Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet (2009)

A Brilliant Conflict

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Attempting to celebrate the grisly legacy of a notorious killer, a group of friends find their party interrupted by the spirit of the famous killer and must find a way of stopping the carnage before it's too late.This turned out to be quite the fun and enjoyable old-school slasher with a lot to really like about it. The fact that this certainly dwells in all the old familiar trappings of the style, with the group of horny, alcoholic-infused teens trying to celebrate the legacy of a brutal mass murder with a wild party is straight from the play-book of the time and certainly adds to the retro feel in here by playing off the past's successes for it's own. That certainly puts this as a rather fun and grisly slasher when this one gets going here as the final half to this one really utilizes the stalk-and-slash formulas quite well by focusing on the slashing around the house before heading out to other areas around the community and finally settling on the abandoned hospital at the end where it really unleashes the carnage with a multitude of spectacular, gruesome deaths that amp up the blood-letting considerably as a slew of impressive deaths are dished out. There's also great use of the setting here to actually maximize the suspense factor apart from the killings so that there's a great deal of stalking being used to great effect within this and making for a rather enjoyable finale that really helps to add to the old-school feel here. There's a few nagging issues with this one, mainly the fact that the film never really gives too much information about the characters so that it's nearly impossible to know who's-who when the slashing starts. Often-times, it seems like a character simply thrown in to serve as cannon-fodder and it's only later that you realize they've been around since the beginning of the film. As well, you may not get a name to a character until they stumble upon the body and cry out over who just got killed which is a big nagging issue. This is surprising since the beginning to this really could've made a bigger deal about this issue but seems far too focused on other areas so that there's not a lot of time spent dealing with the characters while not really engaging in a lot of slashing with most of these kills happening off-screen only to finally see how it all happened in the flashback at the end which is quite a cheat. These factors do end up making it slightly lower than it should've been, but overall it's still quite fun.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Continuous Full Nudity, Graphic Language, several strong sex scenes, a rape and pervasive drug use.

...since if you're here reading this, you likely already know. Somehow a no-name tyro director and his backers lured Bill "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" Moseley and pint-sized scream queen Danielle "Halloween (2007)" Harris into heading up an otherwise equally no-name cast in an utterly uninspired direct-to-DVD slasher film. This is Sturgeon's Revelation all the way, folks, with minimal redemptive value, in one eye and out the other. Be assured, there is nothing "haunting" or in any way shocking, horrifying, or scary contained within "Blood Night..." other than the sheer banality of everything that takes place, and the lack of verve and style with which it is executed. Moseley's performance is the worst I've ever seen him do; why he accepted the role is beyond me (maybe he's just tired of playing psychos). Harris does what she can after waiting half the film to make her entrance, but there's only so much credence one can lend to a 30-year-old woman playing a college freshman (and never mind that none of the rest of the cast look like the teenagers they're supposed to be). The script is sophomoric at best, without an ounce of wit or originality, the dual-DP cinematography is competent but uninteresting, and you've seen gore fx and general mayhem like this done a thousand times before, and usually better. The stronger of the actresses (including Harris) wisely avoid nudity, the rest of the cast is undistinguished, and the less I have to say, the less you have to bother reading. You've been warned; this is boredom viewing only, fit only for indiscriminate adolescents with nothing better to do with their time, another strike against my local library's video buyer.

OK, you have been warned, SPOILER, now twice...I got to see this cause everyone was buzzing about it. I also try to get movies with my favourite b actress. Well girls you can recognize there face from elsewhere.Now i got to say, this movie have Gorgeous girls in it. The 2 chicks Nicole and Jen are just super hot, the blond one is not bad either, the sexy scene are... SEXY AS HELL.The whole premise of the story is really nice, and i tough from the start this could be another "Night of the living dead" type of movie, except you replace Halloween by Blood Night....But there is a huge problem with this movie, the deaths and the gore... which in an horror movie... is really a big problem. I don't know what they where thinking... If you don't have the budget, then get softer deaths, or try to make it looks funny like in Hatchet or NOTD... It seems to me this movie took itself seriously, but the death scenes seems so fake... I enjoyed the plot and all, but every time somebody died i was like... DUH??? LOL Then one of the most hilarious(in a bad way) scene of the movie is that you get that 5 foot little girl with a pick axe and a couple "somewhat" huge guys and a couple girls just scream and start running... MAN... cmon, your seven... yet you can't take down a girl with a pick axe... She don't have a chainsaw... ONLY A PICK AXE.Well i guess you gotta take this movie for what it is, a cheap B slasher movie, and i got to say i saw worst than this, and the atmosphere and places where nice, i just wish the story would make a bit more sense, like explaining why Mary got crazy and why her daughter was the same especially since they never saw each other... and also that the death scenes would be better done... its one thing to show a tons of gore and doing it properly.Overall it was decent... but i don't why it get so much buzz around it. I couldn't decide between a 6 or a 7, would be more of a 6.5, but hey I'm fair play and ill give it a 7, i was not bored at least, i just which they would work the deaths better

Some Spoilers. But not enough to ruin the twist of the film. I am a Die Hard slasher fan and a Die hard Danielle Harris fan. So when I caught news of this film I was Psyched! Having Bill Moseley(Texas Chainsaw massacre 2, 1986) in the line up isn't bad either. So right off the bat it is easy to tell the director had is own thoughts on the slasher genre! What were they? Well to make a different but yet Cliché one. He decided to stick with with the drunkin' teens with no adult authority, but he decided to use different camera angles! This is Noticeable within the first ten minutes of the film. *Review* So the film starts off with the Legend of Mary Hatchet. This takes up the first 11 or 12 minutes of the film. Then we meet the group of teenagers. Right off the bat we also get to know the character types. Which if I may say so myself its the type I hate to love. You know? The jocks and Slutty girls. The ones your really hoping to die and when they do you get excited. They decided to go to Mary Hatchets grave with a weegie board! They summon Mary Hatchet(Or do they?). Then they decide to leave to have a party. . . . I really like the twist of this film. If your a fan of Slashers this is one to see!