Shredder

Now I'm a huge fan of low-buck cheesy slashfests, but really, can we have some sort of oh, I dunno, a PLOT????? Wow. Teens decide to go "shredding" at an abandoned ski lodge (conveniently located miles from any help and decidedly spooky looking) where there was.........A MURDER years ago! And someone's looking for revenge on our young, goodlooking, rich and horny teenagers....can you FEEL the suspense? We have the requisite "party girl", the "snobby girl", the "good girl", the "handsome stranger guy", the "nice hero guy", the "dorky crazy guy" and the "quiet loner type", but that's not all! We have the "angry locals" and the "doofy sheriff", and of course our "masked killer" who uses a variety of instruments to do the deeds. I swear they had a copy of "The Idiot's Guide to making a Slasher Flick" on set at all times because this thing is sooooooo predictable. It's wretched in every way possible. It deserves the shredder. I intend to write the producers and ask for a refund of my rental fee, 'cause that's three bucks and I'll NEVER get the 90 minutes of my life I wasted by watching this back.

The start of the movie sets the tone for the rest of the film. The lines are cheesy but funny. The acting is what you would expect from an early 2000s film. Overall it's a fun/cheesy slasher with some pretty gruesome kills!

Some of the continuity is off in this, and some of the effects suck, like the scene at the end, but this is a fantastic movie. I kind of kept expecting Aladdin to pop up, because the main guy did his voice, but it was great. I like that carnage and it didn't really seem as slow as everyone made it seem. Surprisingly good amount of gore, and sleaze. The story is a little thin, and a little weird but easy to follow.

This film, directed by Greg Huson, is about a group of teenagers (oh joy) who go away for the weekend to a disused ski-resort that apparently one of the teenager's fathers is planning to buy.

In echoes of such campsite slashers as Friday the 13th it seems that this deserted ski-resort is not deserted, a strange skier in black seems to glide around the slopes.

It's a shame this movie started off so badly as the last twenty minutes are pretty good fare for a teen-slasher. Much of this movie was bad, badly directed, badly acted and badly scripted.

Kimberley (played by Lindsey McKeon from 'Saved By The Bell: The New Class' "fame") put in one of the better, but still poor, performances but often seemed like she was forcing the words. However, she was playing a character that was trying to be seen as someone to detest, which she managed to pull off for a small while so credit for that. Of course, one may think that is due to the script, but no...There is so much useless dialogue and so much

lack of useful dialogue that it's hard to actually understand what's going on. At times it seemed like the actors were improvising. It all makes sense eventually, but you do have to look for your answers.

Except for one thing that is, towards the beginning of the film on their way to the resort, the teens stop off at a service station. After a girlie chat in the bathroom the girls run into a European guy named Christophe (Brad Hawkins). After talking with him for a couple of minutes they invite him along. One question - why?! How many women are there out there who would do that? I'm sure even the girls out there that act like Kimberley does in this film wouldn't do that. But anyway, I digress a tad.

Another problem with the film is the way they introduce the characters. Almost all the other characters in the film suddenly just make an appearance and then come back much later. Also the acting abilities of these extra characters (especially a pervy Sheriff) was highly questionable. For the short time that they are on screen though it doesn't really matter.

The directing for most of 'Shredder' was sub-par but, having said that, there were a couple of quite well done ski-chase scenes. They were fast paced and aesthetically good. I must also mention that there were some good scenery shots of the snowy mountains. Huson adopted an MTV-style approach to the direction which was mostly an annoyance. It seemed that there were (towards the beginning) many filler scenes which served no purpose to the script just so punk-pop music could be played on the soundtrack. Whether this is his style I don't know having not seen his only other film as a director, 'Decaf', and according to it's IMDb page, no one else has either.

The make-up quality was inconsistent. Sometimes the make-up is quite good, fairly realistic looking and quite gory but othertimes it is extremely fake looking and poorly done. The quality of the make-up generally improves later in the film, so maybe two different guys were doing the effects? Thankfully though, apart from a quick and unfortunately cartoony image at the end no CGI was used.

What's most important is the actual film though and like I mentioned previously, the ending helped salvage it. The first hour of the film is where most of the problems I've mentioned can be found. The last twenty minutes on the other hand seemed fairly well thought out. Admittedly there were a few consistency problems and the lack of previous and current interaction between the teenagers and the other characters in the film harmed the quality somewhat but I still have to give some credit where it's due. If the film had been given an extra 10-15 minutes, or hadn't used so much filler, it could have been improved. It's the lack of understanding that begins through the non-development of the characters and ideas that's the problem. A little more character interaction and some extra dialogue would have made everything much more plausible and coherent. Another thing that shamed the ending was the quick array of plot twists that were tried. None really worked well and unfortunately it made things a little sloppy. There were some good suspense scenes and a few moments that might increase your heart-rate but this film isn't really scary. Also, despite being a small gore content, most of the killings are either off-screen or a camera turn which flicks back to the finished result.

Will I watch this again? Yes, probably. I wouldn't say it's worth checking out (I definately wouldn't go out of your way) but there are much worse films out there. At least the last twenty minutes somewhat helped to salvage the film, though not entirely fixing the mess the first hour made the film definately upped it's rating from me in that time. If you see it and like the sound of it then you should check it out. Think 'Friday the 13th' with less of a story and set at a ski-resort and your getting close here. I'd say 5.5/10

'Shredder' is a fun throwback to cheesy 80's slasher flicks with a twisted sense of humour, some decent gore effects and an awesome icy setting with the abandoned ski lodge and the gorgeous mountain slopes which gives off an eerie sense of isolation. This is definitely one of the better straight to DVD slasher movies from the time period in the wake of 'Scream' and sure it was never gonna hit the heights of some of the other self-aware counterparts, but it's still a good time.

The plot - A group of friend's head to a remote and abandoned ski resort on Mount Rocky Summit for a weekend of partying and snowboarding. Unaware that the place has a terrible history where a little girl died. A mysterious killer dressed in a black ski outfit starts enforcing the resort rules by killing off the group one by one, could this be connected to the previous tragedy?

I first saw this back in 2003 when it came out and even back then it felt like it was from the 90's, but I didn't care as I actually enjoyed it, sure its not perfect and there are a few things that holds it back slightly such as the clunky editing, the flat cinematography and the disappointing mystery element, but the movie does have a cool concept and setting which harks back to other slasher flicks with an icy setting such as 'Iced' & 'Satan's Blade', but this is far better than those two movies ever could be.

I also really liked the cast they were all likeable in their own unique ways Cole (Scott Weinger) made for a decent male lead, Kimberley (Lindsey McKeon) played the vindictive rich bitch perfectly, Pike (Juleah Weikel) was charming and likeable in her role, Billy O (Skyler) was a little annoying and Brad Hawkins (Christope) was hilariously bad, but was still an interesting addition to the group.

Overall 'Shredder' is underrated for sure with some fun effective scenes and it does border on parody at times, yet thankfully doesn't go all the way and okay it may be a bit sloppy and the whodunnit element is a total letdown, but the movie is entertaining and cheesy as hell and deserves more love.