[Slaughter Night]
Plot:After a tour a group of friends get stuck inside an old mine shaft with a vengeful spirit.

Cast: Victoria Koblenko, Kurt Rogiers, Jop Joris, Linda van der Steen, Steve Hooi, Carolina Dijkhuizen, Lara Toorop, Emiel Sandtke, Serge-Henri Valcke, Martijn Oversteegen, Liz Snoyink, Michael van Buuren, Hans Ligtvoet, Robert Eleveld, Rutger Lagestee.

My Thoughts:The dutch watch too much american horror cinema.

Review:Usually when I pop a foreign horror film into the ole' dvd player, I expect atleast some sembelance of originality from the film I'm about to watch. Usually that is what I get, most of the time anyways...but then there are films like "Slaughter Night", that just make one think.."Ok, the director has watched one too many of our slasher movies and has obviously taken the wrong elements from them to create his own slasher film". This dutch slasher flick follows the daughter of a man who was killed in a tragic car accident. Years later, her and her friends decide to take a tour of an old mine where a serial killer that the girls' father was researching met his demise. Why? who knows really, I could think of a hundread better things to do than tour an old mine but hey, different strokes for different folks.

At any rate, the mine is creepy as hell as most mines are. Dark, echo-ridden, etc. But what most mines don't have are so many boneheaded people visiting them. The characters in this film, certainly define the term "bonehead". Since the tour has apparently grown boring for the group of youngsters, one of them decides to whip out an ouija board and have a little fun messing with the dead. As if dialing up the underworld wasn't dangerous enough, doing it inside of a mine is even twice as dangerous. Of course these kids really don't care because after all, they're all a bunch of teenagers in a slasher movie. Of course my question was...who walks around carrying an ouija board on their person? I mean is it like American Express?

Do you need it for those few times where someone might pass by and say "hey I'm looking into contacting the dead you wouldn't happen to have an ouija board on you would ya?" Upon which the person responds with "Sure thing, I never leave home without it." Of course this stupid move leads to major trouble and the spirit of the killer gets free and begins possessing many of the teens, setting up the typical cliche supernatural/slasher horror film, where everyone suspects everyone of being possessed and no one can be trusted yada yada yada. Normally I'd feel sorry for people so young trapped in such a bad situation, but not in the case of "Slaughter Night". I was always thinking, man...someone should've left that dumbass with the ouija board at home.

The killer isn't really one of those standout villains you'll see in some indie slashers such as this one. Not only does writer/director Frank Van Geloven not know how to create a half way decent villain, but he also knows nothing about creating suspense either. Just because your film is set in a dark, spooky old mine...reminiscent of an old "Scooby Doo" episode, doesn't mean that creating your own suspense in certain scenes isn't necessary. Unfortunately, no one ever told Geloven that apparently. "Slaughter Night" does have one redeeming quality though, and that's the levels of blood and gore in the film. The acting is also pretty decent, despite the characters being under-developed and not very bright.

But as a far as blood and gore are concerned, it's all over the place in this movie, along with some very nasty and brutal deaths. All in all, "Slaughter Night" could've been a good picture if the kids had just ran afoul of an evil spirit and were thrust into a fight for their lives. But when characters pull out ouija boards at any juncture in a movie, you've pretty much lost me as a viewer. Self inflicted harm isn't funny, especially when it comes with a huge side of utter stupidity. The only thing more shocking than how bad this film was, was the ending.

Positives:Great setting in the dark, spooky, old mine. Blood and gore are at high levels in the film.

Negatives:Bad script, lack of suspense, and brainless characters.

Overall:A must avoid, truly.....a must avoid.





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