Slaughter

Really? This made it into the After Dark series? This really strikes me as odd. I won't go into plot details because it's already been talked about. I'll just state my opinion. See below if you wish to compare your taste to mine.

As a fan of the genre since I was 5 years old (I'm 35 now), and as a fan of the After Dark series, I do have to say that this is probably the worst movie I've seen in awhile. And I've seen some really bad stuff. I own about 3000 Horror movies and I've watched at least 200 in this past year alone. I've watched all of the ADH movies since 2006 and IMO it just keeps getting better every year. -Except for this one. Wow. It DRAGS. It's BORING. And not in the way that a decent psychological horror is slow. Nothing in this movie was done well and it wasn't even slightly entertaining to me. I found myself twirling my headphone cord and looking at the clock thinking, "What? There's still almost an hour left?!". This movie gave me the same feeling as I get sitting in the waiting room at a doctor's office. And again, not slow in a good way like Rosemary's Baby (with build up, character development, decent performances, good dialog, and an unraveling plot). This was quite the opposite actually. It tried to be a psychological thriller, but had absolutely no heart. It was very mechanical and redundant. Obviously, I was quite disappointed because I love this series.

Please do not judge the After Dark series (Especially the third series) by this one. It's nowhere near as good as the rest of them. All of the others had something to grab a hold of, and many of them went far beyond that. This felt more like a made for TV movie that was rejected or something (and not because of the lack of gore, there are plenty of dead and tortured pigs in it). Very amateur, and again, not in a good way. Not in the way that we B-Movie hounds love so much.

I feel bad writing this because whoever made it at least gave it a shot, but I really recommend skipping over this one and choosing something else from this series. I really hope this one doesn't turn people off to The After Dark Horrorfest, because most of the other movies in the series are extremely entertaining and fun! Examples of Horror That I Like: Phantasm, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, They Live, 28 Days Later, Night of the Living Dead, Eraserhead, Texas Chainsaw, The Shining, Sleepy Hollow, Alien, The Amittyville Horror, Creepshow, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, The Ring, MBV3D, and all sorts of other classic, new, and/or low budget horror.

A mediocre attempt at horror, that hints but doesn't really deliver on the promises.

The strange part is that I keep seeing the comment that it is "based on true events". But I've search for quite a while and can't find any information on any real event that remotely resembles this story. I would really like to know what event "inspired" this movie.

This movie is okay. It's not a gore fest, and it's not a heart-pounding thriller. However, it has some blood and violence in the end. It's kind of slow moving, though, and the ending, while climatic, doesn't keep the viewer on the edge of his/her seat. But, the ending does have an interesting twist.

The two lead actresses are okay. I give them a six out of ten for acting skills, but they get a ten out of ten for being gorgeous, which is pretty much mandatory in a horror movie. Both characters build a decent story for themselves which certainly helps the movie progress. Supporting actors don't provide much for story development, with the exception of the youngest brother. His acting/character is actually the best of all of them, in my opinion.

Camera work, lighting and sound are all okay, except for a couple parts in the slaughterhouse, when the lighting could've been a little better. Scenery doesn't offer much to look at, but there aren't any wide shots of the land, either. All of the shots are done on the farm property, in the city or in a building somewhere. There are some errors in continuity, but they aren't bad enough to interrupt the story development.

All in all, it's not a waste of time to watch this movie, but it won't be the best one you've ever seen.

(2008) Slaughter HORROR

Straight-to-rental horror film co-written and directed by Stewart Hopewell starts out promising, about a teenage girl, Faith (Amy Shiels) attempts to be independent again from an abusive and controlling boyfriend, finally settles to living on a farm with another teenage girl, Lola (Lucy Holt) and her eccentric family, holding with her some dark secrets of her own.

It says that it's inspired by actual events, but the film gets more convoluted as the film progresses! This is one of those films where the protagonist is nosy on one area without her being curious enough to checking other places, full of coincidences.

This is a really solid entry in the after dark library inspired by a true story. The film centers on a young woman running from her abusive past and settles down with a new girl she meets on her family farm. But suspicious events begin to take place and disturbing family secrets are revealed culminating to a truly nightmarish outcome. Slaughter feels a little lifetime movieish at times but it really does excel the standard clichés of its storyline. The film feels intimate almost to the point that I'm not sure that I'd wanna meet Stewart Hopewell. It rides the same line of suspense as the strangers but delivering a little more bang for your buck. It's slightly slow moving but suspenseful and the performances are believable. It really is a little gem more of a psychological thriller than a straight out horror film the film will surely leave you creeped out when it's far over.