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The Slaughter (2006) Starring: Zak Kilberg by Richard Leigh 
'The Slaughter' is a 2006 comedy horror film written and directed by Jay Lee. The film is tacky and cheesy but it doesn't attempt to be anything different; it's a low budget horror and if you take it as this and don't expect much more from 'The Slaughter' then you'll surely not be too disappointed. 'The Slaughter' is not the greatest comedy horror ever created, it's a bit of fun though and if you want to kill 96 minutes then why not do so with this 2006 Jay Lee production.
Six college students have here taken on a job to clean up an old abandoned house. A property developer wishes to sell it on and the students therefore must get it looking nice and tidy and bring this abandoned home back to a state fit to live in. What is not realised however is that in doing this an ancient evil demon has been awoken. The house has been left empty for forty years, the demon has laid dormant for this long and is now looking to take full advantage of its reawakening. The race is on as the students try to figure out a way to stop the evil force, the doors have been locked and seemingly there is no way to escape this house; the students are clutching at any straws possible and as the film unfolds they desperately look to escape through any means possible. What is quite strange about 'The Slaughter' is that for the first half of the film you can't really make out whether it's a serious horror film or a comedy horror film. It's not at all scary, but it's not particularly funny either; the film progresses blandly and nothing really happens here in order to entertain. You're constantly waiting for something to happen, it's just the setting up of a really rather bland story of the demon awakening however and the film takes an awfully long while to truly get going. There are also two completely different styles of film form here; the first hour or so of the film is fairly serious horror, and then for the final thirty minutes or so every horror convention goes out the window and the film relies purely on comedy alone. The problem with 'The Slaughter' relying on its comedy element is that the comedy aspect of the film is utterly poor, there are a few funny moments but for the most part the film is just too over the top to ever be funny. In terms of character types, horror stereotypes have certainly been used here and such characters can be found as the flirty blonde, the reserved brunette, the jock, and the student stoner also. The characters are all extremely predictable, some of the performances are incredibly wooden and no one is ever particularly great in their role here. Zak Kilberg is the best of a bad bunch, he's not a bad actor but he's also not given much of a script to work with either here. Kilberg plays an intellectual that has an active interest in politics, what he lacks in social skills he more than makes up for in intelligence and of all the characters present here it is his of Iggy that I warmed to the most. I guess it's a bit harsh here to blame the actors for this film, most of them weren't that bad really and given the terrible nature of the script there wasn't really much that could be done with the dreadful lines that each cast member was given. Metal music is utilised within the film in order to highlight the devilish nature of the actions that are taking place here. The music is carefully placed at the points in which the film is at its most brutal; the musical score used here is one that works well and the soundtrack is I feel one of the largest positive to be drawn from 'The Slaughter'. The music really does fit the on screen action, it's by no means spectacular but certainly it has been well chosen. Some of the special effects are quite fun here, strong in parts but laughable in others. One moment in the film did actually manage to make me look away, it was really quite gory and the image on screen was particularly foul. Full credit must go to the special effects team here, some of the effects were excellent; not exactly top of the range, but particularly good for a low budget horror film of this sort. 'The Slaughter' is really quite an awful film, I actually quite liked it though; not enough to ever watch it again, but certainly enough to consider that I haven't wasted 96 minutes of my life in viewing it. The script is terrible, the storyline is fairly poor, and some of the performances are horrendous; I still warmed to 'The Slaughter' though and although it's not one of my favourite films ever, it's certainly one that I shall remember. It's slow to get going, I'm glad that I stuck with it however as eventually there were a good few moments provided and a number of scenes here are fairly impressive. 'The Slaughter' is not exactly flawless from start to finish, it's reasonable for a low budget horror film however and there are a few extremely funny moments. Most of the comedy is supremely poor, some of it works though and it is these moments that you've got to watch out for. This is not at all a scary film, it's far more heavy on the comedy than it is on the horror and other than one frankly disgusting scene there's not much else to ever cause much fright. Give this film a go, see what you think, just try not to expect too much from 'The Slaughter' as it's by no means a horror classic.  Rating: 2 out of 5 Details about the film: |
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