I think it’s safe to say I am in the minority as far as being able to say I enjoyed the 1998 American Godzilla film. I know a lot of people hate it. The Japanese especially loathe it. I recall reading that one of the men who wore the Godzilla suit in some of the old Toho films watched our rendition and commented, sadly, that it doesn’t have the soul of the true Godzilla. That’s how I feel about Hack/Slash: Son of Samhain: it lacks the true soul of the deep character that is Cassandra Hack, the killer of killers, the slasher slayer, the ultimate final girl.
When we had last seen Cassie Hack, it was in the mini-series Hack/Slash vs Army of Darkness, the fan-demanded crossover between Cassie and Ash Williams. Not only was it a horror comic reader’s wet dream, surpassed perhaps only by Freddy vs Jason vs Ash: Nightmare Warriors, it was well written, engaging, and served as a cap to both series, rounding out all the loose ends as both ongoing series came to an end. And the ending was perfect!
But slasher movie franchises are infamous for their bad sequels, that one film in the franchise that you could tell was made just to cash in and keep it going. Friday the 13th V, Halloween Resurrection, Scream 3, Hellraiser Revelations, etc. Hack/Slash has a trade paperback ironically named “Death By Sequel”. The Hack/Slash miniseries Son of Samhain is the bad sequel. Tim Seeley, the creator of the series and writer of much of the series, hands the reins over to his brother Steve. Similarly to when Mark Kidwell messed up the rendition of Vlad in the HAck/Slash BUMP crossover, Steve is not able to capture the character of Cassie Hack in a faithful manner. The girl looks like Cassie, makes references to Cassie, but doesn’t have the soul of Cassie.
The story itself is also of issue. Cassie is a slasher slayer. In this series, she has thrown away the happy ending that Hack/Slash culminated in through all the years and is fighting generic “monsters”. It just feels… forced…
And the mini-series is named for the introduction of the character of Ocky (short for October), the titular son of Samhain, the main villain of Hack/Slash who killed Cassie’s partner and friend, Vlad, in the climactic battle. And though this would seem to lend itself to an incredible character dynamic and story potential, it just falls short and is underwhelming in every way in how it is handled.
I love the Hack/Slash series. It is probably my favorite comic series of all time. I used to think that I’d never want to see it end. The Son of Samhain mini series proved me wrong. Let it end. Cassie has earned her rest and a bit of happiness…
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