Hatchet II Slashes it Way Onto Blu-ray This February
December 14th, 2010 by Blu-ray Brian
Here’s some news I have been looking forward to promoting for a long time and now that it is finally official…I am free to do so! MPI Home Video has announced plans to release my buddy Adam Green’s Hatchet II in all its Unrated glory on February 1st. Technical specs and bonus materials have yet to be announced yet, but there is a pre-order up for the disc on Amazon. Grab yours today! I’m buying two of them!
This is totally off topic but I hate it when director’s insert their name into the title. I’m looking at you M. Night Shyamalan and John Carpenter. It’s different if they are producing it and I don’t have a problem with say Steven Spielberg presents or something but those ego trips are annoying. You never saw Irvin Kershner’s The Empire Strikes Back or Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and if anyone has good cause to add their names to the title it’s them. Rant over.
John Carpenter always did that, because he had 100% total control on his projects. All except for Memoirs of an Invisible Man.
Everyone after have been biters.
I still don’t think there’s any valid reason to do that except to satisfy their egos. Steven Spielberg has 100% control over his movies and he doesn’t add his name to the title.
I think Carpenter justifies in doing so. He’s been doing it for 35 years now. Spielberg could have done it as well, but you snooze you lose.
Alfred Hitchcock is another director who did that, and I think that’s why Carpenter did it as well. He was always a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock. I’ll agree with M.Knight, he’s not anywhere near JC, Hitchcock, or Spielberg’s realm.
I’ve yet to actually sit down and watch any of Adam Green’s films, though, but agree that AG needs to do a successful studio picture before his name on the marquee will mean something.
I think you are mistaken about Alfred Hitchcock. While his name was prominently displayed on the posters of his movies, I don’t believe he ever inserted his name into the title unless you count his tv show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
And just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. I won’t even go into whether or not Carpenter’s films even deserve that kind of ego gratification since that will take us even further off topic.
Suffice it to say, that if Steven Spielberg who is the most successful director of our time doesn’t do it, then other director’s should take their cue from him. Especially if they have only directed a couple of feature films.
@Sean – you’re not even a horror fan, so I don’t know where the hostility is coming from. JC has always been an independent auteur. I don’t care about Spielberg’s accolades or whether he’s the most successful director of all time. He’s a hit and miss director just like everyone else.
Adam Green is probably a John Carpenter fan. That, or the studio decided to employ a marketing gimmick and insert his name on the marquee. $$$
What I’m saying is, I’ll probably rent this when it comes out. hahaha
I don’t think I’m being hostile towards JC. And my opinion has nothing to do with horror movies at all, since he has done more than horror movies although that seems to be his focus lately. I’m basing my opinion on the movies of his that I’ve seen and I disagree with him being labeled an auteur. I think he has had a long career which deserves some respect but I don’t believe his movies are worthy enough to warrant him adding his name to the titles.
I find it very funny that you think Carpenter is an auteur but dismiss Spielberg’s movies as hit or miss. Take a look at the films both men have directed and tell me which one is the most deserving of being called an auteur and having his name in the title. I can understand that you may be a fan of Carpenter’s but let’s have some reality here.
We need a discussion forum where we can debate things like this without taking over Brian’s pre-order advertisement. Sorry Brian! 🙂
hahahahahaha, yes, we do.
Ha ha…actually it’s cool Sean. The comments got me through my work day 🙂 I gotta send this link over to Adam. He’s going to get a kick out of these comments 🙂
I think we’re reaching pretty high with using Spielberg as the cardinal example of director’s having their name above the title. I think the closest example would easily by Eli Roth, who employs the same kind of brand name association. He has also only directed 3 movies, but has his name stamped on all of them. Does this quantity of films necessarily mean he has achieved this status as an auteur filmmaker, I don’t think it matters. What I do get out of seeing this, is that the name I see means I can associate this film with a certain genre and have an idea of what I am getting into. If I see “Eli Roth’s” or “Adam Green’s”, I know I am going to see something along the lines of a B-horror movie or something tense (Frozen freaking rocks!, as I have mentioned). If I see “M. Night Shyamalan’s” I know I am going to throw up on myself with disgust 🙂
Just my two cents
I’m glad you enjoyed out debate! I’m surprised that Aaron and you didn’t jump into the fray. It will be interesting to hear what Adam says about all this. The one who may really not be happy with me is John Carpenter, who may send Kurt Russell to kick my ass! In my defense, I did like Starman. 😉
I have a good post that hasn’t turned up yet 🙁
It was in spam but I approved it so now it’s posted above my comment wondering why you didn’t post! I always use Spielberg as my example because not only is he my favorite director but he’s also the best. Eli Roth is a good example to compare Green to. I think both of them are trying to build brand name awareness by attaching their names to movies but that can backfire like it did with Shyamalan.
I think that he is a good warning for other filmmakers who want that ego gratification thing until their ego goes out of control and their name ends up scaring people away (or making them laugh derisively). It’s too bad since the Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs(until the end)were all really good.
Completely agree with what you are explaining. I just think it is more of a case by case basis. Some can be chalked up to ego gratification, some may have to do with producing credits based on contracts or what have you, and some can be based on studio attempts to create a marketing plan (and some could even be making reference to past directors who do the same, which Green may be doing). But yes, the obvious problem is that this can backfire on some, especially Shyamalan, whose name now causes instant laughter amongst the masses.
Some times it is stranger when the trailer announcer says the director’s name at the very end of the credits, without general audiences knowing who this person is. Main example: John Turtletaub. For both National Treasures and Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the trailer voice made sure to audibly point this out at the very end, which made me curious of how many non cinephiles would even know who this is?
Now, in an attempt to get back to Hatchet 2; hey! a new hatchet is coming to Blu-Ray soon, maybe I’ll check this out! 🙂
Yeah I’m sorry I did not comment today because it is really frustrating using that Droid phone during the day 🙁 And…it really doesn’t bother me to see a person’s name in front of the movie. In the example of my buddy Adam Green…he wrote it and directed it…it’s his baby. I think his name should be prominent if he so chooses.
@Sean – See, I knew it was a personal issue. I only made mention of John Carpenter, because he’s the only one that comes to mind that has done it without fail for about 99% of his career. John Carpenter also just happens to be one of my favorite directors of all time.
@Aaron – good point on Eli Roth.
Oh, and I noticed that most of Stanley Kubrick’s stuff also has the “Stanely Kubrick’s” marquee. Whether that happened after he died, I’m not sure.
I’m not sure what you mean Gerard. I brought up Carpenter at the beginning and honestly, I don’t think he’s that good of a director. I liked Starman but that’s about it. I have no personal feelings about him at all. Now Troll 2 is a whole different thing. I hate that with every fiber of my being! What’s hilarious is that one of the stars from Troll 2 (George Hardy)just asked me to be his friend on Facebook since he saw my review! LOL
As for Stanley Kubrick, I think Warner Brothers did that after his death but I could be mistaken.
No love for The Thing or Halloween or Escape of New York, Sean?
Kubric didn’t consistently have his name above the title Gil later in his career when it was like an event, as his films began to come out infrequently. Not that any of this matters, but Wes Craven is another example of my thoughts.
I thought that The Thing, and Escape from New York were ok but as I don’t like horror movies I never cared about Halloween although my wife loves it. I really don’t think that Carpenter is a good director from what I’ve seen but I acknowledge that can only apply to the movies I’ve seen of his. Maybe his other movies like Ghost of Mars or Vampires are excellent but I doubt it. I think Starman and Memoirs of an Invisible Man were the best movies he’s made that I’ve seen.
Ugh. Well as Jack Burton says, “screw it.”
@Sean – Wow. Memoirs was butchered by the studio. There’s a reason why JC took his name off of that. You really can’t say JC is a bad director if you haven’t seen 99% of his stuff. Your assumption that he’s a bad director is without merit.
I have the dvd (and bluray) of Starman. I imported my Starman dvd, because the U.S. version has zero supplements and the import copy has the Jeff Bridges/John Carpenter commentary which is pretty hysterical.
I think I very clearly stated that my opinion is based on the movies of his that I’ve seen. I would hardly say that my seeing 9 out of his 17 feature films equals missing “99% of his stuff.” I’ve seen over half of his feature films and haven’t really liked them with the exception of Starman. I never actually said Memoirs was a good movie. I said it was one of his better ones. So to wrap this up, your assumption about how many movies of his that I’ve watch before deciding that he is a bad director is actually the one without merit.
Thanks for clarifying Sean. Nowhere did you state that you’d seen 9 out of 17.
That was kind of my point. I never said how many of his movies I had seen so I didn’t know why you thought I hadn’t seen 99% of his movies. Maybe the other 8 movies I haven’t seen are brilliant. 🙂
Wow! This post is awesome! I still say Adam Green’s name should be plastered all over it and I endorse it 100% Actually, any director who writes and produces his own flick, should be able to put their name all over it. I see nothing wrong with it.
OK, couple things here:
1. The distributor and marketing department make the posters and materials and the decision as to how to best sell a movie to that film’s audience. Not the director.
2. Not being all that familiar with Adam Green aside from Frozen, I did a pretty decent search and literally every single review and news item mention for each of his movies (aside from one called Grace which it looks like he produced but did not direct) calls the films “Adam Green’s ______ ” so clearly with this audience this guy has clout. Even dating back to 2006’s Hatchet, every single news piece or mention calls it “Adam Green’s Hatchet” so I don’t get what people are griping about. In cross referencing Green with Eli Roth, Roth’s third film is called “Eli Roth’s Hostel 2”. Hatchet 2 is Green’s 5th film according to IMDB.
3. Lastly, both Frozen and Hatchet 2 came out in 2010 according to IMDB but only Hatchet 2 is called “Adam Green’s Hatchet 2”. Clearly with the Hatchet franchise Green is the real shining star so it makes sense that they would put his name above it. Especially since most slasher sequels don’t have the same director return to do them.
As a side note, everything I could read about Green or what he says- the guys seems like a fucking awesome dude. He seems very nice and most of all happy. I’m glad to say I just started following him on twitter and that I’m gonna check out all of his films soon. Frozen may be my favorite of the year but after reading the reviews and even hate mongering message boards of Hatchet, Spiral, and Hatchet 2 – I need to see these films ASAP. It has been a long time since I’ve seen genre fans love someone so much and I think I get why they are behind Adam Green. Personally, I’m not a huge horror fan but I am a film fan and Frozen was very, very impressive.
Just my two cents. But seriously, as a total impartial reader (I never even cared to watch Hatchet until now) I’d say chill on the negative comments about it being called “Adam Green’s Hatchet 2” or calling someone an ego maniac. He wrote it, directed it, produced it, created it, turned it into his own franchise, and from the looks of it- people care more about him than any of the actors in it (all of whom I don’t recognize personally), so of course his name would go with the title. The dude is a brand for that audience.
Ron Saxon
West Palm Beach, FL
Bah to you Brian!
Hi Ron!
First off, sorry that your post was held up in spam for over a day before it was approved. Second, since most of your comments were directed at me, I’ll try to answer the feedback you left.
1. Marketing – While I agree that in a lot of cases the studio’s marketing dept. decides the promotional packaging for their movies, that is not always the case and the director (if they have enough clout) can make suggestions or demands that can be implemented. I have no idea if Green did this or not and nowhere did I state that he did.
2. Green himself – Although my original complaint concerned Hatchet II, my issue wasn’t solely with Green alone as I also mentioned John Carpenter as an example. Your acceptance level of a director inserting his name into a movie title may be different than mine and so it’s entirely subjective. Most of my colleagues agree with you if it’s any consolation.
3. Hatchet and Green’s popularity – I need to address a growing belief among the people commenting on this, that I don’t have anything against Green himself or his movies. Honestly, I am indifferent to both and I’ve never seen one of his movies. People seem to think that I am attacking him for his movies but it has nothing to do with that.
My complaint was directed at ANY director that inserts their name in the movie’s title. I only posted it here because this post is what triggered my rant. As for Green, I have admiration for anyone that has managed to write and direct their own movies so the thought that this is about him is unwarranted.
Hopefully that clears some things up. For the record, I never called Green an egomaniac so that was a misquote. I think the practice of a director adding their own name to the title is ego driven (which is what I actually said) but again, I never said anything negative about Green. I did take a couple of shots at Carpenter but I wasn’t really negative against him either.
In any case, thanks for taking the time to respond to me with your thoughtful reply and I hope this response back to you helps clear up some misunderstandings.
Sincerely,
Sean
By the way, did you guys know that Adam Green’s Hatchet II, in all its Unrated glory, will be released on February 1st? Brian’s buying two of them!