Victor Crowley (Credit: Dark Sky Films).
Slasher fans, rejoice. Umbrella Entertainment has acquired the rights to Adam Green’s Hatchet franchise, in its entirety. The boutique independent Australian distributor previously announced back in October that it had secured the gory backwoods slasher Hatchet and Hatchet II. Now, they’ve completed the franchise by adding Hatchet III and Victor Crowley to the mix. For fans of the series, this should come as most welcome news.
See also: Adam Green Explains Why HATCHET 5 Hasn’t Happened Yet
Taking to its various social media channels, Umbrella recently revealed that they’ve acquired all four movies. While the company’s plans for Hatchet and Victor Crowley remain mysterious, it seems likely that all of the movies will be given an upgrade in the coming months. Here’s what Umbrella had to say:
“In October, we announced our acquisition of Hatchet I & II. After the electric response, we went back to find the other two in the franchise. We are now thrilled to announce that we have acquired Hatchet III and Victor Crowley. Some legends never die!”
There aren’t too many true, blue modern slasher icons. Art the Clown from Terrifier has absolutely achieved that status but Victor Crowley, played by horror legend Kane Hodder, is right up there. Though he hasn’t achieved commercial highs like Terrifier 3. All the same, Umbrella is a company poised to give this slasher the red carpet treatment he deserves.
Umbrella has regularly given both beloved and obscure genre movies boutique collector’s edition releases that are well-worth the money. Dark Sky Films released a Hatchet steelbook collection in 2024. There was nothing wrong with that collection but, with all due respect, Umbrella tends to go above and beyond with these releases. We’re talking tons of bonus features, new cover art, lots of extra goodies. For serious collectors, they’re one of the best in the business.
Granted, as a huge fan of these movies, I would have been just as happy if, say, Scream Factory or Arrow Video had landed the rights. But Umbrella is a damn good home for Hatchet, in my humble opinion. These are slasher gems that only seem to grow better with time. What Green did with relatively minimal resources is impressive. These movies are deserving of the care that a company like Umbrella will provide.
The hope is that Umbrella will release some sort of collector’s edition box set, while also releasing individual editions of each movie. Either way, whatever comes next is sure to be worthwhile. The only downside is that some of the company’s movies are region coded, meaning they won’t work in every Blu-ray player in North America, but we’ll have to see what Umbrella decides to do here.
The Hatchet movies don’t have a release date from Umbrella quite yet but stay tuned.
