BJ McDonnell talks Hatchet III

We already brought you an exclusive interview with Hatchet III's BJ McDonnell before the release of the movie. Now that Hatchet III is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD, we caught up with the horror director to find out what he thought about the movie's reviews, working with a number of genre veterans, and we learned about a scene that was almost lost:

With the movie having already been released to theaters and VOD, are you happy with the reaction from fans of the first two Hatchet films?

BJ McDonnell: Yeah, I’m actually really happy with what the fans have been saying. The Hatchet movies are built for a certain fanbase and not everyone gets into these kinds of movies. These are 80’s throwbacks that are schticky at times and the effects are funny. It’s overall insane and if you’re into that, you’re going to love it.

I'm sure there was a bit of pressure to live up to what Adam Green did with the first two movies. What made you decide to take over directorial duties for Hatchet III?

BJ McDonnell: Adam said he didn’t think he was going to direct Hatchet III, so I said that if he wasn’t going to direct it, then I was not going to do it with some other director. The only thing that made the Hatchet movies fun was him, Will, and the family. Later on, we were playing putt putt at Cape Cod and he told me he wanted to do it, and that there was nobody else. That’s how it all came about.

One scene I thought was great was the shootout in the woods, that felt like an homage to Predator. Can you tell me a bit about the filming of that scene?

BJ McDonnell: We actually had so much more of that forest getting blown away. It was such a bummer, because the whole forest was set up with explosives. We only had one take to get this and the cameras had external hard drives. The compression from the gun fire actually made the disk drives skip on the camera. We basically pieced that scene together with what we could salvage from the footage. It was so cool when we blew that forest away, but all of those cameras malfunctioned because of the gunfire. It was definitely a Predator throwback.

What were some of the other challenges you encountered while directing this movie?

BJ McDonnell: Going to New Orleans and the time of the year that we had to shoot was a challenge. We wanted to have 12 hour nights to shoot, but because of the time of year we only had 8 hours of darkness. So once the sun went down, we had to haul ass to try to make our days because, before you knew it, the sun was already starting to come up and your night of shooting was over.

Another challenge was shooting in a real swamp with bugs, mud, and the rain. There were times where it seemed like everything didn’t want us to shoot part three. We would get into a big huge setup and then there would be lightning. In New Orleans, if you have lightning, you have to shut the generators down, turn off all the lights and sit there until the storm passes.

With bugs, people got bit by spiders and people got DEET poisoning (for those that don’t know, DEET is what is in bug spray and if you use too much you can have hallucinations and other side effects). One girl had to leave because she had DEET poisoning and I was bummed because she was a great crew member.

This year, it seemed like everyone was filming in New Orleans. Thank god, we ended up finding a crew,  they stuck through the shoot and didn’t bail on us. I know a lot of crew members who would have said “this is terrible…let’s go!”, but they stuck through.

This movie is filled with horror icons. Who was your favorite to work with and why?

BJ McDonnell: I was really stoked to get Zach Galligan on board. I gave a list of people I thought would be great for the role and he was on the top of the list. It was just really awesome, because I’m such a huge fan of Waxwork and Gremlins. He was ready all the time and brought a lot to the table. I was honored to have him.

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"Victor Crowley is back in HATCHET III, the new installment in the horror series about the swamp dweller who slices and guts his luckless victims apart. Kane Hodder returns as the hideously deformed Victor Crowley and Danielle Harris again plays the intrepid heroine Marybeth in the new movie, which arrives on Blu-ray and DVD from Dark Sky Films on August 13, 2013. The film will be available in both R-rated and unrated director's cut editions. The Blu-ray has an SRP of $34.98 and the DVD will be priced at $27.98.

Concluding the saga begun in Adam Green's hit 2006 thriller, HATCHET III follows the vengeful Marybeth (Halloween's Danielle Harris) as she continues seeking out a way to destroy Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder, Friday the 13th), a hulking, seemingly-invincible sociopath rampaging through a sleepy Louisiana swamp.

While a heavily-armed team of mercenaries takes to the bayou surrounding Crowley's home, Marybeth finds herself begrudgingly teaming up with a local policeman (Gremlins star Zach Galligan) and his ex-wife (Caroline Williams, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) - an expert on the maniac who may have uncovered the secret to ending his murderous rampage once and for all.

The directorial debut of acclaimed cameraman BJ McDonnell (Jack Reacher, Killer Joe), the action/horror sequel HATCHET III opened theatrically on June 14, 2013."