2017 marks the tenth anniversary of the release of writer/director Adam Green’s swamp slasher HATCHET, a film that gave Kane Hodder, already a slasher icon for playing Jason Voorhees four times, a chance to create a brand new slasher icon in the form of Honey Island Swamp’s resident revenant Victor Crowley.
It’s tough to believe that it’s already been ten years since I added HATCHET to my collection, but it’s true, and to mark the anniversary of the release Green is bringing his movie back to theatres for a celebratory tour.
The tour kicks off on the night of August 26th with a screening at the London-based festival FrightFest, which wasn’t the first festival HATCHET ever played at, but the one where it got the best reaction. Green explains:
HATCHET world premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC to an incredible response from both critics and audiences, but it was the audience at FrightFest whose voices took the film to a level we could have then only dreamed of. The morning after that raucous screening in Leicester Square (mere minutes after the UK premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece PAN’S LABYRINTH of all films) it seemed like every genre festival on the planet started calling to program HATCHET. I’ve since screened every film I’ve ever made at FrightFest as I owe my UK fans so very much and I am part of the FrightFester family myself.
After so many years in the business I know that a filmmaker is never supposed to publicly admit having a favorite festival, but Victor Crowley and I simply love FrightFest and the UK fans with all of our heart and soul. FrightFest is the original Hatchet Army… so it is only fair that we slaughter them first on the tour for this special version.”
As Green mentions there, this screening will be of a “special version” of HATCHET, with fans being shown footage that has never been seen before. Some kind of preview of the film Green is currently in post-production on is also likely to be part of the presentation.
If you miss the FrightFest screening, don’t worry. When Green goes on tour with HATCHET this fall, the same footage shown at FrightFest will be shown at every stop on the tour.
It has not yet been announced where the stops on the theatrical tour will be, as the schedule is currently being worked out. Dates and venues will be announced later. For now, just start getting prepared: HATCHET is coming back to theatres, with new footage in tow.
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