Those of you who chortled through Hatchet II will be wondering how on Earth swamp stalker Victor Crowley can possibly be coming back from that ending. Nevertheless, the series is continuing, **Hatchet III **is already in the can, and the first teaser trailer has just escaped from the Louisiana bayou to plant an axe in your noggin.
There's not much to be gleaned there in the way of story, but we're told by the press release that some sort of Crowley hunt is the order of the day. That won't go well. This time it's a search-and-recovery team that's manning the boats to try and pick up the pieces of what happened before. And Danielle Harris is back as Marybeth - a role she's now made her own; Tamara Feldman declined to return after Part I - on the trail of the Honey Island voodoo swamp curse that's the root of all the problems.
This one, you'll notice, now bears the legend "Adam Green Presents", which should clue you in that he's stepped back from directing duties, handing the reigns to his erstwhile cinematographer BJ McDonnell. Green remains aboard as producer, writer and general overseer though. Victor Crowley is his baby, afer all.
Sadly, we won't be seeing Tony Todd as the loony Reverend Zombie this time, but the cast has been bulked up by further familiar cult horror names, including Zach Galligan (Billy Peltzer in Gremlins), Derek Mears (both recent Hills Have Eyes, the 2011 Friday 13th), Caroline Williams (Stretch from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Diane Goldner (Feast) and Sean Whalen (Roach in The People Under The Stairs). Kane Hodder, of course, is back as Victor.
Hatchet III is released in the US in June. We don't know about the UK yet.