Writer-director Adam Green recently surprised horror fans with a new Hatchet movie that he made in secret a year ago. Called Victor Crowley – after the deranged killer at the heart of the Hatchet flicks – the film screened in LA before getting its European Premiere at FrightFest on Saturday.
And during the festival, we caught up with Victor Crowley himself – Kane Hodder – to find out about the making of the movie, and why this might be the most brutal Hatchet movie yet.
Making Victor Crowley in Secret
Kane Hodder: “We billed it last week as the 10th anniversary screening of Hatchet, with some unseen footage and stuff like that. Just to get the true Hatchet fans in there. Then, of course, Adam [Green] made the announcement that it was really the new Hatchet film called Victor Crowley. And now everybody here [at FrightFest] realises what it really is, so it’s going to be fun to watch with an audience. When you have an audience like the true fans that come here, it’s so much fun to watch a movie like this.”
Appeal of the Franchise
Kane Hodder: “Every Hatchet movie we’ve done I think is so well written. A lot of the times in the Friday the 13th movies, a lot of the scenes between the violence would drag on a little bit. You’re waiting for the next kill. But the way Adam writes, he makes the scenes between the violence just as enjoyable, because the comedic interludes between the violence I think are very fun to watch. And it makes for an overall fun movie. You can have comedy in a horror movie as long as it isn’t at the expense of the villain. There’s nothing funny when I’m around. But when I’m not, they can be funny as hell.”
Best Hatchet Movie Yet?
Kane Hodder: “I think Victor might be at his most brutal in this movie, and that’s saying something. We shot this film about a year ago, so you start to forget about little things that you did in the film until you see it on the screen. The story is funny, the characters are great as usual. And I don’t want to spoil too much of it, but I think a lot of people are very happy – a lot of people are saying it’s their favourite one.”
Victor Crowley doesn’t have a release date, but it’s currently playing at film festivals, while Green is taking the movie on tour across America later this year.