My prayers weren’t answered. In my 2010 review of “Hatchet II,’’ I implored readers to “say a prayer that there’s no ‘Hatchet III’ in the future.’’ Sad to say, there is one and it’s opening today. It continues the gore-drenched story of bloodthirsty Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder), a deformed psycho with a passing resemblance to the Hulk who has been terrorizing Louisiana’s Honey Island Swamp for decades.
This time out, Marybeth (Danielle Harris) — whose father and brother were killed by Crowley — goes to the swamp with a heavily armed band of cops to finally put an end to Crowley’s reign of terror.
The director of “Hatchet III” is BJ McDonnell, taking over from Adam Green, who helmed and wrote the first two installments and stays on as writer of the third. You’d hardly notice the change in directors amid the geysers of blood, onslaught of bodies being torn limb from limb and a scalping or two. Sounds scary, but there are few real thrills. I must admit that I found myself chuckling during a scene in which a bigoted redneck encounters a black cop. But it takes more than a few guffaws to make a movie worth seeing.
Will there be a “Hatchet IV’’? I shudder to think about it.