“Hatchet” is a horror film with a comedic edge. It’s as gory as they come but it also has self-aware humour. It knows that its audience has already sat through countless slasher flicks so it likes to take a few shots at the tropes.

In New Orleans, a group of tourists take a tour to a haunted swamp. When their boat crashes, they are stranded in the wilderness. They then learn of the disturbing history of the area as they come face-to-face with the deformed monster, Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder “Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood”), that lurks in the swamp.

The characters are relatively entertaining. The characters include a charlatan tour guide, a bimbo girl and a scaredy-cat jock. The dialog is actually fairly funny at times. The Victor Crowley killer does look pretty ridiculous. He looks more like the Toxic Avenger than any other slasher villain I’ve seen. During the scenes where we see Crowley as a child, the make-up effects look really bad. In most of the scenes when he’s an adult, the effects look okay. Tony Todd (“Candyman”) and Robert Englund (“A Nightmare On Elm Street”) both have cameos so horror fans are likely to enjoy seeing them.

“Hatchet” has its enjoyable moments but it also could have been a lot better. It has some comedy in it but why not go all the way? It feels like the filmmakers were constantly having to also appease a studio by making this also serve as a legit horror flick and not just a spoof of one. Looking at the posters, you would have no idea that this is a comedic picture. I will also make it clear that this film is way funnier and more entertaining than anything in the dreadful “Scary Movie” series. If you are a big horror fan and want to see a comedic take on the genre then check out “Hatchet”.