Have you heard of the movie Hatchet II? Typically, unless you were the kind of person who followed low-budget horror films, I would expect the answer to be no. However, Hatchet II actually got some coverage in the trades upon its theatrical release in October, 2010. You see, movies which decide to forego a rating from the Motion Picture Association of America -- those which are labeled "unrated" -- rarely play in theaters. However, AMC agreed to release Hatchet II on 68 screens across the country. It would be the biggest release for an unrated horror film in 25 years, and the movie received some publicity for this. But, just three days into its release, AMC pulled Hatchet II from its theaters. The company's reasoning for this was that the movie had made just $52,000 in those three days -- less than $800 per screen. However, Writer/Director Adam Green claimed that this was an act of censorship and that AMC had caved in. Well, now Hatchet II has come to Blu-ray Disc and we can all see that the movie is no big deal.

One positive decision made by Green concerning Hatchet II is that he's taken the Aliens approach to the story. Knowing that there is a killer in the swamp, the characters aren't going back in unless they are heavily armed. I've always wondered why more movies don't take this tactic. Yes, I'm looking at you Jeepers Creepers 2. This may lead to a story with stretches disbelief, but at least it makes some sense. If you knew that a killer/monster was lurking about, wouldn't you want to bring the cavalry with you?

However, once you get past that point, you'll find that Hatchet II doesn't have much to offer, especially in the way of originality. The first Hatchet was marketed as being "old school American horror", as Green wants to bring back the kind of vibe which surrounded horror movies in the 80s. This is admirable, as I am a huge fan of this era as well, but simply recycling ideas from those movies is no way to blaze a new trail. The Hatchet films simply re-use ideas from the Friday the 13th movies. Just look at Victor Crowley -- he looks exactly like Jason Voorhees right down to his overalls. His story is also similar to Jason's, but more on that in a moment.

Not unlike many of the slasher movies from their heyday in the 80s, there isn't much story in Hatchet II. Once the basic premise is established, we simply sit and wait for the various stereotypical characters to enter the swamp and be killed. Note that I didn't say "stalked and killed", as Crowley often leaps from the brush and kills his unsuspecting victims -- there's no attempt at suspense. The middle of Hatchet II really drags, and it's not until the 52-minute mark that the gore begins...and the movie is only 85 minutes long. And then we have the story of Victor Crowley. Not unlike Jason Voorhees, it's vague whether or not he's a ghost, a zombie, both or neither. Reverend Zombie keeps calling Crowley a ghost, but most ghost don't run around with a hatchet assaulting people. Then there's a Predator-like debate about how if Crowley can be hurt than he can be killed. This is clearly a nod to Friday the 13th, but it really hurts the movie. And this all goes without mentioning the movie's incredibly unsatisfying ending.

Hatchet II is determined to have Perry Shen in the movie on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Dark Sky Films. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a slight amount of grain at times and no defects from the source material. This is a dark movie, which some scenes taking place in shadow, but this transfer does a great job of keeping the action visible and handling the limited light in some scenes. The colors look good. However, the picture has a certain flatness to it, which may be a result of the overall low-budget look. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This is an effective track which really comes to life in the final act, where the sounds of the swamp (crickets, etc.) abound. The sounds of Crowley howling in the distance work well in the surround channels, and the rustling of the branches as he approaches are given life in the front channels. These effects show fairly good separation and detail.

The Hatchet II Blu-ray Disc contains a selection of extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY featuring Writer/Director Adam Green, Tony Todd, and Kane Hodder. We then get a second COMMENTARY with Green, Cinematographer Will Barratt and Makeup Effects Supervisor Robert Pendergraft. "Hatchet II: Behind the Screams" (34 minutes) is a fairly in-depth look at the making of the film. We get a nice amount of on-set footage, plus raw footage from scenes and storyboards. Green provides insights into his motivations and the production and we get comments from most of the cast and principal crew involved. The piece looks at casting, scheduling, sets, and special effects. "Hatchet II EPK" (8 minutes) simply feels like a very truncated version of "Behind the Screams". "The Killing Machine" (6 minutes) takes us inside the makeup effects shop and we see how the gore effects were created. The extras are rounded out with a TRAILER, TEASER TRAILER, TV SPOT and RADIO SPOT.