Back in 2013, Hatchet III appeared to conclude the series that started in 2006. Of course, horror franchises never die, as we learn with 2018’s Victor Crowley.

Crowley returns to the swamps of Louisiana where mass murderer Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) plied his violent ways. Crowley appeared to finally expire a few years earlier, but like Mark Twain, rumors of his demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

The only person to encounter Crowley and live to tell, Andrew Yong (Parry Shen) gets offered $1 million to return to the swamp. Along with others, he does so and encounters the inevitable violence at Crowley’s hands.

Like most horror franchises, the Hatchet films lack a whole lot of variety. They take the same basic framework and offer some form of creativity via their characters and the kinds of kills involved.

As one-note as they may have been, the first three flicks offered pretty decent entertainment, mainly because creator Adam Green imbued them with a good sense of humor. The movies balanced comedy with graphic violence to become surprisingly entertaining.

This meant I went into Crowley with higher expectations than usual for a horror sequel. While I don’t adore the Hatchet films, they do enough for me to look forward to the fourth.

Unfortunately, Crowley falls short of the success attained by its predecessors. Though it works from the same formula of gore and guffaws, it doesn’t manage much entertainment.

Not that it doesn’t come with promise, though. The premise of Andrew’s return to the swamp offers a good concept, and a few other character elements give us potential for excitement.

Unfortunately, the story just feels perfunctory, as the whole thing comes across as nothing more than a contrived setup for violence – violence that takes a surprisingly long time to arrive. Crowley opens with a prologue that tosses some gore our way, but the lead character then goes MIA for about half the movie.

This feels like a mistake. The prologue doesn’t exist for narrative reasons – it’s just there to give us a splash of violence before the long drought, and it seems like a lame tease.

The first three Hatchet flicks ladled out super-graphic gore, and Crowley follows suit – to its detriment, I think. I guess the fans like that kind of material, but I think Crowley goes too far – the violence seems so gross that it detracts from the rest of the tale.

Though even a toned-down Crowley would remain lackluster, and unlike the prior movies, the comedy fails to hit. Too much of this one veers toward self-parody and camp, components that undercut any real tension or horror.

Sure, the prior movies went down similar paths, but they seemed less goofy. Crowley simply can’t connect in a consistent manner, as its variations in tone create distractions.

All of these factors turn Crowley into a disappointment. The first three films in the series entertained me, but this one leaves me disenchanted.

Victor Crowley appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a largely positive presentation.

Overall sharpness seemed good, though inconsistencies occurred, mainly during low-light shots. Those could be a little soft, so the movie showed mild drops in delineation. Still, most of the flick appeared well-defined.

Jagged edges and moiré effects didn’t mar the presentation, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to appear.

In terms of palette, Crowley went with a fairly teal and orange orientation. Inside a downed plane, red/purple dominated as well. Within stylistic choices, the hues seemed well-depicted, though the red/purple could seem a smidgen heavy.

Blacks were dark and dense, but shadows seemed a little inconsistent. As noted, low-light shots could be a bit on the dense side. Otherwise, this became a well-rendered affair.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, it offered a fairly typical horror movie soundscape. This meant a lot of creepy atmosphere and occasional “jolt moments”.

Along with good stereo music, the soundfield was able to open things up in a satisfying manner that embellished the story. A few pieces – mainly related to the plane – added the most pizzazz. The mix didn’t dazzle, but it worked fine.

Audio quality was always good. Music appeared full and rich, while effects demonstrated nice clarity and accuracy.

Speech was natural and distinctive throughout the film. Again, this wasn’t a heavily active track, but it made sense for the story.

The disc presents two separate audio commentaries, the first of which comes from writer/director Adam Green and actors Parry Shen, Laura Ortiz and Dave Sheridan. All four sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, and related areas.

Despite the inclusion of all the actors, Green dominates this track. That’s not a bad thing, as he provides some good notes. The actors throw in occasional tidbits as well to make this a fairly useful discussion.

For the second commentary, we hear from Green, cinematographer Jan-Michael Losada, editor Matt Latham and make-up effects artist Robert Pendergraft. All four sit together for their running, screen-specific discussion of story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, various effects, cinematography, editing and connected domains.

Once again, Green becomes the most prominent participant, as he carries most of the commentary. He also repeats some information from the cast track, though he tries to avoid these déjà vu moments. Green again proves to be a pretty compelling speaker, so he helps turn this into another informative piece.

Next comes the one-hour, eight-minute, 38-second Fly on the Set. As implied by the title, it mainly consists of raw footage from the shoot, with comments shot impromptu in that setting.

I like this kind of material and find a lot to enjoy about “Fly”. It provides a fun view of the production and gives us a good glimpse behind the scenes.

Raising the Dead… Again runs 26 minutes, 41 seconds and features an interview with Adam Green. He covers the factors that led to a fourth Hatchet film, cast and crew, and general thoughts. Some of this repeats from the commentaries, but Green still brings us a nice overview of the subjects.

The disc opens with ads for Nails, MFA and It Stains the Sands Red. We also get a teaser and a trailer for Crowley.

Because I liked the first three Hatchet movies, I hoped the fourth would continue to entertain. Unfortunately, Victor Crowley suffers from weak attempts at comedy and horror that render it impotent. The Blu-ray delivers generally good picture and audio along with a solid collection of bonus features. After three entertaining predecessors, Crowley disappoints.