A funny horror-comedy from the makers of Fear Town, U.S.A.
In Brandon Bassham's "The Slashening," the story revolves around Lucy (Anna Callegari), Ashley (Elyse Brandau), Beth (Dana Clinkman) and Margot (Samantha Reece Schecter) who meet up with their friend Eva (Lily Du) for a sleepover party at her parents house. Their party or rather, get together, barely starts when they receive visits from some oddball neighbors and one of the strangest cops ever. No slumber party would be complete without some guys crashing the party or you know, a killer running around knocking them off.
I found the film to be heavier on the comedy rather than horror, which totally works. It is often over the top, heavy handed and gluttonous and I think that served the film well. "The Slashening" does a good job of serving up a slasher parody on a silver platter. We have some stereotypical characters like the slut, the drug user, good girl who just got her heart broken by her cheating boyfriend and a nerdy friend. Plus there's the hostess who is basically another good girl.
The film also features some familiar slasher scenes, but makes a mockery of them to great effect. My favorite might be the scene involving several pizza delivery guys. I couldn't help but laugh a few times. It wasn't the only scene in the film to make me laugh. That one just stands out. We also get the expected scene of the girls changing into their sleepover clothing, but that doesn't play out the way you would normally expect.
I think Brandon Bassham did a fine job as both writer and director. The characters were pretty funny and that is both thanks to the script and the actors and actresses playing the roles. This is a fun film made with a budget of only $6000 and features a cast made up of members of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City. It is nice to watch a low budget indie horror film that has actors that can act. The ladies are clearly the stars of the show in "The Slashening." It was nice to watch an effective slasher spoof instead of some of the crappy Hollywood horror spoofs that get churned out which usually consist of one comedic version of a specific scene after another. The practical effects looked good overall. A few slashed throats did not look very convincing but there were other scenes that had some more realistic looking bloody wounds.
The Annum Films movie has been picked up by Troma Entertainment so hopefully the film will find its way to home video in the future. For now you can watch the film on the FilmRise channel on Roku. Amazon also has the film available to view, but unfortunately that version is said to be heavily censored.
For more information on "The Slashening" check it out on Facebook and Twitter.
RATING [ 3 / 5 ]