 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 1970 Italian giallo film hatchet for the honeymoon Which I now own and you may have seen it on one of my unboxings And I'm glad I own this one because after watching it for the first time. I'm gonna revisit this I don't know if it's like super soon because I have a bunch of other stuff to work through as you can see up here But yeah, really really did enjoy this This is towards the top of my all-time giallo list Some people may be surprised by that, but I really enjoyed this film now This is Mario Bava So it shouldn't come that much of a surprise to some people who are very familiar with my channel and a lot of my reviews Especially that I've done recently because I've really been enjoying the stuff for Mario Bava That said I have an entire playlist on my channel of Mario Bava film reviews as well as giallo film reviews And there's obviously a little bit of overlap there. So let's talk about hatchet for the honeymoon Like I said from 1970 Mario Bava has also done such films as Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, The Whip in the Body, Blood and Black Lace, Planet of the Vampires, Kill Baby Kill Which I think might be his best film, A Bay of Blood, Five Dollars for an August Moon, and The Girl Who Knew Too Much Also known as Evil Eye and Shock and that's just some he's done He did a ton, but those are some of the bigger ones Written by Santiago Moncada and when I first read that name I was like that sounds so familiar I've seen something else that he's written and that's because he also wrote The Corruption of Chris Miller Which I also have a review for and that's another good giallo film He also wrote scripts for Macabre, The Fourth Victim, sorry He provided the story for All the Colors of the Dark, which is a Sergio Martino film The Curse of the Black Cat and Rest in Pieces, just some that I pulled out there This film is also known as the Red Sign of Madness Which I think hatchet for the honeymoon is a lot better of a title It means a lot It with the events of the film, but it also just sounds good hatchet for the honeymoon Very very catchy very cool, and I really like it because obviously it is about a hatchet during the honeymoon You know the killer Harrington, John Harrington is all about Literally using a meat cleaver a hatchet to kill women on their hunt Well actually not even necessarily on their honeymoon But on their way to the honeymoon because that's what you see in the beginning when he's on that train going To kill Which is a good way to open the film But anyway, so more information about this film backstory the Spanish villa that was used in this film It was filmed in Spain in case people didn't know the Spanish villa used had belonged to dictator Francisco Franco That is crazy. It's a beautiful villa. I love the setting of it It's it's an amazing amazing place to shoot it looks great But apparently it was a real pain in the ass because they had armed guards there all the time watching them making sure They didn't screw up the place They did have Concerns that blood that was being used for the film would end up staining things there So they were keeping a very close eye. So Basically people were looking over the the whole crew's shoulder the whole time including Bava and the actors and actresses and That would be rough Mildred Harrington the character of Mildred Harrington Harrington didn't exist in the original script now I think it's interesting knowing that and then watching the film because you see where the original story was and Then where Mildred was kind of shoehorned in now the reason that the character of Mildred was written in later Was because the actress Laura Betty who played Mildred had made a comment that she had wanted to work with Mario Bava They started talking Bava got very excited because he really wanted to work with her too So instead of waiting for another project, he just wrote her into the project He was already working on which was hatchet for the honeymoon now That caused a lot of issues between her and Dagmar La Sander who played the character of Helen Wood Because she was supposed to be the main character which you know knowing this information watching the film again You can see where Helen was supposed to be the main character and I would argue that I think the story overall would have been better After seeing this film it just makes me wonder what was the original script like and was the film even better without all the Mildred stuff There is some cool stuff involving Mildred Harrington But overall I don't think she was as needed because the core story That's really good is basically about John Harrington being a serial killer and then eventually being caught in the end and how that unfolds all the kind of supernatural stuff with Mildred after he kills her is I Mean it looks kind of cool and it's interesting the first time you see it because you're trying to figure out What's really going on but it doesn't feel like it amounts to a ton I mean I understand the idea behind it of You know, well, I'll talk about it a little bit later in the review But but yeah, it's just I wasn't a big fan It just made me think I wish the original script was done And I'm sure Dagmar Lissander felt the same way The film the bed that's used in this as the Harrington bed that you see Mildred laying on at a few points Was actually from the film Black Sabbath. So it's the exact same bed that was used Oh, so I did say there were problems between Laura Betty and Dagmar Lissander Apparently they hated each other there were problems between them on the set because of you know Betty basically showing up and taking that leading role from Lissander So that sucks. I feel for her The film had many issues including a long shooting hiatus because the budget ran out Now, I don't know if anyone knows this information if you do put it in the comments Is this a common thing that happened with Mario Bava? Because this is like the third film that I've done research on and reviewed where There's been a large issue with the budget a lot many other issues that happen with production The other ones were kill baby kill and five dolls for an August moon Is this common? Was this common? It was it just a common thing back then for everyone making film in Italy or was this just Baba in particular? I don't know So the opening credits in this looked like an interesting way of kind of doing the opening credits where it looked like it was just like Stop motion of dirt being moved around with like a red background color with the credits over top of it So initially I thought dirt, but then once the film was going I thought ah That's probably supposed to be ashes specifically the ashes of the victims which then makes it an even cooler Intro for the credit scene because as it's introducing the fit the each of the characters You can kind of see it as these are the ashes of these people. I just thought it was cool. It obviously has the connection to that Leaf incinerator that John Harrington had in his hot what they call a hot house in the film Which is basically a greenhouse Yeah, so I like that intro because it's visually appealing to but it also ties in very interestingly to the actual story The visuals in the train initially look really cool except for these those jumps back and forth I don't know if anyone else felt this way But like the jump between like just a long shot of just the kid in the hallway Which was supposed to be a young John Harrington Versus his POV shot like going between those was just a really rough jump and it was just very Jarring and I didn't like the way that came together other than that though The visual the the visuals in this film are wonderful as is usually the case with Mario Baba films He has an amazing eye cinematography is always great directing is always great And there are a lot of really cool camera movements camera shots Shot composition is so good and it's a beautiful film. It's just beautiful. I Like how the meat cleaver in this is shown on the train As it's kind of getting raised up and as it's getting raised up You're seeing the shadow up here on the back of the guy who's having sex with the woman Or about to have sex with the woman. I thought that was a really cool visual and it kind of sets the stage for Okay, someone has gotten killed already. What is going on here now? I was kind of thrown because I'm like this is a giallo film But usually you don't find out who the killer is until the very end and here We know up front that John Harrington is a killer Not only do we know because we see him killed but he's doing the voiceover of talking about, you know He's having his inner monologue of who he is and why he kills and kind of his philosophy on being killer Now I think that's one of the things I like most about this film is kind of Getting inside the mind of the killer and he's the main character That's not something that happens a lot in giallo films So I like that that's different and I think it's executed pretty well It's an interesting way to start by having Harrington's voiceover About having killed five women also and needing to continue That's the other thing he also states that he needs to keep going Which we find out later is mainly because each time he kills or is about to kill He's basically unlocking portions of his memory as a child of who killed his mother Now in the end he is horrified to find out that he in fact killed his mother Which I think would potentially indicate that he's just always about a psycho or he's just been very much Well because he killed his mother when he did he's then been You know driven to kill women who have just gotten married or about to get married Setting up the whole hatchet for the honeymoon situation. So There you go You get the idea Mildred is gonna get it at some point because of the the poor relationship that they basically have What you see over the first I think it's a breakfast scene with with Harrington with John and How she even states that she won't give him a divorce even though he definitely wants one So you kind of see like he's a killer. He wants a divorce. She won't give it Logical conclusion says he will just kill her because he has no problem with killing Although it is more risky obviously because she's so close to him Whereas with his other victims he can just be like, oh, she worked for me and then she just disappeared one day Although that's why the inspector initially comes sniffing around is because They are tied to him. It's just more suspicious if it's the wife, but you know, he gets caught in the end When Harrington goes into the hidden room with the mannequins You get the idea that they each represent one of his victims Although it's interesting because there's more than five and in the intro He had said that there were he had only killed five So I don't know if that if that had to do with representing his victims or if it just had to do with Representing women he did kill and did want to kill or didn't have any tie to it really So and I like that that's where he kept his hatchet as well I like the transition from the mannequins to the seance that Mildred was involved with and there are a lot of those interesting types of Transitions which by the way like all effects were done in camera because of the low budget just so you know And that's why there was a lot of like in focus out of focus type transitions But the non trick the transitions not like that I think were a lot better like the one I was just talking about about going away from the room with the mannequins to the Seance of it kind of like panning over going to dark and then panning back and it's the new scene That's Bava for you Based on the interaction in the hot house it appears the inspector suspects Harrington for three murders and for missing So I think there's a disparity basically because the inspector believes he's At fault for seven people for for three people definitely being killed and four people missing He said he killed five so I don't know if it's a translation problem where it was you know Italian to English says You know five when it should be something else. I don't know so that doesn't really make sense to me It's not all that important though either when you see Alice looking like a mannequin The one the first one that the first one after the train that you see Harrington kill That is a cool moment because it's Harrington basically seeing her as a mannequin as she stands in that like you know still Pose looking like a mannequin It's a cool like inside his head Situation of seeing what he sees and that does lead me to believe that all those mannequins kind of represent people He killed because he's seeing her as a mannequin to be added to his collection of mannequins Basically after he does the deed and kills her I Like when Harrington tells Helen that he killed her sister Rosie and she thinks it's a funny joke although she probably Just it seems afterwards after you watch the entire film that She was probably playing it off like she thought it was a joke Because she couldn't kind of believe that he was so brazen to say something like that because obviously at the end We find out that she was setting him up so that the police could catch him because she suspected that he was involved with killing her Sister Rosie so But I thought that was a funny moment where he basically jokes about killing her and she accepts it as a joke and laughs The out-of-focus close-ups with John it being with the name John being said ominously when Harrington kills I didn't actually like those moments. I think those were kind of annoying it But you know it was a sign of the time that was cool very verite very interesting at the time Doesn't really hold up now though, but for the most part still great film I Like the tension created knowing that Mildred is dying on the stairs while the inspector and Alice's fiance are in the villa That moment after he had you know hacked up Mildred and she's on the stairs dying and the inspector and the fiance Show up and they're on the lower level and even like blood is dripping off her hand That's hanging over the staircase is going is like falling on to the ground on the level that they're on So that's an awesome tense moment because you feel like he's potentially going to get caught if they walk a certain way If they just look a certain way if they you know go to a certain area of the house They're going to see this happening So I love the way they set that tension up and going between Seeing what Harrington was doing with these individuals and saying to them and then seeing the body and seeing the blood dripping Love that scene. It's such a great scene Showing Harrington close close the front door then panning up and zooming in on Mildred's bloody hand That's an awesome shot That's one of those great camera movements because they shot it from up top on the second floor and he and it's you know Looking down at an angle He closes the door and then it pans up and zooms in on her bloody hand as she's dying there Cool, just great directing great cinematography You really do want to find out why Harrington keeps seeing Mildred Even though he killed her now. There isn't really any explanation. I don't think in the end for that I mean, I understand Bava did this because or I'm sorry. Sorry Makato Actually, I think Bava just wrote that portion in I don't think he had Makato right it in Makata But anyway I don't think there's a real explanation for why initially after he kills Mildred everyone sees her But he doesn't see her But I understand that that was done so that there could be the impact in the very end when he gets taken away in the Patty Wagon where he finally sees her and she's like now nobody can see me Except you and I'm going to be haunting you basically while you're in the insane asylum So I get the impact of that and it was cool at the moment But then when I sat back and was thinking about it I was like, you know, that's actually not that awesome and it just makes it even dumber That everyone could see her before and he couldn't like there's no good Explanation for why that was going on except that she was choosing for it to be that way it It just doesn't work for me I just don't like that aspect of it and even though that I don't like that I still really like the film overall and that is one of those moments like I said earlier where it makes me think and You know, I kind of wish we would have gotten just the original script for this film. I Really wish so. I wish I wish The actress that did Mildred Laura Betty wouldn't have said anything about wanting to work with Baba. I want the original version of this one Even when Mildred was alive Harrington was going about his life like she wasn't You could argue he paid more attention to her after she died I thought that was a very interesting observation that I had that that while she was around before he killed her He wasn't paying much attention to her anyway And he started paying even more attention to her though after he killed her and her ghost I guess was showing up. So Yeah, just an observation There's a key moment that I picked up on when I initially watched this when Helen says she's not afraid to be alone with Harrington That's after he had made another kill and then he gets home And then he is surprised to find that Helen is in his house But it's good for him because that's when the inspector shows up and accuses him of killing and then she's like Oh, no, he's been here with me all night, but then you find out later It's a setup, but at the moment Harrington is happy about that But then he's like, oh, aren't you afraid to be alone with me? And she's like, oh no not at all now the key moment in that is when he says that and then she responds He turns and the smile on her face goes away very fast Now acting is intentional and because that's the case I saw that and was like there is something else going on with her And I think I actually at that moment thought she was gonna end up killing him But I did think at that moment that she knew that he was a murderer and that he had killed her sister So I just didn't know that it was a setup where he was gonna get arrested I thought she was gonna flip flip the script and kill him Which actually probably would have been even better because then you didn't have that dumb Mildred stuff And actually maybe that was the case in the original script. We don't know So Harrington was killing to help and bring back these memories Yeah, and then there's that shock moment of him realizing. Oh my god. I killed my own mother which It's a weird concept. Is that even close to realistic? No, but it's a movie. It's still fun. I enjoyed it. I Somewhat like the idea of Mildred haunting Harrington while he's locked up I do somewhat like that, but it still doesn't make sense for the portions where he couldn't see her and everyone else could I'm gonna Hammer that home because that's probably the thing I hate most about the film But like I said, even though I hate that about the film. I still really like the film overall. I Like the light playful music that they use in the film I think that works really really well and it's kind of this inch interesting juxtaposition of this light fun music with it being the backdrop of a very Terrible murderous rampage basically that Harrington's going on. It's a cool dichotomy there Lots of great use of shadows in this that's something that Bob has done very well throughout many many films love it Even when Harrington is killing everything seems so calm and elegant Which is a cool way to have the feel of the film clash with the content of the story That's kind of going along also with the music like I was just saying but yeah I love that. It just feels very relaxed and easy and just calm like I said calm and elegant Even though the material when you really think about it is really messed up and disturbing so that yeah that clashing with the subject matter I think it's cool. I really enjoy that. I Like the interactions in particular between Harrington in the inspector. I think it's a really good Really well done kind of cat and mouse situation Sometimes those things are you know very cliche and dumb and not pulled off all that well But I think between the writing and the acting of those interactions worked really well in my opinion And I I think those are kind of some of the most delicious moments of the film the way they play off each other My final thought on this is Harrington's living hell is Mildred The wife he doesn't love and can't get rid of it Seems his killing is an outlet to a degree to satisfy getting rid of a bride Since he can't really get rid of his own bride Now obviously he's pushed at some point to finally do that. You know actually kill his own bride, but He tries not to you can tell he tries very hard not to so Yeah, so it's this kind of dual purpose thing of him killing in order to try and you know unlock These bits of the memory to eventually find out he killed his mother, but I think also to a degree kind of trying Staving off the urge to kill his own wife by killing other people's new wives or to be wives So just a thought but anyway, I would love to hear what other people have to say So put it in the comments about this film or just any Jello in general. Sorry I just got real loud there every now and then you know when I've been talking for a while But anyway, yeah, let's talk about it. So out of five stars with half stars in play I'm gonna go a four star rating on this one I was between three and a half and four, but it just looks so good the feel of it so great The acting is very good. There's a lot of great stuff about it now I would have gone even higher had there not been the whole Mildred thing And the really dumb thing about everyone sees her but he can't whatever but anyway Yeah four stars. I really like this one. This one's really good But yeah, do me a quick favor though hit that subscribe button if you like this video or any video you've ever seen That is your way to repay me. I'm not making money doing this or anything I'm just trying to build a nerdy horror community here. So join that community pay me back by doing that Literally takes a second. It's very painless Also hit the notification bell and then that way you'll know whenever I'm putting up a new video Whether it be a review like this or an unboxing or a haul video or any other random stuff I'm doing but regardless. I appreciate you taking your time to check this out and until next time keep it brutal