After Dark Horror Fest 2009: ‘Slaughter’

Travis:

So there’s two significant revelations I had from this movie, one right at the beginning and one realized once the film ended. First, I was not aware that this story was “inspired by true events” as the opening titles state. This instantly increased my interest in the movie. The other revelation, which occurred after seeing the movie, is that ‘Slaughter’ is not the film I thought it would be. That’s a compliment.

I went into this screening with the thought in mind that it would be a movie filled with violence and gore and have little actual story. In fact, the exact opposite occurred. ‘Slaughter’ is actually a great little horror-thriller with a well-written and carefully crafted story that does still have the necessary violence and gore, but none of it is gratuitous. The “yucky” stuff doesn’t truly make it’s appearance until the second half, following the mystery and character development that dominates the first half of the movie.

The story follows Faith (Amy Shiels), a just barely under 18 girl who moves to Atlanta to escape her abusive, (heck… he’s down-right creepy psycho) boyfriend Jimmy (Vance Daniels). Up arriving in her new, yet undetermined life, Faith meets Lola (Lucy Holt) in a downtown night club through a friendly effort of saving her from the unwanted advances of some guy in the bar. The two girls hit it off and Lola gives Faith her number. It doesn’t take long and creepy Jimmy starts calling Faith’s home phone, thus freaking her out and she calls upon an offer from Lola to be her room-mate in her renovated barn-house on her family farm.

During her seemingly serene stay with Lola, Faith feels she’s finally safe from Jimmy. Something doesn’t quite feel right though as Lola’s father keeps his distance from Lola and she senses some secrets are being kept within the family. She repeatedly finds herself uneasily drawn to the metal slaughterhouse on the property that Lola’s father and older brother work in, keeping the goings on inside secret. Another strange and recurring observation Lola makes is the frequency by which Lola brings men home to her bed, only to find her sleeping alone the next morning with an expensive gift and no sign of the man.

‘Slaughter’ certainly describes what Lola’s father does to the pigs, but it’s actually a very misleading title for the film. The movie is a great mystery-thriller and sports not one but a couple plot twists to keep you guessing. The movie benefits from an on-screen energy and flow that holds you in and the pace is just right. The cast of ‘Slaughter’ won’t win any acting awards, but the performances are perfect for what the film requires to tell this creepy story that’s even creepier when you consider it’s inspired by true events. I also noticed the film has a good strategically placed soundtrack. I attended the 5:30pm screening on Saturday, January 10. The next screening will be at Wehrenberg’s Ronnies 20 Cinema at 5:30pm on Tuesday, January 13.

[Overall: 4 stars out of 5]