Now Is the Perfect Time for This Beloved Horror Director to Make His Comeback

Growing up, it was slashers that made me a horror fan. I was in awe of Michael Myers in Halloween and Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th franchise. The slasher phenomenon died out with the 1980s, before making a comeback in 1996 thanks to the brilliance of Wes Craven‘s Scream. The resurrection ended in the early 2000s, sadly, and while slashers are still made, they haven’t been what has dominated horror. The genre first went through its poorly named “torture porn” years before becoming more elevated. Today, with films like The Substance and Nosferatu, horror is not only a box office draw, but critically acclaimed and even Oscar nominated as well.

Slashers have also made a comeback, thanks first to the nostalgic returns of the Halloween and Scream franchises, then the over-the-top gory chaos of Art the Clown and the Terrifier trilogy. They’re so popular now that McDreamy himself, Patrick Dempsey, had no qualms about starring in Eli Roth‘s Thanksgiving. This time, hopefully, slashers are here to stay, which means it’s time for the return of a great slasher director. Adam Green is the creator of the ultra-bloody Hatchet, but he also has other movies that show what he can bring to the subgenre.

Table of Contents

Before Art the Clown, There Was ‘Hatchet’s Victor Crowley

Part of what makes Art the Clown so popular is how over-the-top he is. The practical effects of the Terrifier trilogy are so gross that it’s almost like art (pardon the pun). But before he was hacking up victims left and right, there was Victory Crowley in the Hatchet movies. Green wrote and directed the first Hatchet in 2006 as a love letter to those Friday the 13th movies of old, with a killer slashing up anyone who dares cross onto his land. It was so much of a tribute that Kane Hodder, the most popular Jason Voorhees actor, was cast as Crowley, along with a plethora of other horror icons like Tony Todd and Robert Englund.

Terrifier and Thanksgiving have that old school slasher feel while being their own beast. That was Hatchet. Over four films, Victor Crowley became a slasher icon in his own right, a terrifying blend of practical effects, makeup, and tension building. Green could simply make a Hatchet 5 and fans would be happy, but with his love for the ’80s heyday, he could create something completely new, and it would certainly be welcome.

‘Frozen’ Shows How To Make Effective Horror in One Location

The Hatchet movies might be what Adam Green is best known for, but they’re not his only worthwhile horror films. He has made several others, but two stand out above the rest. Neither are slashers, which only goes to show Green’s talent at spreading his wings to other subgenres, and the variety and innovation he can bring.

In-A-Violent-Nature-Gnarliest-Kills-Ever

‘In a Violent Nature’ Just Gave Us One of the Gnarliest Kills Ever in a Horror Movie

This scene takes flexibility to a whole new level.

In 2010, Green wrote and directed Frozen (no, not that one). This film has a simple but horrifying premise that works because it asks you one basic question and then puts you in the scenario with its limited cast. What if you went skiing with your friends and got stuck and left behind on a ski lift? No one knows you’re there as night falls, and hungry wolves come out, waiting for an easy meal to fall to them. Frozen is a slow burn all about building tension by upping the ante with each new scenario. It’s basically a one-location film, and it’s done expertly. So often, the best slashers work best when their scope is narrowed. The smaller the setting, the closer the danger is. Michael Myers is with you in a dark house, Jason Voorhees is tracking you through the dark woods. In Frozen, Adam Green put the monsters in plain view. Imagine bringing that to a slasher.

William Dekker (Ray Wise) looking scared in 'Digging Up the Marrow' — Image via Image Entertainment

In 2014, Green wrote and directed another non-slasher, Digging Up the Marrow. He even co-starred in this one as well with Ray Wise. Digging Up the Marrow is another slowly unfolding nightmare all about asking questions. Green plays a documentarian filming a guy (Wise) who says he can prove that monsters exist. Is this man crazy or is he telling the truth? The unwinding revelations are unnerving, and it’s all done with the found footage style.

In Digging Up the Marrow, Green takes a well-worn trope and makes it feel fresh again. It’s a film that wouldn’t be scary if it was filmed traditionally, because that realism would be stripped away. Imagine Green making a found footage slasher. That’s a style that hasn’t been used much in the subgenre (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon comes to mind), but it could be the next way to reinvent them. In a Violent Nature sort of redid that by putting us in the killer’s POV, but what about a slasher where the victims are filming their own demise? That takes an often over-the-top subgenre and makes it terrifying in its simple realism. Slashers are back. With what Adam Green did with Hatchet, Frozen, and Digging Up the Marrow, it’s time for him to come back too.