[Slaughter]
Plot:A young woman looks to escape her abusive life by moving to her family's farm near Atlanta. Unfortunately, she learns her place of supposed comfort offers more terrifying forms of abuse.

Cast:Amy Shiels, Lucy Holt, Craig Robert Young, Antonia Bernath, Vance Daniels, Maxim Knight.

My Thoughts:More psychobilly terror.

Review:"Slaughter" follows a young woman named Faith (Shiels) who flees to Atlanta to escape an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, and as it always seems to occur in most of these sorts of situations...her ex boyfriend soon tracks her down, and the stalking begins. Faith then meets a young woman named Lola (Holt), who lives on a farm with her family.

The two hit it off instantly, and do everything from riding horses, to clubbing, to attending functions together. But Faith still has her stalker boyfriend to deal with, and when that situation gets too thick, she decides to move in with Lola. Things seem to work out at first, but Faith notices that Lola seems to be a hypocrite in may ways when it comes to using men, but even worse than that...Lola's family seems a bit strange.

And as Faith investigates further, she discovers some disturbing revelations about her new friend Lola. Think "Single White Female" meets "Wildfire". That's what "Slaughter" is really. The film is After Dark's second attempt at an original horror movie. And while it doesn't work as well as "Perkins 14" in terms of story, it does set things up a tad bit differently from most psychobilly horror flicks. But the film also has some very annoying components. The film gives us two very cliche characters.

Two white girls, who aren't very bright, are quite shallow, and don't apply common sense in many if any situations. But the one thread that keeps the movie together is the awkwardness of the storyline. The female lead Faith is pretty much under siege from many different threats throughout the movie. And the viewer can pretty much tell how things will end up unfolding, with all of these threats coming down on Faith in the end, and quite possibly cancelling each other out.

But until then, the movie is basically "Sex And The City"/"Sex And The Farmhand" for quite some time. Luckily, before the characters become too annoying, we're teased with some decent suspense with periodic appearances by the creepy-psycho ex-boyfriend, and Lola's creepy father and family. Which leads to the obvious conclusion that this movie does not offer up alot of gore or blood which is ironic for a film named "Slaughter".

Instead, the movie decides to wait until the final 20 minutes or so, before it not only gets bloody, but interesting in general. Which is what I meant when I said earle,r it sets up the psychobilly elements alot differently from most other horror movies. Most other horror movies hit the viewer over the head with the observation that certain characters are crazy rednecks waiting to strike.

But this film eases into that area of the story, and sort of subdues and gives the viewer a false sense of security about hat might or might not happen concerning Faith and Lola. So while the pic doesn't grab you early on, or even in the middle...when it springs that final act on you, it clicks really well. But as soon as it clicks well when act three rolls around, it also collapses during the third act. The film becomes cliched, chatty, and very predictable in it's events which lead up to the final result.

But it manages to slightly save itself with a twist ending which comes as an unexpected shock in a sad and dramatic fashion. "Slaughter" isn't a great movie, or even a good movie in my estimation. But it works off of a strange balance which has it's upside and it's downside. All in all, the movie manages to just reach that totem pole of being a truly break even piece.

Positives:Some areas of the movie avoid falling into the usual psychobilly film pitfalls.

Negatives:There are some very annoying cliches the film doesn't avoid, and the final act is very wobbly...being a success at times, and a total failure at other times.

Overall:Two out of four stars.





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