Back in October, Hatchet 2 made history as being the first film to be released by a major movie theater chain (AMC) with no rating.  Horror aficionados hailed the decision as breakthrough, now a horror movie could be seen as the director originally intended.

Their praise was cut short when the chain abruptly pulled the movie from their theaters before its opening weekend was over. There was a storm of controversy; fans cried censorship, and AMC blamed poor ticket sales.

No one knows the real story, but one thing is clear-Adam Green and the production crew got completely screwed over.  Today, the movie finally comes out On Demand at several different outlets. I got to speak with director Adam Green  along with stars Danielle Harris and Kane Hodder about the film earlier this year.

Green is a well-respected horror director, previously know for Hatchet, a film that introduced a new horror icon named Victor Crowley.  He also directed the criminally underrated Frozen. Danielle Harris has been affectionately dubbed a scream queen for her appearances in Rob Zombies Halloween and Halloween 2, along with the television series Fear Clinic.  Kane Hodder is nothing short of a legend in the business, having done stunts for over 72 well-known films, and acting in many as well.

Director Adam Green brought his patented flair for gore to Fantastic Fest with Hatchet II, the sequel to the well received Hatchet (2006.) The movie will be released in theaters unrated, the second October release to buck the trend and opt for no rating (the other being I Spit on Your Grave 2010, which also showed at the festival.)

Hatchet II has the distinction of being the first film that theater chain AMC will release and support in unrated form, through their independent program.  Dark Sky films is the distributor, and this marks the largest unrated release in major theaters in 25 years.  That’s  a huge development for horror, and for that reason alone, if you are a horror fan, you should support this movie by buying a ticket.

Although I personally adore Adam Green, and fully support his career, I found the hype for Hatchet perplexing.  I watched the film twice, just to see if I missed something, but I never found the movie to be very good.  The story behind Victor Crowley (played by Kane Hodder in both films) is interesting, but the secondary characters are grating, to say the least.

Fortunately most of those tourist types have been eliminated from the sequel, and the story has been stripped down to a bare bones slasher flick.  You get exactly what you expect, no more, no less.  It’s a good October release, and should satisfy those looking for a an old-school throwback to the films they grew up with, but don’t expect any new ground to be broken here.

Hatchet II literally picks up precisely where Hatchet left off.  Scream queen Danielle Harris steps into the role of Marybeth this time around. If you recall, she was the sole survivor of Victor Crowley’s bloodbath in Hatchet, and she flees to the safety of an isolated house occupied by a swamp dweller. All is fine and good until he actually finds out who she is, then he promptly kicks her out of his house.

Marybeth seeks answers from New Orleans Voodoo shop owner/ghost tour operator Reverend Zombie, played by horror icon Tony Todd (Candyman.)  He’s sympathetic to her plight, and decides to accompany her into the swamp to retrieve the bodies of her father and brother. They assemble a ragtag group of people to track down Crowley.

By Shannon Hood and Jane Almirall

Shannon: It was all interviews, all day. First up was director Jim Mickle from Stake Land, along with actors Nick Damici and Connor Paolo.  What a great group of guys.  The trio were there to promote their post apocalyptic road/vampire movie.  Look for the interview and a review of Stake Land in the next week or so.

Our second interview of the day was with director Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen, and Hatchet 2) along with Danielle Harris and Kane Hodder for Hatchet 2.  This was an exciting interview for me.  I’m a big Adam Green fan, and I’ve been watching Kane Hodder in horror movies since the late eighties.

Press day wrapped up with a chat with the Australian director Josh Reed, actress Qwen Boylan, and actor Wil Traval, who were discussing their IFC featured film Primal. All three interviews and film reviews will be published as soon as we can get them up.

Jane: The Housemaid 1960  Digitally remastered, this film is a slowly-paced, stylized tale of a prosperous family and their mentally unstable housemaid.  Characters manipulate, lie, plot and psychologically torture one another after the father conducts an impulsive affair with the maid, the consequences of which escalate out of control.

I must confess, the overly dramatic acting style made this feature a bit of a slog to get through, but a surprising twist at the end paid off in a big way.

Hatchet 2 (directed by Adam Green starring Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris.) This film plays like a cinematic love letter to the slasher films of the 80’s – the horror movies of my childhood that I grew up loving.  Many horror film icons turn up as characters as Marybeth and Victor Crowley square off for mutual retribution, resulting in the kind of revolting gore and over the top violence that fans of Hatchet have come to expect from Adam Green. Hatchet 2 features some inventive and disgusting kill scenes (FUN!) and in defiance of censorship will be released as an unrated feature.

Jack Chop (directed by Adam Green.) This short film was the bumper preceding Hatchet 2 – which nicely set the tone for the somber exercise in minimalist restraint that was the main feature.  I kid!  This 3 minute, mock-infomercial for a jack ‘o lantern carving kit was a gory, goofy bit of slapstick – in the vernacular of the director, it was wicked awesome.

There is very little that fan favorite actor Bruce Campbell can do that will get overwhelming disapproval from his legions of fans across the globe. Movies like My Name is Bruce, Army of Darkness, Man With the Screaming Brain, and of course any of the Spider-Man films has solidified Campbell as untouchable in the movie-watching community.

Now, he’s planning on taking that to the next stage, with an upcoming project in which he brings all of our favorite horror movie legends and throws them all in a movie together, a la The Expendables. In a recent interview with the LA Times, names like Kane Hodder and Robert Englund were thrown around, and the hairs on the backs of horror fans everywhere stood on end.

Yeah, “The Expendables,” or more like the “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” of horror. I want to get so many horror movie stars that people can’t possibly not see the movie. I want to give them other stuff to do. I want to have Kane Hodder be very particular about what he eats. I want Robert Englund to be a tough guy, like he knows tae kwon do or something.

I want to find out the hidden sides of all these people. Some will play themselves, some will play alternate characters as well. I may approach Kane Hodder to play Frankenstein. He could be Kane Hodder himself fighting himself as Frankenstein. It could be crazy. It’s a silly concocted story that we hope to do maybe in a year or so.

I have to admit, as we get closer to Fantastic Fest I’m getting more and more excited. It’s a great festival full of an incredible mix of films from around the world that can satisfy even the most demanding critic’s taste for something new, unusual and entertaining.

Previously, we brought you news of the fist films selected for the Fest and more. Now, the Fest’s organizers have announced a new wave of films that will be showcased during the event. Some of these films include the Gala premiere of Buried starring Ryan Reynolds (which was announced last week), the US premiere of the Edward Norton starer Stone, the world premiere of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, the US premiere of Tony Jaa’s Ong Bak 3, the US premiere of Andrew Lau’s  Legend of the Fist and so much more.

With these new films announced, and even more still to come including, I’m sure, a few surprise screenings, the Fest looks to be even more amazing than last year. If you’re a fan of films and a great time, you don’t have an excuse not to be in Austin from September 23-30. For more on the great lineup of films announced today, check out the full press release after the jump.