Slayers

Well, the 2022 horror comedy "Slayers" definitely had potential to be something good. And I will say that I was initially intrigued by the movie's synopsis and also the fact that Thomas Jane was in the movie. Needless to say that I had to sit down and watch the movie and have my curiosity sated.

And while the concept for "Slayers" was good, then writers Zack Imbrogno and K. Asher Levin went a little bit overboard here, and the movie went from being a fun and enjoyable horror comedy to somewhat of a farce. The storyline just drowned away in the constant attempts from writers Zack Imbrogno and K. Asher Levin to put in as much crazy stuff as possible.

It was a shame that the writers went overboard with mutating this movie into something rather grotesque, because it took away from the enjoyment of the movie. I have to say that "Slayers" turned out to be quite something else than what I had anticipated.

They had a good cast ensemble for the movie, with the likes of Thomas Jane, Malin Akerman and others. However, the actors and actresses were struggling with having a subpar script to work with here.

Visually then "Slayers" was a good movie, and that at least counted for something.

While I sat through the entire 88 minutes that the movie ran for, I was only mildly entertained. It is not a horror comedy that I am going to be recommending to people, nor is it a horror comedy that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of director K. Asher Levin's 2022 horror comedy "Slayers" lands on a four out of ten stars.

I started watching because of Thomas Jane and Abigail Breslin, before checking IMDB rating. It started off so poorly, that I had to check and the 3.0 rating made me want to turn it off. But I decided to see if it was bad/good enough to be a cult flick. Thomas Jane was perfect for his part a protagonist/narrator. The social media tie ins were good, but didn't go far enough. The live streaming with influencers the was great, but under utilized. The "How to" piece and old school fight sound graphics were cult film gold. The framework was their, the acting talent was good enough, the production value was "OK", but ultimately the directing/editing stopped it from becoming cult film. Gave it 5 stars for the attempt, but 3 stars was pretty correct.

I've seen bad movies. I've seen horrible movies. I've seen movies so bad they're good. Then there's Slayers. It's just plain horrible. 81 minutes I'll never get back. Normally I like Thomas Jane, Malin Akerman., and Abigail Breslin, but I don't understand why any of them agreed to be in this insult to cinema. I know some actors do terrible projects for a paycheck. I just can't imagine any of them getting paid much for this thing. The concept is terrible. The writing is terrible. The directing choices are terrible. The acting is terrible. The editing is terrible. Throw every terrible cliché in a bag, pull one at random, and you'll find it in this movie.

There is absolutely nothing positive or good I can say about this movie. If I could give it a 0-Rating, I would. I have seen some 'stinkers' in my life, but this movie was so bad I had to come and warn you & other movie-goers:

"No! No! No! Steer clear & run away!"

I watched the movie till the end in the hopes that it might get better or end on a high note. It never did. The acting, the music, the camera work, the bad dialogue, the actors... everything is just bad!

I wish I had money to throw away like the people or film houses that actually produce or approve these films. Thomas Jane & Malin Akerman must really be hard up for work. It's sad, because they have made good movies before.

Slayers is a vampire parody that hits upon every wannabe social media influencer trope from tik tok to twitch streamers...and even tv.

We find ourselves following a collective of influencers, who call themselves "The Stream Team", on their journey to meet a powerful and influential former record turned television executive slash real estate developer, who gaslights the public by fashioning himself as a fake woke eco-warrior.

He pretends to want to recruit these social media icons to take over his company.

But, really...he and his friends are just vampires, who want to harvest them for their blood.

Being a parody, the cringe characters come off as particularly annoying.

But this is clearly part of the design.

The narrator and protagonist of the film is a rough and tumble vampire hunter who lives and operates out of his RV.

He acts as a parody of internet conspiracy theorists, after being initiated into the such a life, when his rockstar daughter was lured in by the same reclusive billionaire that is targeting this group of influencers...only to be killed and harvested herself.

He tried to intervene and save her...but he was too late.

Inevitably leading him down this benevolent path of vengeance.

The only one he is able to convince, however, is a completive Modern Warfare twitch streamer...who watched one of her friends being killed by one of these vampires.

So, obviously, they team up to try and stop them...in John Carpenter fashion.

But they take way too long to develop the storyline...wasting too many minutes with pointless filler designed to lure in the attention of stream viewers.

By the time they get through this, they are already introducing the twist...but things are just too fast paced for any of it to really settle in...before we're into the action.

All of which is portrayed as a video game...streamed for an attentive internet audience...of course.

Ironically, though, the vampires suck.

They just aren't cool in any conceivable manner.

Plus, the action is super lame.

Further irony being derived from the fact that the entire allure of streamers is their character development...based around the idea that we are constantly able to tune in on their lives in the most intimate settings.

Whereas there is virtually no character development here...at all...so you never really care about any of the characters in the film, at any given point.

To their credit, they do make an effort to give the characters a backstory, but there is far too much going on for it to have the intended effect.

Making the whole thing feel empty and soulless.

It just plods on, and when it's over, it's almost like it didn't even happen at all...because you never gave a damn to begin with.

Which leaves you feeling like watching it at all was just a complete waste of time.

Is that the commentary they were going for?

Either way, the final third of the film is just bad.

Garbage action sequences aside...they keep stopping things to insert lore...but it just doesn't work...and kills any semblance of flow they still had going for it.

So chock up it's failure to bad writing and really poor construction.

Cause in the end, this movie just sucks.

1.5 out of 10.