La Mascotte

I had never heard about this 2023 horror comedy titled "Slotherhouse" prior to sitting down to watch it. But I have to admit that seeing the movie's cover, the movie's title and the synopsis, then I was rather interested in watching the movie.

Turns out that writers Bradley Fowler and Cady Lanigan delivered a really entertaining and enjoyable script and storyline for the movie. And it turned out to be a rather enjoyable and refreshing take on the slasher genre, well, with a ferocious sloth thrown into the mix. And it worked quite well. I was genuinely and wholeheartedly entertained throughout the course of the entire 93 minutes that the movie ran for.

The acting performances in "Slotherhouse" were good. I wasn't familiar with a single performer on the cast list though, neither actress or actor. And that was something I liked about it, because it is always nice to see new talents on the screen. They had a great cast ensemble together for the movie, and the carried the movie quite nicely with their performances.

There is a good amount of comedy mixed in with the slasher horror elements. And that was something that director Matthew Goodhue managed to balance quite nicely. The comedy elements never become too much, so the movie doesn't become a full-blown comedy.

Something that really was great about "Slotherhouse" was the sloth named Alpha. Talk about a fun character. The sloth was very likable, despite its killing demeanor and ferocious nature. It looked good and it was actually bringing a lot of charm to the screen, because the puppeteers managed to give the sloth so much character, personality and traits that Alpha was a character right up alongside all the actresses on the screen. Plus the fact that the sloth ensured a great many laughs as well throughout the course of the 93 minutes runtime also helped to make it a memorable character. I would say that Alpha actually makes the movie watchable by itself.

I was genuinely entertained by "Slotherhouse", and there wasn't a single dull moment throughout the entire movie. If you enjoy horror comedies, then "Slotherhouse" from director Matthew Goodhue is well-worth sitting down and watching. This is certainly a movie that I warmly recommend.

My rating of "Slotherhouse" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

If a movie called Slotherhouse sounds good to you, you should check it out. The jokes may not land all the time, and it being PG-13 was very frustrating due to there being hardly any blood/gore.

Yet, at the end of the movie I was smiling and rooting for our leads. There is some very acceptable character work here that is done in a way that seems cheesy and odd, but on brand to the style of the movie.

Not perfect, but definitely a memorable flick that delivers funny sloth antics. Just wish there was more to the kills. The movie seems to really shove the kills to the side in a few scenes. Not sure if this is due to budget or trying to acquire a PG-13 rating- or both.

I was sold on the trailer because sloth = cute!

That said..

+ everyone involved seemed to have a good time/tried their best + real puppet/animatronic sloth, no cgi + they know what kind of film this is but it never drifts into "Sharknado"-waters + little details, e.g. The name of the sisterhood spelling SLTH, the names of the former presidents being those of Disney princesses, "Halloween" & "Child's Play" homage

• way too long and meandering script
• the PG-13 REALLY hurt this film
• confusing direction in the montage & action scenes
• so many missed opportunities: Why not make a Freddy in the bathtub reference (sloths have claws!)? Show the sloth puppet more! We all know it's a puppet and we want to see that! Mire kills! Moore boobs!

If your selling point is a killer sloth then MAKE A BLOODY, NAUGHTY KILLER SLOTH MOVIE, ffs! This wasn't that bad but really unsatisfactory (The audience was hyped and laughed even through the trailers before the actual film. After approx. 30 mins NO ONE was laughing anymore).

I was reminded of how much better "Scream Queens" was the entire time.

This movie feels like it was filmed by a team of YouTubers. The writing, effects, and continuity are all pretty eh. But it's far from the worst film I've seen. Probably the best feature of the movie is the film score, although that also is borderline over done. The movie survives by playing off the dumb backstabbing sorority trope, while also coming off as a slightly better low budget national lampoon film. Not something to go a theatre for though. It comes off as goofy and fun, without falling to the level of Sharknado. I'd say it's a good watch if you don't have anything else on your list. TLDR: Low budget but fun.

Slotherhouse is quite an ok experience, with funny dialogue, nicely written characters and a length of 1 hour and 33 minutes for a movie that overall, doesn't feel too much like..a movie.

The problem for me, was the sloth itself. You see, they gave him complete freedom as a killer, being able to do anything that a human does, so because of this I never got the purpose of the animal pick. Yes, they do mention that it is a lesson to leave wild animals in the wild, but I swear, if the killer here was human, this would have been a cute little slasher that worked.

I genuinely believe that if you are high, you can appreciate it a lot more.

It doesn't fall in the same category as Cocaine Bear, neither with The Gingerdead Man, somewhere in the middle, trying to be its own thing, but only partially succeeding.

All in all, for a one time view, you could do a lot worse.

Slotherhouse is more of an experience, because it feels so different than the regular horror comedy productions, so it takes some getting used to it.

Cheers!