Victor Crowley is a 2017 American slashercomedy film written and directed by Adam Green. It is the fourth entry in Green's Hatchet series, and a sequel to Hatchet III. Kane Hodder returns to the role of the titular killer Victor Crowley.
Plot
In 1964, Del House proposes to his girlfriend Sue in Honey Island Swamp. However the couple hears Victor Crowley's ghostly moans. Fearing that someone has been hurt, they investigate and find a hunter, who is decapitated in front of them by Crowley. The couple flees, but Crowley easily catches up with them and dismembers them. In 2017, survivor of the Crowley massacre Andrew Yong, who is believed by some people to have committed the murders himself, appears on his ex-wife, Sabrina's, show The Sabrina Show, to promote his new book about the events. Sabrina announces an exclusive book signing to take place later that day. Meanwhile, Chloe, her boyfriend Alex, and her best friend Rose plan to get Andrew to help them film a mock trailer for a B-Movie they're making about the Crowley massacre. At the signing, Andrew is subjected to abuse and lewd acts much to the ignorance of his manager, Kathleen who quickly ushers him out when she gets him a deal that will gain him almost a million dollars, much to the chagrin of Chloe, who never got to pitch her idea. Andrew and Kathleen head out on a private charter plane with Sabrina and her crew: Austin, Casey, Jay, and Zach. However the plane's engine explodes and crashes in Honey Island Swamp, killing the pilots, Jay, and Zach. Elsewhere in the Swamp, Chloe, Rose and Alex are about to begin filming their trailer alongside eccentric, swamp tour guide/local actor Dillon. Suddenly Zach's body lands in front of them. Rose and Dillon head off to investigate while Alex tries to calm Chloe down. All the while, Rose's phone plays a video of Reverend Zombie reciting the voodoo curse that originally brought Crowley back. At the plane wreckage, the survivors find Casey trapped underneath the seats with the water slowly rising. Rose and Dillon arrive and attempt to help the survivors when Crowley's screams are heard. Chloe and Alex also hear the screams and stumble across the old Crowley House, now a museum and memorial. Crowley attacks the pair, bashing Alex's head in with a claw hammer. When Chloe flees, Crowley grabs his hatchet and follows close behind her. Chloe makes it to the plane wreckage, but is unable to hear Rose's warnings of Crowley behind her and gets her face smashed into the plane window. Crowley drags Chloe away, leaving her badly injured but alive as bait. Following a series of arguments and altercations, Kathleen begins to have a panic attack and flees from the plane. Austin tries to stop her but Crowley slices the top of his head off, killing him. Kathleen manages to call the police but Crowley catches her and severs her arm with phone in hand, ramming it between her legs and out her mouth. Crowley then finishes off Chloe by stomping her head. He attacks the plane causing it to sink faster, drowning the pregnant Casey. As the group begin to argue, after it is divulged that Kathleen lied to Andrew about the amount of money he would receive, Crowley attacks the plane with his belt sander, as the group panics he begins to cut through the circuitry which restores power to the plane. Dillon locks himself in the pilot's cabin, hoping to radio for help and start the engine so they can use it to suck Crowley in with the hopes of killing him. Andrew, Sabrina and Rose all flee in separate directions with Sabrina stealing Kathleen's phone from Rose before heading to Dillon's boat, while Rose hides. At the boat Crowley catches Sabrina and decapitates her after breaking her jaw. He then chases after Rose and throws her at Andrew and Dillon, who got the engine working, the turbine now running. A stand-off between the three and Crowley ensues where Andrew misses his shot with a flare gun and Rose attempting to use Crowley's hatchet as a tomahawk also fails to hit him, instead giving him the weapon back. In a last ditch attempt to be the hero, Dillon tackles Crowley into the turbine, splattering Rose and Andrew in his and Crowley's blood. In a mid-credits scene, Marybeth Dunston watches a news report on the crash. Realizing Crowley has once again returned she grabs a shotgun saying, "I've been waiting for you."
Additionally, Danielle Harris reprises her role as Marybeth Dunston from Hatchet II and Hatchet III in the film's mid-credits scene.
Development and release
In July 2017, it was announced that an official '10th Anniversary Event' screening of the original Hatchet film would be playing at the FrightFest Film Festival of 2017, featuring newly released footage. The same event, which took place on August 22, 2017 in Los Angeles, brought forth the announcement that it was actually the premiere of a secretly filmed Hatchet sequel titled Victor Crowley. Writer/director Adam Green said on the matter, "I couldn't be happier to partner with Dark Sky Films and bring Victor Crowley back to horror fans around the world. Resurrecting the series for its tenth anniversary was our way of saying thank you to everyone in The Hatchet Army and beyond who have supported this series since its inception. This bloodbath is for all of you." The film began screening in select theatres across the United States in October 2017 on special one night events featuring Adam Green collectively known as the "Victor Crowley Road Show". The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 6, 2018.
Reception
Steve Barton of Dread Central awarded the film a quality rating of 4/5, stating that "Victor Crowley is a smartly written, outrageously funny, and incredibly gory affair that's nothing short of a gift for slasher fans who appreciate their films wrapped in viscera with gallons of blood to spare." JoBlo.com said of the film "VICTOR CROWLEY may be the best of the sequels to HATCHET, perhaps the best in the series." Kalyn Corrigan of Bloody Disgusting called it "the Gory Slasher Film You're Craving!", while critiquing "Sure, they spend a little too much time on the plane, and it would've been nice to see some of the more human characters last a bit longer during the runtime, but... in all honesty, it's just nice to have a series in the same iconic style that we can count on to carry us through the years of big studio films and over produced predictable cash grabs." Alternately, Brad Miska also reviewing for Bloody Disgusting said "While Hatchet has since become an iconic franchise, none of the sequels have been able to recreate the magic of the first film. The latest, Victor Crowley, is easily the worst of the bunch."
