While slasher franchises rarely end for good, “Hatchet III” mostly wrapped up that particular series. The quest to bring Victor Crowley's curse to an end, to kill the unkillable ghost, seemed to be complete. 2017 marked the tenth anniversary of the original “Hatchet,” because we're all old and will be dead soon. Fans arrived at what they thought was a screening of the original film, only to be greeted with a surprise. They were actually shown a brand new sequel, entitled “Victor Crowley,” filmed in secret and to be released later in the year. It was a pretty great tactic to drum up interest in a series most people assumed was over, once again displaying Adam Green's marketing savvy. Once released to the general public, “Victor Crowley” received a warm reception among fans of these hatchet-faced murder-fests.
The first three films took place on subsequent nights. So when “Victor Crowley” jumps ahead ten years, it's actually taking place in 2017, the year the sequel was released. In the time in-between, Andrew Yong has written a book about his experience, being the only survivor of the three day long massacre. (Though many people suspect he was the actual murderer.) A group of young filmmakers, obsessed with the Crowley legend, travel to Honey Island Swamp to film a movie about the killings. At the same time, Yong has agreed to appear on a true crime show. His plane happens to crash in the swamp that same night, killing the pilots and injuring the passengers. The young filmmakers arrive to rescue Andrew and the other, unaware that they have accidentally resurrected Crowley.
What really makes “Victor Crowley” disappointing is its slipshod screenplay. The film seems especially disinterested in Crowley's victims this time. The youthful filmmakers, seemingly the protagonists, are offed early on. One semi-major character is killed at the end, almost as an afterthought. With little else to motivate the story, the film relies on crude shock humor. Even by this series' standards, the jokes are obnoxiously crass. At a book signing, an overweight man asks Andrew to sign his penis, the full frontal male nudity lingered on. There's transphobic and homophobic jokes. Women seem to get it the worst. In-between the unscrupulous publicist, the extremely mean-spirited ex-wife, and the sarcastic college student, the film seems to take too much delight in making women bitches and then messily executing them. And, as always, there's just so much edgy profanity.
You'd think, with it being the big anniversary movie, Adam Green and company would've cooked up something special for “Victor Crowley.” Instead, it's more of the same. I suspect the film wasn't just shot in secret but written quickly as well. The characters are sketchier than ever before. The plot is slapped together. The production values are low. It has all the signs of being a somewhat desperate attempt to continue the series pass its logical end point. There's a mid-credits teaser, setting up the possibility of a fifth film. I suspect inertia and Green's continued enthusiasm will push that through eventually. I'm finding myself genuinely wishing they would let this one go. The “Hatchet” movies have been fun, from time to time, but this lackluster sequel suggests Victor Crowley should have stayed dead. [5/10]
After watching “Trilogy of Terror” recently, I'm finding myself craving more vintage horror TV movies. “Satan's Triangle” is one I've heard about for years. The ABC Movie of the Week for January 14th of 1975, it combined two seventies supernatural fads. Devil movies were still pretty hot, with “The Omen” arriving the next year. The Bermuda Triangle was also a frequent target of fascination at the time. (An example: “In Search Of..” would debut two years after this movie, the Triangle coming up as soon as the fourth episode.) It doesn't have the cult following of Dan Curtis' output or the name recognition of “Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.” However, it would seem the film still traumatized those who were young when it originally aired.
Somewhere near Bermuda, the Coast Guard receives a distress call. Helicopter pilot Pagnolini and winchman Haig are deployed, venturing into the notorious triangle. They discover an adrift schooner. The deck of the boat is littered with corpses. The interior of the boat includes a seemingly floating body. Haig discovers only one survivor: A high-class escort named Eva. After the copter is struck by lightning, the winch malfunctions, stranding Haig and Eva on the boat until Pagnolini can return. While waiting, she tells him what happened. While on a fishing trip, the boat picked up a priest floating on some wreckage. Mysterious misfortune, attributed by the priest to the devil himself, soon befell everyone aboard. And the curse is ready to continue.
The Bermuda Triangle legend collapses under the smallest bit of scrutiny. The number of disappearances in the Triangle are no higher than in any other stretch of sea. “Satan's Triangle” even acknowledges the skeptical approach. After Eva explains her versions of events, Haig examines each of the mysterious deaths, finding a logical explanation for each of them. (Even the body seemingly hanging in the air, a weird death that plays out in an amusingly outrageous fashion.) The explanation “Satan's Triangle” cooks up for the weird things going in the Triangle is certainly more interesting than aliens or Atlantis or dimensional vortexes or whatever people are claiming these days. The devil himself terrorizing ocean-goers is more thrilling and novel than any of that stuff.
I can totally see why kids in 1975 would've been spooked by “Satan's Triangle.” Its creepy events are largely left unexplained. The ending does not provide much catharsis for the viewer. Instead, it wraps up with a creepy feeling. This is probably the best Bermuda Triangle movie I've ever seen, as most stories dealing with this premise are of a poor quality. The film doesn't seem to have been officially released on DVD, at least not in Region 1. However, copies of decent quality are floating around Youtube. I suggest you check it out, if you're in the mood for a slightly cheesy but ultimately effective bit of mid-seventies spookiness. [7/10]
The final episode of “Tales from the Cryptkeeper's” first season covers another lightly spooky horror trope I remember being weirdly prevalent when I was kid: A haunted ghost ship full of skeletal pirates. (As far as I can tell, this cliché wouldn't get a proper cinematic adaptation until Disney's “Pirates of the Caribbean” films kicked off.) Surfer dudes Ben and Mike take a yacht, belonging to Ben's dad, out for a joyride. The trip quickly goes wrong, the boat sinking after they skid over a patch of rocks. The two dudes are soon pick up by a mysterious galley. They are introduced to the ship's inhabitants: A crew of skeleton pirates, led by the viscous Redbeard. Soon, the guys are recruited into a mission to recover some missing gold.
“Ghost Ship” draws heavily from another early nineties artifact. Ben and Mike are essentially Bill and Ted. While Mike is Jamaican, with the required accent, Ben's voice actor is obviously attempting a Keanu Reeves impersonation. The premise – Bill and Ted vs. Ghost Pirates – is a fun one, that “Ghost Ship” utilizes fairly well. Seeing the two dudes keep their spirits up, no matter how perilous or crazy their adventure gets, is amusing. However, the episode is fairly low on horror content. The cackling skeletons are played for laughs and are easily dispatched. Only the look we get at Redbeard's rotting face is likely to scare the kiddies. The episode's moral, about how getting a job is better than being a slacker, is fairly forced in. Still, this one has its enjoyable moments. [6/10]
I was enjoying season two of “Wolf Creek” but it hits a serious snag with “Singing.” The story has split into several threads. Rebecca, Brian, Oskar and Nina continue their trek towards the Wolf Creek crater but encounter trouble, when Nina is bitten by a snake. Meanwhile, Steve and Kelly are separated. Steve is picked up by a pair of Aboriginal trackers. They know who Mick Taylor is and are soon attacked by him, leaving one dead and the other wounded. Kelly has managed to avoid being captured by the killer but, when Steve is grabbed instead, she has to intervene.
In “Singing,” season two of “Wolf Creek” does exactly what I was worried it was going to do. Brian mercy-killing Michelle becomes a source of drama between the four on-the-run tourists. Oskar and Brian end up getting into an argument, which quickly escalates into fisticuffs. Group in-fighting is among my most hated horror tropes. People arguing about petty bullshit when they should all focus on avoiding the serial killer after them is seriously annoying. The random snake bite seems like another contrived story move, to keep things dramatic and interesting during the season's fourth hour.
Still, “Wolf Creek” has its pleasure even during a weaker episode like this. Kelly, expertly played by Laura Wheelwright, is quickly becoming my favorite character. She displays a tough and resourceful side in this episode, getting the drop on Mick. (If the show wasn't determined to stretch things out for six hours, the story easily could've ended there.) I also like Mick's interaction with the captured Steve, which ends in a nicely grisly fashion. Hopefully, season two quickly looses the narrative bloat so common to serialized television, that it has mostly avoided, in the next episode. [5/10]
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