Surprise.
Yes, you read that headline correctly. Looks like director Adam Green has filmed a surprise reboot of his HATCHET series without anyone knowing about it over the course of the last two years!
EW revealed just a few minutes ago that the fourth film in the Hatchet series, titled VICTOR CROWLEY, premiered tonight (Aug. 22) at Hollywood’s ArcLight Cinema at an event advertised as a “Hatchet 10th Anniversary Celebration.”
VICTOR CROWLEY again stars Kane Hodder as the titular maniac alongside Parry Shen, Laura Ortiz, Dave Sheridan, and Brian Quinn. Below you will find not only a full rundown on the plot of the surprise reboot but Green's comments on the release as well. Interesting stuff to say the least.
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VICTOR CROWLEY synopsis/rundown via EW:
A reboot and is set ten years after the massacre featured in the series’ first three movies.
In the film, we discover that Shen’s lone survivor Andrew Yong has spent over a decade claiming that local legend Victor Crowley was responsible for the deaths of the forty-nine people killed in the original trilogy of films. Yong’s allegations have been met with widespread disbelief, but when a twist of fate puts him back at the scene of the tragedy, Crowley is mistakenly resurrected and Yong must face the bloodthirsty ghost from his past.
Adam Green on VICTOR CROWLEY:
The only survivor that was ever found was Perry Shen’s character, Andrew Yong. Now, ten years, later, he’s kind of become a little bit of a celebrity. At one point he’s compared to ‘the OJ Simpson of Honey Island Swamp’ because most people do not buy his story, but he got off because there was no evidence that he had done it. So, some people love him, a lot of people hate him, and now he’s written a book, which he is promoting on the tenth anniversary of the events of 2007. He is convinced to do one final interview back at the scene of the massacre, where he has never returned. Simultaneously to him going back there with this camera crew, that’s going to interview him, there is something else happening that brings back a little certain somebody.
Green on how he managed to keep the project a secret:
The script was called Arwen’s Fancy Dinner and then, when we were shooting, it was called Arwen’s Revenge, just because that was easier to fit on a camera slate. Nobody ever spoke the words Hatchet or Victory Crowley. Everyone has always referred to this as Arwen’s Revenge. You know, you can hit people with all the NDAs in the world, it’s not really going to do much when you have a crew that big, because good luck proving who spilled the beans. So, really it came down to me sort of sitting down with each and every crew member for a while, and explaining why I was doing this, and who we were doing it for. Maybe not everyone in the world is going to have their life changed when they hear, ‘There’s a new Hatchet movie.’ But for the fans that do love this so passionately, it is going to be a surprise, and I’m just so happy that it stayed that way.
What about HATCHET 5?
We have to see how this one does first. If there’s a demand for it, then who knows? I mean, at this point, anything could happen.
Again, VICTOR CROWLEY premiered tonight at an event advertised as a “Hatchet 10th Anniversary Celebration” and the film is set to screen next at FrightFest.
Then this October, the “Victor Crowley Road Show” will begin touring special one-night screenings across the country. We'll let you know once the full schedule of screenings is released.
Victor Crowley is written and directed by Adam Green stars Kane Hodder, Parry Shen, Laura Ortiz, Dave Sheridan, and Brian Quinn.
For more info, you can read the full EW article RIGHT HERE.