[The Cook]
Plot:Over a long holiday weekend, unable to escape the confines of their sorority house, a handful of unsuspecting girls are left behind to enjoy the quiet sanctuary. The normal house staff has taken off for the weekend, leaving the girls to fend for themselves. Thankfully someone was kind enough to send them a temporary replacement chef to cook their meals. However, when the girls start disappearing one-by-one, they begin to suspect something may not be quite right with...THE COOK!

Cast:Mark Hengst, Makinna Ridgway, Kit Paquin, Penny Drake, Nina Fehren, Noelle Kenney, Brooke Lenzi, Justine Marino, Stefanie Solano, Allen Yates, Jackson Sowell.

My Thoughts:Flashback to the 80's!

Review:Well, well, well.....what a pleasant surprise "The Cook" turned out to be. The film, which is an indie slasher was a movie that I really was not expecting much from at all. "The Cook" follows a house full of sorority sisters, the usual setup for a film which you can definitely tell, has some serious 80's slasher influences. They are a group of hotties, again...another typical 80's cliche. So what's the whole set up here? Well unlike most slasher movies, which have the house full of women being watched, and stalked by a killer for awhile...before he or she or they sneak in, and start the slicin' and dicin'...this film gets the killer into the house right at the very beginning. As the house chef, hence the title..."The Cook".

Seems that the old cook went missing, and now this new guy from Hungary has showed up to replace him. The question is....is this cook up to no good? And is he serving up a recipe for trouble, mayhem, and bloodshed? The genius of this movie is that it manages to be a stupid slasher movie smartly. Now I'm sure you're wondering what that means exactly...well, basically, it has the same dumb slasher movie plot. Killer is nearby, girls don't notice, people disappear in the house, no one notices...again, and eventually, the numbers of hot sorority girls are dwindled down to single digits.

Sort of reminiscent of the "Black Christmas" remake. But at the same time, this movie puts a whole new spin on that plot point. Normally...one would say, these girls are complete idiots, not noticing a killer in their midsts. But some actual complications are thrown into the pot here, which make that theory believeable for once. Along with the fact that most of these girls spend their time either getting high, or having lesbian encounters...the cook being of Hungarian descent, speaks only Hungarian.

This language barrier creates a whole host of problems, such as when he tells the girls "He's cooked their friend, and they're eating her", or "I'm going to kill the rest of your friends tonight"...because he speaks Hungarian, these chicks have no idea what he's saying, and instead...they think he's being charming or complimentive. Hence, he pretty much is able to move around and kill unnoticed, but this cook is also a clever devil. Waiting until a potential victim enters his domain, the kitchen...before he offs them, and then serves them up as dinner the next evening.

This allows him not to be sene too much, and at the same time...allows him to dispose of any "evidence". There are alot of things to like about this movie, considering it takes alot of different avenues with the typical slasher movie, and has alot of fun with it as well. There are also some very entertaining and funny subplots to go along with the carnage and bloodshed within the movie such as a christian sorority girl trying to come to grips with her feelings about a very sexually agressive female housemate, one girls male study partner crushing on her, and one girl building a possible love connection with the psychotic cook.

The deaths in the movie are pretty standard, but still likeable considering they're very bloody and pretty gruesome. And what's really to like about "The Cook" is that the cook's method of disposing of his victims post-death, is far more gruesome than his method of killing them. The films finale is not as intense as one would have hoped for, but it still works on many levels, and there are even a few twists tossed in for good measure. Including one big surprise which comes at the very end, although...it opens up a moderate-sized question as to events which occured earlier.

I didn't get too bent out of shape about that though, considering how little plotholes "The Cook" has, it is entitled to atleast one or two near the tail-end of the pic. "The Cook" is a great B-slasher-movie, which panders to those old school 80's slashers...it's about sex (although not as overdone as usual), drugs, hot girls, and gory demises. Only separating itself from the rest of the pack with the one instance that these girls can actually act. It's a fun film to watch, and how many times does a reviewer get to say that about a straight to dvd slasher film these days?

Positives:High levels of blood and gore, above average story, good performances, gory demises, and a high entertainment factor.

Negatives:A slight plothole at the end.

Overall:Worth renting.





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