Customer Reviews

Slaughter

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

 

 

"Slaughter" was by far the most realistic of all the After Dark Horror Films this year,In My opinion.
If your looking for a Texas Chainsaw Massacre or heavy gore this isn't for you.But if your looking for a film that's thought provoking, thrilling and heart wrenching it is for you. I won't recount the story you can read the synopsis for that what I will give you is the lowdown on what I thought of it as a slasher /horror fan. As a general rule I LOVE gore and blood but I must admit I was pulled into this story while not seeing any of this for the first hour or so
granted I would have liked to have seen some but it wasn't needed.There were some very tense scenes towards the climax where I gritted my teeth and winced.It does have that gritty torture porn feel to it ,in the way it's filmed and presented,If your squeamish about teeth and pliers it will give you some thrills.
The whole pig farm combined with the what lies in the bottom of the lake thing is pretty chilling as well.It also has a great fight for survival sequence where the power struggle goes back and forth for awhile so you never know who is really going to win until it happens.All in all I though it was one of the best this year.

"Slaughter," is a very interesting and intriguing movie. The movie is about Faith, a young woman who is trying to rebuild her life after abruptly leaving her abusive boyfriend. To elude her abuser, Faith moves out of town, changes her phone number, and distances herself from her friends. During this transition, she meets Lola, a seemingly innocent small town girl. Faith quickly befriends Lola and becomes her roommate at her family's farm. Soon, Faith meets Lola's family and becomes the central piece of a diabolical scheme.

"Slaughter," is one of the films featured in the Horrorfest 2009 series. This movie is very predictable but at the same time, it is very intriguing. I definitely recommend it!

This is going to sound strange, but I think the reason I liked "Slaughter" is because it's not an endless succession of gore. This will probably disappoint some, and I agree that the title is very misleading; it's not a sleazy exploitation film, but a slow, tense psychological drama that actually bothers to tell a story. Granted, it's not very plausible, and I have a hard time buying into the fact that it was "inspired by true events." But what it lacks in credibility it makes up for in both style and character development. It a deliberately paced film, director Stewart Hopewell opting to let the story unfold gradually before letting the final twenty minutes or so go at full speed. This doesn't always work, but here it allows the audience to take everything in, especially when it comes to the dialogue given to the two leads; I won't give you a list of quotes, but if you pay attention, you'll notice that what they say to each other is ultimately very telling.

The tension builds as a direct result of the opening credit sequence, which uses clever camera angles and lighting effects to reveal that an injured, bound woman is being dragged through a field. When the woman and her abductor arrive at a dock, the abductor ties a cinderblock to the woman's ankles and pushes her into a lake. If you think I just gave away a crucial plot point, think again; there's more to "Slaughter" than meets the eye.

That's when the story slows down and backtracks. We're introduced to Cathy (Antonia Bernath), a young woman who just left her abusive boyfriend to start a new life in Atlanta. One night, she and her friend, Faith (Amy Shiels), celebrate at a local nightclub; out of the corner of her eye, Cathy notices another young woman who looks like she's being hassled by a man. She intervenes on her behalf, and the two immediately strike up a friendship. Here enters Lola (Lucy Holt), who lives on a farm just outside the city with her father and brothers. She appears to be in a desperate situation, unfulfilled on the farm and hated by her father, especially after the untimely death of her mother some years earlier. She claims she would like nothing more than to get out of Georgia and go far, far away. She vents her frustrations by acting promiscuous, constantly throwing herself at older, rich men, manipulating them into giving her gifts like watches.

Cathy likes Lola a great deal, but it's obvious that she doesn't completely understand her odd behavior. She's friendly around Lola, but she's also careful, especially since she's in such an unfamiliar environment. Everything about the farm seems open and welcoming ... except for the slaughterhouse at the bottom of the hill, where Lola's father (David Sterne) spends a great deal of time. One of the reasons it's so frightening is because, for most of the film, it's closed off from Cathy. For a time, the loud squealing of pigs are the only indications that anything is happening.

One could make a case for the pigs relating to Cathy's ex, who has constantly been trying to call her. That might be a stretch, however, simply because the symbolism is obvious. There are so many shots of pigs in this film that they have to serve as a metaphor for something. One could make a case for the pigs relating to Cathy's ex, who has constantly been trying to call her on her cell phone. That might be a stretch, however, simply because the symbolism is obvious. It's more likely that it has something to do with the men in Lola's life, but I can't elaborate on that since too much would be given away. Let it suffice to say that Lola hasn't had the best male role models.

Eventually comes the climactic moment when Cathy finally enters the slaughterhouse and discovers a room hidden way in the back, which contains a vacant chair and a locker full of shoeboxes. To describe more would ruin both the suspense and a plot twist that seems expected but somehow manages to be surprising nonetheless. What's interesting is that, in spite of the twist functioning at a level appropriate to horror movies, it's doesn't evoke that same sense of outrageousness other such stories are known for--shocking, but not altogether over the top. We've spent a lot of time with the main characters at this point, which, for reasons I won't reveal, helps a great deal during the film's final minutes.

The ending is perhaps too downbeat, and the final shot is heart wrenching in its uncertainty. There is, however, a sickening feeling that it couldn't have turned out any other way, which, if you see this movie, you will find both frightening and sad. Despite being advertised as a dime-a-dozen horror film, "Slaughter" delivers on a level more compelling than what the genre promises. Under different circumstances, it probably could have been widely released as a dark crime drama. That's not very good news for the horror movie fans that were enticed by the title, and if you're one of those people, I'm sorry to tell you that "Slaughter" is not going to be what you expected. But if you're looking for a carefully paced thriller with strong characters, you just might get your money's worth.

Oh Lola, yes you are....along with your piece of **** movie. There isn't much to say about this movie besides that it SUCKS. I can't really get into the story without giving away the "twist". The movie is boring (took an hour to pick up) and generic as well, with bad acting all around and not near enough gore/violence to give it even a little redeeming quality.

All you need to know is to avoid this movie like the plague, it's down there with the worst of the After Dark films alongside Nightmare Man. Go check out Borderlands or Frontiers instead.

"Slaughter" was more of a realistic kind of story than a gorefest you would expect from it's title. If you want endless gore, move on to something else. But this is an excellent film full of suspense. I felt a rollercoaster of moods. You'll want to feel sorry for your chacaters and hate them all at the same time. In the end you will say, "Oh no!" Not my favorite of the 8 films but up there near the top.

This film, for me, was very Confusing. For the first 20 Minutes, i was completely lost. After reading some good reviews, i had high hopes for this one. It Wasn't awful, and it wasnt great. The Ending Sucked, and All the good People died. Uhh! Don't regret watching, but wouldnt watch again.

This is another one of the third series the 8 Films To Die For, making 24 films "to die for". What is typical of these low budget horror movies is that the acting is a notch above the typical horror films. They also are more careful about script selection, as well as plot and character development than say Asylum. This film pretty much characterizes the series. It is not a great horror film, but it gets all passing grades. The movie must have been filmed on a set as I don't recall hearing any flies buzzing around, unusual for a farm in Georgia. Faith breaks up with Jimmy and moves in with her new friend Lola who lives on a farm. Lola's dad and brother are creepy and Lola is a slut, who like all sluts denies she is one. The movie starts out with a preview of what will happen to Faith. Why it does this, I don't know, it is not necessary. They used an out of focus camera as a technique to demonstrate the confused and terrorized mind of Faith. They show blurry scenes as if Faith was seeing them, but also blurry scenes looking at Faith. WTF? The movie drops the F-bomb a few times and has sexual situations. No nudity.

If Hollywood has taught us anything, it's that when two young girls move in together, things are going to go bad! One of them will inevitably be a psycho. SLAUGHTER doesn't break that rule, and in fact comes off as a blend of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and SINGLE WHITE FEMALE.

Faith, on the run from an abusive husband, is out on the town with her friend when she spies Lola being accosted by a male suitor. After rescuing her, the two become fast friends, and Faith eventually moves out to the farm where Lola lives with her father and two brothers. But as the film (slowly) progresses, Faith begins to wonder what happens to the one-night stands Lola brings home every weekend. And she wonders what's going on in that locked barn out there. Why do Lola and her father never speak to each other? Unfortunately, by the time she figures it all out, she's tied to a gurney and is now the subject of a devious plot to help "recreate" Lola's life.

Now, while this all sounds very interesting on paper (or not), the film manages to choke any suspense out of the setup with its slow-as-molasses pacing and subpar writing. The two girls never seem to gel as "BFFs" for me, and I think it is less to do with acting, and more to do with writing. The scenes leading up to the "third act twist" seem mostly to be filling time, as if the writers had a lot of ideas for the final 20 minutes, but couldn't think of what to do until then. Indeed, you could really cut from the end of the first night Faith met Lola, to the moment she wakes up on the gurney, and really not have missed much. It's like a generic 60-minute chick flick, with a thirty minute horror short tacked on at the end.

The big problem is that the shift in story is so sudden, and isn't really set up - that is, the change in Lola's character comes out of left field, and doesn't really seem earned by the first portions of the movie. A better script would have had some glimpses into this shift, some lead-ins, well before the final turn. The twists and turns during the final half-hour make that portion exciting and worth watching, but the final turn of the table is so ridiculously contrived, I found myself groaning at our heroine, who had AMPLE time to fire the gun! And, call me a horror-prude if you want, but the final moment of the film I found reprehensible, even if it is a sad reality of the world we live in.

The cinematography is slightly above average, and the lead actors are better than you at first think they are. Lola, at least, does a good turn when her true nature is revealed. And the opening and closing moments are actually pretty damn good, as if they almost belong in a different, better film.

Of the 8 Films To Die For this year, I have to put it near the bottom of the heap - not as bad as PERKINS 14, about on par with DYING BREED. I will give them this, though - of all the films, this one by far has the most cringe inducing moment, involving teeth and pliers, pulled off nicely even with very little blood! That's saying something, I think.

I received the Slaughter DVD here in COB Adder, Tallil, Iraq in a very resonable amount of time. It arrived in good condition and there was no problem with the shipment or the vendor. I would not have any problem recommending this vendor or buying from them again myself. Reviewed by Mark E. Grant, author of Blood of Scotland available at Amazon.com

Superb character development of Lucy Holt as Lola and Amy Shiels as Faith. Two wayward lost souls searching for a new meaning in life...or is that "death"? No spoilers here. You need to let this film/story unfold. It was inspired by true events and is definitely a testimony on running from something you can never hide. The best quote in the film sums up this 90 minute nugget from the "After Dark Horrorfest III" series: "Everyone deals with pain in their past differently. Some choose to run from it by having as much fun as humanly possible. Others choose to run from it and hide."