[Blu-Ray Review] ‘Hatchet III’ Is the Best of the Series and Wraps The Saga with a Bang; Available on Blu-Ray & DVD August 13 From Dark Sky/MPI

Hatchet III [Blu-Ray]

Director: BJ McDonnell

Cast: Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Zach Galligan

Release Date: Available on Blu-Ray & DVD August 13

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Plot Summary:

A search and recovery team heads into the haunted swamp to pick up the pieces and Marybeth learns the secret to ending the voodoo curse that has left Victor Crowley haunting and terrorizing Honey Island Swamp for decades.

‘Hatchet III’ is (at least for the moment) the final chapter in Adam Green’s ‘Hatchet’ saga. I personally thought this was the best entry in the series, and please note that I am a huge fan of the ‘Hatchet’ films and the first two are without question two of the most watched Blu-Ray’s in my collection. My viewing of ‘Hatchet III’ on Blu-Ray was my third viewing (so far) of the film and it hasn’t lost any steam yet in my book.

BJ McDonnell made his directorial debut with ‘Hatchet III’ replacing Adam Green who wrote and directed the previous two entries (though he still wrote and produced the third) and he could not have done a better job in my opinion. One of the main factors that contributed to this being my favorite entry in the series is that this time around it feels like they finally found the perfect pacing. While I thoroughly love the first two movies (yes I even love the second one and don’t understand all the hate directed toward it) the first two thirds of them were a bit slower paced and all the mayhem and insanity didn’t really get moving full pace until the final third of the movie or so. While that’s not to say they were by any means boring, we know what most people are waiting for when they watch these films. This time around they introduce the mayhem earlier on, providing a perfect pace that allows the gore and fighting to go on throughout the majority of the film while taking brief interludes to cover the character developments and information section of the story. The whole formula works brilliantly this time around and I could not possibly be more pleased with the ‘Hatchet’ films overall. ‘Hatchet III’ is the perfect end to the saga and this series will certainly go down as one of my favorites. I will be recommending these movies to many in the years to come as many who know me can already attest to.

‘Hatchet III’ is certainly a must own for fans of the franchise, and I’m certain it will join it’s predecessors in becoming one of the most watched Blu-Ray’s in my collection. I will most likely be watching it again this weekend and then probably do a marathon of all three back to back shortly after. I can’t express my joy enough in having one of my favorite horror series’ of recent years all together in my collection at last, and I highly recommend everyone else pick up a copy and do the same. For those who haven’t seen any of the ‘Hatchet’ films, I can’t possibly recommend them highly enough.

VIDEO:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘Hatchet III’ is presented in a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.35:1 cinemascope aspect ratio and as with Dark Sky & MPI’s release of ‘Hatchet II’ the video transfer looks magnificent. Everything is sharp, smooth and detailed and perfectly represents what I would imagine the intended presentation for the film should be. Fans of the series should be pleased with the video presentation on the final entry in the saga.

AUDIO:

The Blu-Ray release features an uncompressed 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack and it was quite a treat to hear the film for the first time with a lossless multichannel soundtrack. The bullets constantly whizzing past present a great opportunity to give the rear channels a workout, and a few explosions and grinding steel noises (not to mention some other great examples I can’t seem to think of at the moment) really get the soundtrack booming and the bass is not afraid to kick full force in a number of scenes. Once again, as was the case with the previous entry in the series also released by Dark Sky/MPI, the soundtrack sounds phenomenal and all the fans and audiophiles such as me should be quite pleased.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There is a pretty nice chunk of special features included on the Blu-Ray release and most of them are great additions for series fans, including a ‘Crew Commentary Track’ featuring writer/producer Adam Green, director BJ McDonnell, and a number others, a second ‘Cast Commentary Track’ also featuring Adam Green & BJ McDonnell as well as Kane Hodder, 3 Featurettes for the film (Behind the Scenes, Raising Kane & Swamp Fun) as well as the trailer and teaser.