Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Slaughter (2009) - 2/5

This film was a good case of waiting for something to happen...and waiting for something to happen...and waiting for something to happen...and YAY! Something's happening! And its dragging on...and dragging on...and on...all right. Let's end this...nope...not yet...okay...maybe...nope.

You get the point. For "Slaughter", another one of After Dark Horrorfest III's 8 Films To Die For, it was a test of patience. Although I appreciate a good suspenseful tale full of character development and tension building drama, this had almost none of that...well at least none of it that really worked. We spend a lot of time getting to know our main lady Faith and her fucked up life as she tries to run away from it and stay with a new found friend on her family farm. Although by the time shit starts hitting the fan in the third act, I had already tired of the premise. Just as things start getting good at the end...it starts to just...keep going. What feels like a climax turns out to be another half hour of film of an oddly placed power struggle between two women whom don't do anything that makes a lick of sense. We build and we build and we build for this? Damn.

But alas, the script may have had its cliche moments and sputtering pacing, but even some of the choices in the film were odd. The acting was hit or miss and so was the directing. Some solid moments sprung up here and there, but missed opportunities (like really building tension around the Slaughterhouse would have been nice) and missed focuses just undermined what was happening in the film.

I can't state that this was a bad film, per se, but it definitely wasn't good. It just missed out too much on some great elements that were hinted at in the script (some supporting cast screen time would have been nice here or there) and wasn't able to carry the film on the premise. It was just a very trying watch on my patience. 


Written By Matt Reifschneider

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