Film Review: TO HELL AND BACK: THE KANE HODDER STORY (2017)

Documentaries that focused on a single individual can fall into two camps – one is that it’s too pretentious to actually say something serious about the subject or two it tells a well-rounded and comprehensive look at the subject’s life and career both the good and the bad.  Unfortunately, the second one only actually happens when the subject has already passed on.  So it is with great pleasure that To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story (2017) belongs in the second type and Kodder is very much still alive.

For those of you who are not familiar of who Kane Hodder is (and I doubt there is a single horror fan who doesn’t know who he is), Hodder is a stunt actor/stunt coordinator/actor most famous most famous for playing the immortal Jason Voorhees in four of the Friday the 13^th films as well as the character of Victory Crowley in the four Hatchet films (the forth film called simply Victor Crowley).  In addition to this Hodder has worked on a ton of films including Demolition Man (1993), House (1985), Se7en (1995), and Spawn (1997), to name a small few of the films. 

In this film Hodder goes into intimate details about being a young child who was abused to an early accident where he was horrendously burned to his current recovery and insistent on always helping others.  This is reiterated by a huge cast of actors and fellow crew members who relate their stories of working with Hodder on very productions.  Some of the people featured included John Carl Buechler, Sean S. Cunningham, Bruce Campbell, Robert England, Adam Green, and Bill Moseley, with is just a small sampling of the people interviewed.

Directed by Derek Dennis Herbert, this could have easily been a talking heads documentary about Hodder but the stories these people tell show a brighter like on Hodder as a person and Hodder’s own recollections shed a light on how he overcame so many elements in his life that would have crippled other people.  This is not just a film about the man and his work but a film that gets into the deeper character of a man who has continuously faced challenges head on and never letting anyone or anything decide his own fate other than himself.

This is an amazing story of an amazing individual that has had a profound effect on the horror genre and horror fans in general and this is a great film that expertly separates the myth from the man.

Film Review: VICTOR CROWLEY (2017)

Director Adam Green returns to his most famous creation in the third sequel in the Hatchet franchise Victor Crowley (2017).  Designed as a new chapter in the ongoing series since in this film Andrew (Parry Shen) takes center stage from the character of MaryBeth in the original Hatchet trilogy.  This is actually a great idea as it breathes new life in the franchise.

Years after the events of Hatchet III (2013), Andrew finds himself entangled in controversy whereas the greater public believes he was the true killer of the Hatchet murders.  Andrew is promoting his new book which tells the true story of what happened so that he can better clear his name…and make some money on the side.  Everything isn’t going as well as hoped and when his manager Kathleen (Felissa Rose) suggests that he return to the scene of the crime for a television show for a quick payday he jumps at the opportunity.  Misfortune hits them even harder when the plane carrying Andrew and the team of television host and crew crash lands in Victor Crowley’s (Kane Hodder) swamp.  Also, unbeknownst to Parry is that an independent film crew are also in the swap wanting to produce an indie film about the Hatchet murders; when they unknowingly resurrect Victor Crowley from his watery grave Parry and the television crew and the indie film crew find themselves trapped in Crowley’s swamp whom will stop at nothing at killing each and every one of them.

Despite being a fan of the original film, I wasn’t as big a fan of the first two sequels but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t just as entertaining and gory as anything being produced at the time.  Most of the actual story was in the original film and therefore there was little else to explore in the sequels.  This film is a completely different animal as it is fully aware of the horror fan culture with the addition of swamp tours and Victor Crowley souvenirs that can be purchased by tourists.  The addition of Crowley’s resurrection spell being available on You Tube as well as the “talk show” references to the television crew and Blair Witch Project indie film crew references give this film a lot of material to mine and riff at which makes this film infinitely more engaging and entertaining.  There are just so many great moments in the script that it would take forever to name them all but just let me tell you that this film was made by and designed for by horror fans.  The only real downside is that Crowley becomes nothing more than a force of mayhem and destruction with little time spent on developing his character any more than what we’ve already gotten in previous films but there is just as much gore and utter destruction in this film as in previous films which will satisfy horror fans.

One of the interesting aspects to this film is that it was filmed completely in secrecy and unveiled as a surprise to audiences.  When you view the film, you’’ll realize that most of it takes place in a single location (the crashed airplane) which makes for an interesting homage to Night of the Living Dead, where a group of people are trapped in a single location against a great evil outside the doors.  The film looks great (as usual) but the self-referential references set this film apart from the previous sequels.  This film also has a healthy amount of humor and as also Hodder provides some amazing physical and makeup FX.  This is a great addition to the Hatchet franchise and it opens the world up to different approaches in further sequels.

Film Review: HATCHET III (2013)

Infamous urban legend Victory Crowley returns to kill again in Hatchet III (2013) which takes place directly after the previous film.  There are a few differences most importantly that writer/director Adam Green is not behind the camera this time but instead just on board as writer and producer of this film while BJ McDonnell is making his directorial debut after having worked in the camera department on the previous two films in the franchise. 

The film finds the sole survivor of the previous film Marybeth (Danielle Harris) walking into the police headquarters having killed Victor Crowley by cutting up into many pieces.  The police lead by Sheriff Fowler (Zach Galligan) take her into custody as a suspect in the murders of almost 30 people (victims from the previous film).  It’s not long before the spirit of Victor Crowley returns to kill everyone that enters his swamp which includes an entire police department and S.W.A.T. team (among paramedics and various other people).  Along for the ride is disgraced reporter Amanda (Caroline Williams), who also happens to be the Sheriff’s ex-wife and an expert on the legend of Crowley.

I happened to really enjoy the first film in the Hatchet series and while I didn’t care much for the first sequel, I loved the addition of Danielle Harris as Marybeth and who doesn’t like Kane Hodder as the immortal Victor Crowley?  This film tries to finally explain the whole legend of Crowley but quickly becomes a kill-spree free for all with some imaginative kills.  It lacks finesse but it is extremely fun and actor Parry Shen returns as another different character in the film.

Gore and slasher fans will enjoy this film tremendously but as a stand-alone film it doesn’t really hold up as well as the previous films.

Movie Review: THE AFFLICTED (2010)

There’s one thing I have to hand it to the film makers behind the “Based on a True Story” The Afflicted (2010) and that is that they know how to use Leslie Easterbrook.  Easterbrook has made a comeback which started with Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects (and continued with the remake of Zombie’s Halloween and the 2008 version of Ted Dekker’s novel House) but now she’s popping up everywhere but in this film she takes center stage as an overzealous religious fanatic who starts to lose control when her husband (played by horror icon Kane Hodder) decides to leave her.  Being a horror film Easterbrook doesn’t let her husband leave quietly and she spends the rest of the film torturing her children whom she keeps locked up in the house.  Easterbrook puts Carrie White’s mother to shame and the film is better for it. 

Despite Easterbrook’s manic performance the rest of the film is not as interesting as from the beginning the audience wonders why the four children stuck in the domineering household just don’t get up and run away or pick up any of the household items available to use against their mother.  In the film Carrie (1976) we understand why she never leaves home which is because she has no friends and nowhere to go,  but Easterbrook’s children are not awkward or outcasts but seem “normal.”  By the time one of them decides to run away it’s too late and she doesn’t even run far enough away to actually get away but instead stops to hide in a shed where she is easily recaptured.

The film lacks any real focus and is meant to be a decent into madness and chaos but it really comes off as timid and unbelievable especially towards the final moments of the film.  Directed by Jason Stoddard, the film does a good job of letting Easterbrook do what she’s good at.  When she is not on the screen the film lacks the immediacy and carnage that she does so well.  Just imagine the scenes in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) when Michael Rooker is not on the screen and you know what I mean.

The Afflicted is not a horrible film but it could have been one if not for Easterbrook.  This is a film for Easterbrook fans while much everyone else will probably just dismiss it as another anemic horror film.