“Stay out of the swamp! – Andrew Yong”
On August 22, 2017 Adam Green surprised horror fans around the world when he suddenly announced and screened a new HATCHET film to a theater full of fans who had come to the Arclight Cinema in Hollywood, CA expecting to watch a 10th anniversary screening of the original movie. The fourth film in the HATCHET series, VICTOR CROWLEY had been made in secret over a 2 year period as Green’s gift to the Hatchet Army – the fiercely loyal and passionate fans who had turned his little independent movie into a worldwide franchise and carried the character of “Victor Crowley” on to become a bonafide slasher icon a decade later.
A standing ovation at the surprise premiere in Hollywood.
That night Adam Green also surprised fans with the announcement that VICTOR CROWLEY would immediately be embarking on a three month theatrical tour. Green would personally be appearing with the film at almost all of the 54 screenings spanning across five countries.
Another standing ovation in London.
Just three nights later VICTOR CROWLEY would slash London to bloody pieces and then go on to murder five cities in Germany before Green would begin the “Dismember America” portion of his tour, appearing in a different American city almost every single night throughout October. VICTOR CROWLEY would also belt-sand the faces off of multiple cities in Canada and hack up the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship while aboard the IMPRACTICAL JOKERS cruise to Costa Maya, Mexico before the theatrical tour would finally come to its end in November.
VICTOR CROWLEY is now the best reviewed and many fans’ favorite entry in the franchise.
As an extra special treat during the tour, Adam Green and Kane Hodder (“Victor Crowley” himself) would take a group of fans on a midnight haunted swamp tour (exactly as seen in the original HATCHET) immediately following VICTOR CROWLEY’s two-night homecoming in New Orleans, LA. Green and Hodder served as the tour guides for 50 lucky fans as they ventured out together into the very bayou that Victor Crowley haunts. The tour boat visited several of the actual filming locations from the HATCHET films… on Halloween night… the anniversary of Victor Crowley’s (first) death over half a century ago. Thankfully, all 50 of those brave/crazy fans returned from the Halloween haunted swamp tour alive and with all of their pieces.
But there was one more surprise that Green had announced during his “Dismember America Tour”…
It’s not just a prop from the movie. I, SURVIVOR is a REAL book!
In VICTOR CROWLEY Andrew Yong (played by Parry Shen) is promoting his book I, SURVIVOR… the ex-paramedic’s autobiography detailing his highly controversial claims about what really happened in Honey Island Swamp a decade earlier. The only survivor in the grisly massacre that left over 40 people in pieces, Andrew Yong was also the only suspect in the heinous crime. During his long and highly publicized 2008 trial Yong had held fast to his outrageous claim that it was in fact the ghost of local urban legend “Victor Crowley” that had committed the brutal murders. Outraged by his insultingly unbelievable ghost story, the general public had written Yong off as a mass murderer and the prosecution was confident that they had Yong dead to rights as they pursued the death penalty. However, in a shocking turn of events Yong was found innocent by the jury and exonerated of all crimes across the board. Without a motive, without a witness, and without the iron clad evidence required to convict him, Andrew Yong was set free… only to have his life become a living hell. In I, SURVIVOR Yong recounts his terrifying night in the bayou and details how he managed to make it out alive after (supposedly) coming face to face with “the bayou butcher” himself… Victor Crowley.
The now infamous “bookstore signing scene” from VICTOR CROWLEY. Make sure you watch the movie on Blu-Ray or DVD to see the entire scene as it was meant to be seen!
In VICTOR CROWLEY Andrew Yong states that the publisher had brought in a far more experienced author named Joe Knetter to co-write the book with him since he himself had never written a book before. In real life, Joe Knetter is actually an accomplished writer and a friend of Adam Green’s. Knowing that Knetter is a big HATCHET fan (he has a large tattoo of Victor Crowley on his arm) Green originally just intended to give Knetter a shout-out in the movie. However, what had started out in the script as a mere name drop for one of his friends became an exciting reality when Green approached Knetter with the crazy idea that they should actually write I, SURVIVOR together and turn the fictitious book from VICTOR CROWLEY into a real novel that fans could own and read after seeing the movie.
Andrew Yong promoting I, SURVIVOR on “The Sabrina Show” in the movie VICTOR CROWLEY.
When the list of tour exclusive merchandise for the “Dismember America Tour” was announced Green revealed that he and Knetter had written I, SURVIVOR as a real book and that it would be released later in 2018. Fans who saw VICTOR CROWLEY in theaters during the tour had the option of pre-ordering the tour exclusive copy of I, SURVIVOR – a limited edition 6″ X 9″ hardcover version of the novel exactly as seen in the film, autographed on the cover by co-writers Adam Green and Joe Knetter. I, SURVIVOR will be available to the general public in 6″ X 9″ trade paperback when the book comes out. The novel will be available through Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, and of course right here on ArieScope.com where it will come autographed by Green.
“Knetter and I originally started out writing I, SURVIVOR as a companion piece to the HATCHET series,” says Green. “However it wound up becoming so much more than just a novel that fills in what the audience didn’t see in the films. We realized very quickly that we had a rare opportunity to bring a fictitious character to full three dimensional life by having “him” tell his story in a first-person narrative.” Knetter adds, “I think that fans are going to be surprised by how deep this book actually goes into who Andrew Yong is and what he went through. I, SURVIVOR turns Yong into a real person by humanizing his story in a way that a film just can’t.”
“Besides,” says Green, “I just can’t wait until the day comes when someone picks up a copy of this book at a yard sale and reads it having no idea that it is part of a fictitious slasher franchise. Can you imagine?”
ArieScope expects to hear an exact release date for I, SURVIVOR from the publisher in just a few more weeks but an early summer street date is now projected. Pre-orders for the trade paperback (signed by Adam Green) will begin here on ArieScope.com when the release date is announced. Fans who ordered the exclusive hardcover versions (signed by both Green and Knetter) on the “Dismember America Tour” will be shipped their copies first when the books come in. At this time the book is still being formatted for printing but the final page count will be listed in the description when books go up for pre-order in a few weeks. Stay tuned!
A page from I, SURVIVOR by Andrew Yong.
“Killer Arwen” design by our friends at Fright Rags.
