Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet is a supernatural Slasher Movie released in 2009 starring Danielle Harris and Bill Moseley.
One Long Island night in 1978, after getting her first period, a little girl named Mary Mattock viciously murdered both her parents with a hatchet for no immediately apparent reason. After being found and arrested, Mary was deemed unfit to stand trial due to being found not guilty by reason of insanity, having been diagnosed with severe Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (aka "Menstrual psychosis
"). Mary was subsequently imprisoned in the King's Park Psychiatric Hospital, only really ever exiting the catatonic state she had fallen into whenever it was her time of the month.
Roughly a decade into her imprisonment, the now-grown Mary (nicknamed "Mary Hatchet") was viciously raped and impregnated by an orderly, who got away with it due to a cover-up by the higher-ups. Mary eventually gave birth, but was told shortly after the procedure that her baby had died, news which caused her to have a psychotic breakdown and run amok through the institution, killing every employee she came across with only her bare hands. Upon exiting the facility and wandering into the stormy night, Mary (carrying the severed head of the orderly who had raped her) was confronted by the police, who, after repeatedly ordering her to stand down, riddled her with bullets when she hurled the orderly's head at them and began letting out animalistic screams.
These events, along with alleged sightings of her restless spirit, caused Mary's infamy to skyrocket, and soon a pseudo-holiday dedicated to her, dubbed Blood Night, was started by local teenagers, who use it primarily as an excuse for pranks, vandalism and partying. On 2009's Blood Night, a group of high schoolers consisting of Nichole, Jen, Chris and Alex make plans for a big Blood Night bash, starting out by holding an impromptu séance on Mary's withered and desiccated grave, where the group is told some stories about her by caretaker Graveyard Gus (an example of the usual "old harbinger of doom" slasher films like so much). When the party finally gets into full swing at Jen's house, the quartet is joined by sophomores Gibbz and Tim, a couple named Tyler and Jessica, and Chris's sister Lanie, and her friends Corey and Alissa. As the alcohol flows freely and revelers start pairing off, the party is crashed by an unseen killer, who begins their spree by offing stragglers, before chasing those who remain to the now abandoned King's Park, where the survivors were dragged to by a passing Gus, revealed to have been employed at King's Park in the past, and convinced he can stop what is presumably Mary's rampaging spirit. But is Mary really responsible, or has someone else merely decided to follow her lead...?
Hint: It's both... Maybe.
This film provides examples of the following tropes:
- Abandoned Hospital: King's Park.
- The Alcoholic: Gus.
- All Periods Are PMS: Mary has "Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder".
- All There in the Script: It reveals Mary's parents were named Bob and Linda.
- A Minor Kidroduction
- An Arm and a Leg: Jen gets one of her hands chopped off.
- Ankle Drag: Gibbz and Jen.
- Asshole Victim: The orderly who rapes Mary
- Attack of the Town Festival
- Ax-Crazy
- The Bad Guy Wins: Just because Alissa is dead doesn't mean Mary's ghost is going anywhere, as Alex and Lanie learn the hard way.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Mary and Alissa (if she's just psychotic instead of possessed).
- Big Bad Friend: Alissa, to Lanie.
- Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts: Gus tells a story about a couple who have a rather nasty encounter with Mary's ghost, which they pick up one night.
- Bloody Handprints: Leaving fake ones all over the place is a Blood Night tradition, referencing the handprints Mary left when she got her first period.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: Happens to Jessica, Nichole and Jen.
- Boom, Headshot!: What finally brought Mary down.
- Captain Ersatz: Graveyard Gus, of Crazy Ralph.
- Chekhov's Gun: Gus's pickaxe.
- Child by Rape: Alissa.
- Creepy Cemetery
- Creepy Doll: Mary owned one.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Nichole gets stabbed in the back with a pickaxe, which the killer starts twirling after ripping it out, slowly pulling out Nichole's intestines.
- Crusty Caretaker: Gus.
- Cute and Psycho: Mary and Alissa.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Gus fought in Vietnam, and was working at King Park's when Mary ran amok there.
- Death by Mocking: Almost everyone, due to Blood Night shenanigans.
- Demonic Possession: Alissa is apparently possessed by Mary.
- Developing Doomed Characters
- Dramatic Thunder: Lots.
- The '80s: The time period in which Mary's rampage through the asylum took place.
- Emotionless Girl: Mary, except in the rape and birth scenes.
- Enfant Terrible: Young Mary.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Mary.
- Eye Scream: Mary non-fatally stabs her mother in the eye with scissors, and Jessica and an orderly get thier'sgouged out.
- Facial Horror: It looks like Mary rips a guard's face off.
- Fade to Black: The film uses this quite a lot.
- Fat Bastard: The rapist orderly.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Dead or alive, Mary doesn't really seem to care for clothes.
- Ghostly Chill
- Ghost Story: Gus, you know you're good at telling them when even rowdy teens want to hear them.
- Girl with Psycho Weapon
- Gone Horribly Right: As with every horror film involving a séance or Ouija board.
- Gorn
- Gory Discretion Shot: Mary massacring the asylum orderlies and cutting a couple's heads off, plus Eric and Gibbz getting pickaxed.
- Groin Attack: Eric gets stabbed in the groin before being hacked to death.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Chris gets his head sliced completely in half.
- Hospital Hottie: The asylum nurses.
- Hysterical Woman: Lanie.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Gus gets a pickaxe slammed into his throat.
- Improvised Weapon: Scissors are put to very good use, three times to be exact. During their fight, Alissa also whacks Alex a few times with the nozzle of an old fire hose.
- Jawbreaker: Mr. Mattock has his lower jaw whacked off.
- Lingerie Scene: Mrs. Mattock gets one.
- Menacing Stroll
- Murderer P.O.V.
- My Car Hates Me: Presumably out of spite, Katz and Huey (who weren't invited to the party) let the air out of all the car tires.
- Neck Snap: A nurse's death.
- Necro Cam: Alissa killing Tyler, Jessica, Tim and Corey.
- Never Recycle a Building: Granted, they don't actually mention how long King's Park has been abandoned.
- Nightmare Face: Repeatedly given by Mary.
- Off with His Head!: Happens to an orderly, a couple in a story, Tyler, Tim and Alex.
- Ominous Walk: Subverted. As Alissa is slowly coming towards him, all crazy-eyed, blood-spattered and with a pickaxe in hand, Alex just punches her in the face.
- Orderlies are Creeps: The one who raped Mary.
- Ouija Board
- Overdrawn At The Bloodbank: Gibbz's death.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Katz and Huey's bodies falling out a car, and Tim's severed head falling when a door is opened.
- Primal Scene: "This fucking Tom Jones album reminds me of my parents fucking, man."
- Powerful Pick: Becomes Alissa's main weapon.
- Prolonged Prologue
- Psycho Smirk: Given while Alissa is hacking away at Eric.
- Rape as Drama: While institutionalized, Mary was raped by an orderly.
- The Reveal: Mary's baby wasn't stillborn, and it's Alissa.
- Rolling Pin of Doom: When the group thinks there's an intruder in the house, one of them grabs a rolling pin.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Alissa.
- Scream Discretion Shot: Jennifer and Jen's deaths.
- Self-Made Orphan: Mary.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Gus.
- Slashed Throat: Huey (or Katz) is found with one.
- Spooky Séance: It's held on Mary's grave.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Mary.
- Theme Tune Rap: Eventually starts playing over the credits.
- Title Drop: Take a shot every time you hear Blood Night.
- Title In: Long Island, NY 1978 and King's Park Psychiatric Center, King's Park, NY, 1989.
- Token Minority: The African-American Jen.
- Traumatic Haircut: After getting her first period, Mary starts hacking off her hair with scissors.
- Unfinished Business: According to Gus, Mary's ghost will keep on killing until she finds her long-lost child.
- Unkempt Beauty: "You're even hotter when you look like shit."
- Unstoppable Rage: Mary kills roughly half a dozen asylum employees with her bare hands.
- Unusual Euphemism: "Wanna goo gaga daddy's lollipop?"
- The Voiceless: Mary, unless screaming counts.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Given by a drunk Tim.
- Waif-Fu: Mary and Alissa. Ultimately averted with the latter, though.
- Wait Here: While Alex goes to check the fusebox, and look for Corey and Alissa.
- Wall Slump: Gus's death.
- Whispering Ghosts: All over the place.
- You Can See That, Right?: Gus repeatedly catches glimpses of Mary's ghost.
- Wild Teen Party
