This week, I was lucky enough to get an early copy of Victor Crowley, the latest Adam Green film.

Victor Crowley is the fourth film in the Hatchet franchise, and I was eager to see it. Green made this entire film in secret and it’s announcement was sprung onto the horror community last year. Shortly thereafter, a screening tour followed. Now, with the movie soon to be released on home video, I was finally able to see it. Victor Crowley takes place 10 years after the events of Hatchet 3. Parry Shen returns to the role of Andrew Yong, supposedly the only survivor of the “swamp massacre”, who has written a book about his horrific experience. Due to its popularity, the legend of Victor Crowley is now known all over.  Others begin to try to cash in on it. That brings us to our other protagonists, first of which is Chase Williamson as Alex. Williamson is starting to become one of my new favorite genre actors, with films like John Dies at the End and Beyond the Gates on his resume.  Alex is the boyfriend of Chloe, played by Katie Booth. We are also introduced to Laura Ortiz’ Rose, the couple’s friend who is helping them with make-up effects for a film. Dave Sheridan, as Dillon, provides a lot of well written comic relief here, keeping tradition with earlier installments. His character is an aspiring actor, who also runs tours of the old Victor Crowley swamp.  Kane Hodder returns as Victor Crowley, and this time brings new elements to the antagonist. We are used to seeing Victor just rushing at his victims and taking them out with little or no problem. With the premise modified, it was really cool to see a tactical side to Victor, showing us that he’s not just some big hulking monster.

Now, let’s talk about the man behind the camera. In my opinion, Adam Green is one of the few filmmakers working in contemporary horror who really understands the genre, especially with this slasher franchise. He actually creates victims we care about. It seems that some writers think that just because everyone is going to get killed, the audience shouldn’t care about them. It’s because of this, that a lot of those characters are insufferable piles of garbage. By doing this, your audience has nothing to get invested in, other then some cool kills. Luckily though, Green knows how to provide both.

 

Victor Crowley will be available on VOD and Blu-Ray on February 6th, 2018.