Customer Reviews

Slash [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Slash is a rock band on the verge of hitting it big (so they surmise) when tragedy strikes. Joseph MacDonald is informed at the end of a gig that a family member has died, and his presence at the funeral would be appreciated. Together the band heads out on a road trip to old MacDonald's farm that will not soon be forgotten, and Joseph (Mac) must face his somewhat repulsive and abhorrent family history.

After attending the funeral, and spending some time with Mac's family, the band assumes they can be on their way. However, coincidentally, their bus seems to be out of commission and they must spend subsequent nights on the farm with Mr. MacDonald and his odd farm hand Billy Bob. Keith, the band's keyboardist has a rather difficult time with Billy Bob, they get into altercations, and Keith leaves the farm never to be seen again. Only, he's not the first nor the last person who falls victim to the twisted "harvest of blood" that is tradition in the MacDonald family. Mac must decide whether he wants to remain faithful to his family heritage or to his band members and friends.

I must say that for a cheesy, b-rated horror flick, the script is very well done. Not only that, but the acting is also above what one might expect, even if barely. Some of the characters do tend to get obnoxious throughout the duration of the film, but I believe that was the anticipated result. The soundtrack seems fitting, but also seems to get on the viewer's nerves at times. Another complaint of mine is that the pace can be somewhat slow. What little tension there is gets dropped in between scenes and doesn't come back until much later. There is little suspense, and absolutely no bone-tingling horror/terror to be found here. The plot is very much predictable, and at times even laughable.

Rent this movie if you're looking for something interesting to view on a lonely weekend night at home, but it isn't worth investing in the DVD for your own personal library unless you're a die hard b-movie slasher flick collector.

I have never seen a South African horror film before and though I thought the acting was pretty bad, there was something fresh and quite enjoyable about the whole thing. The killer was in scarecrow form something that has only recently become extrememly in vogue.

The script itself was actually quite good. I was interested in the characters and there was actually some form of character and plot development, something sorely lacking in most slashers. The story is about Mac (often seen shirtless chopping wood or writhing in bed, but I digress), the lead singer of a band called Slash who is called back to the farm where he grew up to attend his aunt's funeral. For some reason, he drags his whole band along- who find themselves horribly out of place.

The band was painfully obnoxious, the most unbearable character that I must put down is the keyboardist Keith (the black guy with a gun). Now why the heck did they give the gun to this character... Anyway, he throws the gun around to bully the locals and expects sympathy towards the end. Screw that. The lead guitarist, Rod is a pig and drags along his groupie girlfriend of the week (a tarot reader) along for the ride. An example of development is the relationship between the women in the film which evolves as they are stuck on this farm together over a few days. One of the best characters is Billy Bob, a farmhand that provides light comic relief.

To make a long story short, the writers do a good job with circular story telling to connect the beginning to the end. These characters run and fight for their lives and evolve with the story. The characters have a history and the story being told is more than just a single concept.

Following one of their pub show gigs Joseph "Mac" Macdonald, singer of the young struggling rock band "Slash" lets the rest of the band members know that the head honcho of the record company "Hectic records" enjoyed their show enough to invite them to a high-profile showcase audition in a week's time. The band barely has enough time to celebrate when a messenger informs Mac that his Aunt died and that his uncle has extended an invitation to attend the funeral and that he is welcome to bring any friends along should he choose to. The band thus hop into their tour bus (how a struggling band can afford a bus that looks like this one is beyond comprehension) and head for Uncle Macdonald's farm, which is on their way to the audition. Upon arriving at the farm, they are greeted courteously by Uncle Mac and also by a strange farm hand by the name of Billy Bob. They attend the funeral and accept Uncle Mac's invitation to spend the night. The next morning as they hit the road again, the bus' engine fails them and they are forced to return to the farm until the bus gets fixed. The farm is no longer as safe as they once thought however, as members of "Slash" start getting "Slashed" to bits by an evil scarecrow...

Anyone guessing that Slash is a routine direct to video teen slasher would have guessed right. One thing that distinguishes it from the rest of the pile however is its location and its strong cast of actors. Filmed in and around Johannesburgh South Africa, anyone seeking a cinematic glimpse into that country won't be disappointed as the viewer is offered many scenic shots of the South African countryside as the band members pursue their road trip. The movie starts off fairly well, with its picturesque locale and chill music vibe. The characters are a likeable bunch and the actors do a formidable job. Anyone who thinks the acting was bad in Slash has definitely not seen enough of these types of films.

Like so many other movies of its genre Slash slowly degenerates into routine slasher fare but not because of any major missteps or plot holes or acting handicaps. It's just that despite the nice setup and style, it takes forever for the picture to go anywhere. Two thirds of the movie's length go by before any of the band members get hacked up or even realize anything is wrong. Once the scarecrow starts to let loose things get entertaining again but it seems a little too late. The scarecrow looks quite menacing, with its tall figure, long black robe and ridiculously sharp-looking scythe. But the fear factor of his appearances are somewhat ruined by an incredibly annoying and laughable techno beat that plays in the background whenever he appears. But I've seen much worse and Slash is elevated over other similar types movies by its strong cast of characters, especially the character of Keith, a know-it-all motormouth and Suzie, a sultry Michelle Rodriguez lookalike.

The morning I stumbled on this movie, I was intrigued by the title. I actually watched the whole movie and then watched again. I have read with the reviews before posting my own.

The morning after i watched it, I got my partner and she and I watched it. True, it did not provide the blood and guts, but it was not intended too. This movie would be appreciated by bands that are just starting out to make it big.

Yes it was surprising that it was made in Africa. But the best scenes in the movie were near the end. The surprise in the band was cool and most definate, the selling of the land.

We thought it was a great movie and away from the Friday the 13th predicative scenes.

Awesome movie. Yes, we would buy the movie. The music in the beginning could fit the title and be a little more heavy, but thats cool!!

Mac, the lead singer of a rock group on the verge of making it big, goes back to his rural home when a member of his family dies. True to the form, the blood hits the fan once he and his band get there. Another Scream clone (cool music, cool kids, cool look...), South African SLASH has all the making of a great slasher flick, and succeeds... almost. What it lacks, besides a better-tooled script, are likeable characters. All are way due for anger management class. James O'Shea (Mac) has presence but as an actor he is mostly wooden. Steve Railsback (from Ed Gein) fares much better as Mac's dad. It's always fun to see him work his craft, however stereotypical a character is. The rest of the cast do what they can with what they've got. What's interesting, however, is their faith once the action starts. Not all meet their Maker, which is heavenly. What isn't is the film's too slow pace. Not much happens between the killings, which is a big bummer, for when something does, it is convincingly executed. As are the production values. Director Neal Sundstrom definitely has talent. It would be interesting to see him move on to bigger and better things. -----Martin Boucher

The highlight of this movie is the wry humour of the well-acted McDonalds characters. Transposed into a blacker more frightening movie, this might have been very compelling. The teenage characters are irritating to the point that when they start getting knocked off its actually more of a relief than anything else. Unfortunately much of the work is left undone and far too many of them escape the farm. The plot is decent enough but the movie isn't really black enough to make it a good teen horror. Overall its reasonably enjoyable to watch, but very much let down by a cheesy/happy ending that won't see it taken seriously by fans of this genre.

A couple of weeks ago in a video store, My sister and I stumbled upon this movie. We are both fans of horror, so we figued, what the hey. We got it and watched it the second we got home. From the first frame to the last, we were almost in a trance. We laughed and laughed at the death scenes. The best aspect of this movie would have to be the music. I only wish direct to video horror movies have soundtracks. I give this an A+++ for originality and scariness.

Ah, Blockbuster, the perfect place to find that perfect slasher flick for the whole family. Slash is one of those rare movies that is so bad, it's actually good! A blah rock band named...go ahead...guess...Slash, is performing at some rundown, no-name nightclubs. Suddenly, a relative of one of the members dies, so the whole band heads out to BFE/hometown of the band member, for the funeral. But little does the rest of the band know that one of them has a horrible secret. As a boy, one of them accidentally set his father on fire after discovering he's a cold-blooded killer, and he's been traumatized by it ever since. And to top it all off, someone in scarecrow drag and wearing a metal mask, is offing them (in particularly bloodless ways) one-by-one. Face it, people, this isn't Saw...heck, it's not even Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, it's just a fun horror flick for you and your buddies to rent and watch late at night. reccomended.

The average overall rating on amazon for Slash at this very moment is 3 stars out of 5, which is exactly what I think the film deserves. Of course I feel I'm being a tad generous, but the movie does do a few things right, such as having an ending with a small twist along with a connection to a scene you see in the beginning of the movie.

The movie misses the mark completely as far as interesting characters are concerned. None of the teens are even remotely interesting- alright, so the main guy of the teens is the focus of the film, but that hardly makes him someone to really care about.

The creepy old farmers were pretty good though, probably because they had a certain mysterious vibe about them that leads the viewer into thinking "Maybe HE'S the bad guy, or maybe it's too obvious". One of the farmers looks like Jack Swagger, a ECW wrestler!

As far as actual horror is concerned, I'm afraid not folks. Absolutely nothing terrifying about a bunch of teens visiting a farm and a crazy guy going around stabbing people to death. I watched Friday the 13th too, and these kind of movies just aren't scary anymore. The best they can do is have an interesting storyline twist to keep your attention, or have a mildly interesting storyline, and Slash somewhat delivers in both areas.

Not a classic movie though. There's plenty of movies out there that basically do the same exact thing this one does.

After watching the tepid slasher flick "Slash," I asked several seemingly simple questions, none of which have easy answers. For example, I wondered aloud why we need yet another cheap, cheesy slasher film wannabe filled with annoying characters, near bloodless encounters between the baddie and the victims, and a connect the dots plot. Nonetheless, I gamely plodded through the entire movie, snorting and guffawing my way through what is largely a huge waste of time. I'll usually watch a horror movie no matter how bad it is. As a hardcore fan of the genre, I feel it necessary to absorb as much of the material out there as possible. Good or bad, I march onward through the mountains of straight to video horror DVDs, discovering that for every diamond in the rough there are dozens of other movies so bad that they'll curl your toenails. "Slash" leans toward the latter position; it's not the absolute worst film to come down the pipe in the last five to ten years, but it's far from good. It is, rather, a forgettable film that every filmmaker wishing to direct a horror film should watch so they know what not to do.

At the center of "Slash" is the "rock" band Slash, an up and coming group of "talented" musicians looking for that big break. The front man for the group, "Mac" MacDonald (James O'Shea), hides a hideous secret. When he was a child Mac witnessed a bizarre incident involving his grandfather Jethro (Danny Keogh), an incident involving stacks of bodies and something called the blood harvest. An accident led to the sudden departure of Jethro, and shortly thereafter Mac and his mother left father and headed to the big city. Mac's managed to submerge the disturbing memories of his childhood spent on the farm until he receives word after a show that his aunt passed away. Unfortunately, the trip to the funeral could very well interfere with the band's chances to sign a recording deal with a big label. Since Mac is the main guy, the group decides to attend the services. They all hop on the bus and cruise out to the MacDonald farm for a meet and greet with Mac's wacky family. Along for the ride is the band and a few hangers on, the most important of which-and the only memorable ones-are Mac's main squeeze Suzie (Zuleikha Robinson) and angry black guy Keith (Craig Kirkwood). Things get weird quickly once they show up on the farm. It turns out some nut in a black costume's been going around rubbing people out with various farm implements, and now he or she is going to turn their focus on the members of Slash.

Until the sauce starts to flow, we get a close look at the kooks on the farm. First up is Jeremiah MacDonald (Steve Railsback), a true hick in every sense of the word, who spends his time whipping up moonshine, joshing with the out of towners, and acting in a threatening manner. Jeremiah's sidekick is Billy Bob (Nick Boraine), a shuffling slow poke who takes great delight in provoking the band members, especially Keith. A few members of the band disappear because of various encounters with the man in black while Mac slowly slips into a weird trance related in no small part to his returning to the family homestead. After the funeral, where we catch a glimpse of a female version of the Crazy Ralph character from "Friday the 13th," the band expects to just roll right out of Weirdsville, USA. Yeah right. Something happens to the bus (surprise!), requiring the hapless youngsters to stay at the farm until the part arrives from the big city. It sure looks as though Slash will never make that all important recording contract meeting. In fact, they'll probably need to place a few ads in the trade mags for replacement musicians by the time this whole thing wraps up.

I'm wracking my brain in order to find something nice to say about "Slash." The only thing I can come up with is Nick Boraine's character, Billy Bob. Boraine plays the stereotypical redneck hick quite well. Regrettably, what doesn't work at all could fill volumes. Keith, for example, is the most annoying character imaginable, a guy whose constant harping on racism tires quite quickly. And what's he doing with a gun, anyway? Too, the constant sniggering from the rest of the musicians about life on the farm sure doesn't endear these characters to a viewer. I roared with laughter when Billy Bob showed up after the concert to notify Mac about the funeral, and the whole room went completely silent as he walked in. Are city folks this afraid of someone from the countryside? Never mind the city is a thousand times more dangerous than any farm! But the worst problem plaguing "Slash" is the absence of gore. In a slasher film, taking it easy on the bloodshed is a crime of epic proportions. Oh sure, there are a few scenes involving a bit of the red stuff, but it's all so minor compared to other pictures that the movie should have earned a 'PG' rating instead of an 'R'. And that conclusion! Oh brother!

Extras on the disc include a trivia game (yawn), and trailers for "Slash," "Lawless Heart," and "Purpose." The movie's picture transfer is fullscreen. As a lover of B budget movies even I have to say that "Slash," when it could have been a gorefest, is a borefest instead. Marred by bad acting, bad editing, bad pacing, bad effects, bad direction, and a downright abysmal soundtrack; "Slash" is best left lying on the video store shelf. See it if you absolutely must watch nearly every straight to video horror movie around, but don't say that I didn't warn you.