo!) house to collect the ashes of Crowley’s father…
Meanwhile, the cleanup crew is decimated by Crowley and a new team is sent in, this one headed by Derek Mears (another horror icon, get it?!). Mears is actually pretty great in his role as Hawes, playing a bully with way too much confidence. Clearly the stage is set for a battle between him and Crowley.
From here on out the audience will enjoy a plethora of death sequences that range from beheadings to entire spinal columns being ripped out. The story, well, who gives a shit at this point as it clearly gets lost in its effort to BE the ultimate Friday the 13th film…
It’s not. One reason is because it’s a Hatchet movie. Another reason? Well, Victor Crowley kind of sucks. While I’m not insulting the film’s effects crew, who did a tremendous job, Crowley is a poor man’s rendering of Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th Part 2. With him running around roaring like a bear and clearly being shown in more than one place at the same time, it becomes apparent that what we’re watching is, as I stated before, a Friday the 13th fan film. It’s incredibly disappointing to me that no effort was taken to elevate Crowley to a new level… instead Green injects a loophole that brings Crowley back to his original form each and every night. As a “repeater” he’s immortal in his initial form, disallowing him from sustaining further deformities or physical injuries for more than one night. So Hatchet III basically becomes a rehash of the first two films. Been there, done that.
This comes as a shock as Green clearly listened to critics after the second entry, he even pokes fun at himself showing he learned from his mistakes (when a character starts to explain the mythology, again, another character immediately shuts him up). But the biggest problem is that he doesn’t seem to understand that “goofy” isn’t the same as “fun.” Hatchet III rights the ship a bit with the humor, but the characters play as hokey instead of deadpan serious. Humor should lay in the situation, not because Adam Green makes two cameos as a Marti Gras partier in a cell opposite Danielle Harris. Still, he deserves some props for injecting humor and giving us some lighter fare that’s more entertaining to watch…
The biggest upside, besides the gore, is the film’s pacing. Other than Amanda and Marybeth’s side plot that curbs the energy, Hatchet III tears along on a rapid pace. It’s essentially 100% better than Hatchet II.
I can’t speak for the entire horror community, but I feel as if they want to see elevated horror in 2013. Filmmakers should be showing their love and admiration for classics by furthering the genre (see You’re Next) instead of harking back to the classics with 100 cameos and geek references (Crowley sits up Jason-style twice). I think McDonnell did an absolutely incredible job with what he was given and at the very least delivers some gore and thrills that hardcore horror fans are going to eat up. I had a pretty good time, even though I couldn’t shake the feeling I was watching a 10-year-old’s vision of Friday the 13th.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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