It’s been announced that ‘Hatchet 2′ (2010) is to be commissioned, which got me thinking as to how the original ‘Hatchet’ (2006) came to be made. Adam Green (Writer/Director), Sarah Elbert (Producer) and Will Barratt (Director of Photography) simply took a handheld mini DV camcorder and flew out to New Orleans to film a teaser trailer in an attempt to prove to potential investors what they’re capable of. They took a swamp tour to get the footage they needed and a friend’s daughter provided the chilling narration for the trailer. Although the trailer is fairly basic what struck most people was the story line. Internet rumours ran amok. Some claiming the film had already been made, when the opposite was in fact true.
Below is the teaser trailer that got the ball rolling:
And here is the trailer for when the film actually came out:
It’s inspiring to know that if you work hard enough on a good plot and have the skills to pull it off people will have faith in you to succeed. As well as gaining funding for the project through the success of the trailer, the ‘Hatchet’ (2006) team garnered some loyal fans. A horror blogger, Ryan, after seeing the trailer, had so much faith in the project that he decided to call it real. Off the back of this other blogs followed suit.
Having an internet following for a yet to be made film helped investors to visualise the potential the ‘Hatchet’ (2006) had. Adam Green even managed to get some horror heavyweights on board, a few familiar faces of the likes of Kane Hodder (Jason), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Tony Todd (Candyman).
Last year I came across two trailers for ‘The Day The Dead Weren’t Dead’ (2007). The first, an earlier version of the second. The parts of the plot that can determine from the trailer is an interesting take on a comedy horror. A zombie plague is upon us and the only person who knows why and how to stop them has amnesia.
Version 1:
Version 2:
The first attempt of the trailer which appears to have been directed by one of the producers is amateurish at best. It has good intentions but doesn’t quite pull it off. It comes of as a university pet project. The second version of the trailer whilst keeping a fraction of the old material it has new footage and some scenes which have been re-shot. The second version it appears to have been directed by the Trost Bros who also produced and wrote the piece. The Trost Bros, Brandon and Jason Trost, come from a cinematography and special effects background and both have dabbled in acting. You can see Jason as Hawk ‘Hawk-Eye’ Jones (the dude with the eye patch) in the trailer. From the second trailer it is clear to see that they have a lot potential and I’m looking forward to seeing their future ventures, one I hope will be this trailer as a fully fledged feature. Just like the humble beginnings of ‘Hatchet’ (2006) this little trailer appears to be following in its footsteps and I hope it goes all the way. A feature script has now been written since it has gained popularity on the net and winner of the Kern County Film Festival. A simple google search reveals that some people believe the trailer to be real and are searching far and wide to find the full feature.
If and when the full feature gets made they should do all they can to keep the actors from the second trailer. In the new version the Trost Bros have used some familiar faces to act for them. Fan’s of TV series ‘Ed’ (2000) and ‘Scrubs’ (2001) will recognise actor Josh Randall who plays Sheriff Randall in the trailer. Paulo Costanzo, who plays Deputy Sandbanks, you may remember him from a number of films such as ’40 Days and 40 |Nights’ (2002) , ‘Josie and the Pussycats’ (2001) and ‘Road Trip’ (2000) (even the ill-conceived friends spin-off ‘Joey’(2004) ). Kris Lemche you’ll remember from last blog post about ‘My Little Eye’ (2002) . Chris Marquette, who plays Eric Kowalski, used to be a regular on ‘Joan of Arcadia’ (2003) and was in films such as ‘The Girl Next Door’ (2004) and ‘Just Friends’ (2005) . Last but not least Dov Tiefenbach who was in ‘Get Over It’ (2001) and ‘Jason X’ (2001) .
On a final note if this project does get picked up, I hope they leave the Trost Bros with full control over it, cos its clear they know what they’re doing and their combined movie making experience is plenty to pull this off.
Tags: Adam Green, Brandon Trost, Chris Marquette, Dov Tiefenbach, Hatcher 2, Hatchet, Jason Trost, Josh Randall, Kane Hodder, Kris Lemche, Paulo Costanzo, Robert Englund, Sarah Elbert, The Day The Dead Werent Dead, Tony Todd, Trost Bros, Will Barratt
