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[Slasher]
Plot:A group of friends take a break from their studies, but find themselves pursued through the backwoods of Germany by a savage lunatic.
Cast:Christiane Imdahl,
Christian Stock,
Pia de Buhr,
Sebastian Badenberg,
Michael Eisenburger,
Heiko Lange,
Maja Makowski,
Peter Herff,
Hannah Kobitzsch,
Andreas Jahn,
Vivien Walter,
Katrin Hui,
Thomas Kercmar,
Vanessa Radenberg,
Patrick Dewayne.
My Thoughts:Held back by annoying characters.
Review:"Slasher", is a super micro-budget indie slasher film from filmmaker Frank Montag. It's yet to see a wide release on DVD, mostly because of the budget. The films budget is about as small as the budget for that old FANGORIA movie "School's Out", and much like that film, this film is also filled with German actors, and is a German production. Anyways, the movie follows our usual slasher flick pattern, with a group of college students on break, heading up to a camp deep in the woods.
A camp which sits close by a house where a tragic batch of murders occured years ago. Now of course we know what's gonna happen to these kids. The killer will eventually show up, and dispatch of them in gruesome and violent ways. But this movie manages to do some good things, which is a relief considering the characters are so Americanized. I mean, if not for the English subtitles, I could've sworn these kids were all-american with their "constant-wanting-to-get-laid" attitudes and such.
These kids go into this scenario with wreckless abandon, a perfect set up for the chainsaw-wielding killer to move in and prey on them. However, the kids american-teen personas wear thin very quickly, and get annoying rapidly. But the movie pokes a lot of fun at itself for being a stupid, silly, pointless, and plotless slasher movie. So atleast it doesn't take itself too seriously. There's even a scene in the film where while gathered around a campfire, one of the teens explains to his comrades what a "slasher" picture is.
An explanation that fits well into the movies overall motives. The film is extra-heavy on blood, gore, and violence. This movie is slasherdom at it's finest, spilling and shedding blood whenever and wherever it can. There is one death scene though, involving one of the female members of the group, that I felt went way too far, beyond the reigns of good taste. I appreciate pushing the envelope, but this death scene crossed the line too much for me. At any rate, if you enjoy your slasher films with a lot of blood, and tits, then this movie should satisfy.
Despite it's extra-low production values. The killer is also menacing enough, a pretty huge guy, with a white mask, a butcher's apron, and a chainsaw. Granted, the costuming for the killer probably didn't cost a pretty penny, but nonetheless, it worked. And for a movie about a killer in the woods, not much expensive costuming is really needed anyways. As for the characters, you're not gonna get much here in the realm of character development, intelligence, or tolerability.
So prepare yourselves for some good old-fashioned one-dimensional disposable and expendable teens. And try not to get too attached to any of these people, which shouldn't be much of a problem considering how under-developed the characters are. The third act of this film is it's greatest strength though. It brings the intensity, action, crazy twists and turns (and when I say crazy twists, I do mean CRAZY), blood and gore, and those obligatory long and drawn out chase sequences.
It also delivers heavily in the cliches department, which the entire movie pretty much does for that matter. In fact, "Slasher" is one big cliche, but while it's characters are it's weakest point, it atleast shows the director of the movie knows how to make a pure slasher movie. And for that, it gets props from me.
Positives:High amounts of blood and gore, the film pokes fun at itself in some cool tongue in cheek ways, the final act is nicely written.
Negatives:Super one-dimensional characters, and one death scene which went way too far.
Overall:Two stars out of four.
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