Slaughterhouse

The main story concerning two all-mod-cons (for 1987 anyway) small town businessmen and a gruff sheriff trying to underhandedly usurp an old school sausage factory owner, Lester Bacon (Don Barrett), and his psychotically wayward son, Buddy (Joe Barton), is pure EC horror comic pulp resulting inevitably as it does in gruesome murder.

Wrapped around this is a fun quartet of teens in a Jeep who while away their time making rubber mask music videos in the slaughterhouse when they're not drowning their French fries in ketchup or cutting a rug to cheesy synth bands at the local Bacon disco dance.

Both these strands are married up quite successfully with likable and reprehensible characters alike meeting grisly fates in the piggy execution chamber via Buddy's big cleaver.

But Buddy's kind of a problem as he's played more for laughs than menace and comes over way too sweet and cuddly for a Leatherface wannabe. Clearly this was the intention of writer/director Rick Roessler from the opening sequence, but it seriously devalues any threats of suspense and tension that might be brewing and leaves an unsatisfying taste in the mouth. Buddy's Pop is cartoonish in tone too but Don Barrett makes a fair old go of it in the eye rolling/teeth gnashing department, so some kudos is due there.

The last third however, does make up for these shortcomings somewhat with an atmospheric climax in the meat plant chamber of horrors where most of the cast are quite harshly dispatched in brutal fashion before the freeze frame cliff-hanger brings us to an unexpected full stop.

Keeping the murderous pig farmers in the shadows would have added a much needed air of mystery and surprise and may have pushed it toward the realm of 'minor classic' and, possibly, a higher rating. But it's still a pretty decent, fun slasher that's well worth a look.

Lester Bacon (Don Barrett) and his grunting, meat-cleaver wielding son Buddy (Joe Barton) aren't very happy about the foreclosure of their abattoir and decide to use their slaughterhouse equipment and butchering skills to deal with the swine responsible. The meat-hooks become even more crowded with bodies after a group of teens visit the old meat-packing factory during a thunderstorm for a dare.

With its all-pervading aura of death and decay and its hulking mentally challenged killer (mentored by his demented father), Slaughterhouse is clearly aiming for a Texas Chain Saw Massacre vibe, but at the same time it also caters for the audience of the day, delivering inane teenage characters, predictable jump scares, some reasonable splatter, a few pig-related puns (Lester is described as 'pig-headed' and calls his son 'hog-wild'), and a couple of typically cheesy '80s scenes in which the youngsters act all wild and wacky, their zany antics accompanied by a tacky pop/rock soundtrack.

The result is a fun slice of stalk 'n' slash, a spirited blend of mean-spirited nastiness and tongue-in-cheek silliness that ticks all of the genre boxes with the notable exception of gratuitous female nudity. The suspenseful rain-drenched finalé is particularly well handled by one-time-only director Rick Roessler.

This little piece of junk is so much fun, you can't imagine !! Very violent, grim and demented…but covered with black humor and cheerfully twisted characters. 'Slaughterhouse' is set in a quite little American town (of course) called Lakeside. A large chain of abattoirs makes it impossible for modest slaughterhouses to survive. The old butcher Lester Bacon is declared bankrupt and along with his seriously retarded son Buddy, he plans vengeance to all parties involved. 'Slaughterhouse' is very amusing, just because it's so light-headed! This Buddy-character is really great! A big, brainless fatso who can't talk but grunts all the time due to spending his entire youth between pigs. He carries a giant axe throughout the whole movie and butchers people without thinking! Lovely!! Clearly inspired by the notorious Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this Rick Roessler one-man-showed is one of the better slashers produced in the 80's. Best sequence is probably when Buddy joyrides with the car of the deputy and chases his mistress like the lunatic he is! Love this crap!!

This film was good. That's really what I can say about it. Some of the parts (look for one part with a man being ground up, for instance) were a little over the top gory... but who doesn't like a little gross out, now and then? The acting wasn't anything to be raved upon but was good enough to be overlooked. Overall, this movie was really great to me (though, many others would disagree) so I'm giving it a 9 out of 10. WARNING : The beginning is NOT for the squeamish!

Don Barrett is certainly one of the funniest actors in history. Just about every word that comes out of this man's mouth is a perverse joke. As for the plot, it was a typical slasher that had pretty good acting, great music, and a sadistic killer in Buddy. The opening credits scene was absolutely beautiful. It'll probably reassure all the vegans out there that they're doing the right thing, though it didn't bother me one bit. ***1/2out of****This film has to be one of my personal favorites and is worth a couple of looks. It certainly deserved the DVD treatment that it got.