Slaughter

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.

(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.

Make no mistake, this one is an absolute horror of a movie. And not even in a good way. I'm quite a fan of low budget horror flicks because if they are really bad I can get some kind of perverse enjoyment at picking them apart. But there wasn't even anything to find funny in this.

Firstly, the acting wasn't very good, but not laughably awful. Of course, even good actors would have struggled with such a witless and contrived script. The pace of this film was also all wrong. It took so long for anything slightly interesting to happen. And when it did happen (yes it was only slightly interesting) the film descended into a farce.

Perhaps the makers of this thought they were going for a crazy 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' family thing. But the lead protagonist's attempt at acting crazy was woefully under par. Lovers of gore will be disappointed, too, as the bits that were quite nasty were done with very poor effects.

I already think I've written enough about this although there are many more words which could be used to demonstrate its awfulness. The one thing I don't understand is why it was made in the first place. Surely the filmmakers new they were flogging a dead horse. I would have preferred watching a horse being flogged for 2 hours than watching this.

Faith (Amy Shiels) head to Atlanta with her friend Cathy (Antonia Bernath) fleeing from her abusive and violent boyfriend Jimmy (Vance Daniels). During the night, they go to a night-club to celebrate the beginning of a new life for the needy and vulnerable Faith, and she helps the girl Lola (Lucy Holt) that is harassed by her date. Faith and Lola become friends and Lola invites Faith to move to her house, in a farm nearby the city where she lives with her father that she is not close and two brothers. When Jimmy calls Faith, she accepts the invitation and moves to the farmhouse. Sooner she becomes curious with the slaughterhouse close to the barn that is always locked and realizes that Lola brings different men to spend the night with her, but they vanish in the morning. Faith decides to snoop the slaughterhouse disclosing a dark secret about Lola and her weird family.

"Slaughter" has a promising story but a disappointing conclusion with successive twists. The unusual attitudes of the characters in the mouse- and-cat game and coincidences in the plot ruin what could be a good movie. The police never comes while Faith has the chance to drive her trunk away from the evil farm and then she has the whole situation under control that reverts too many times for my taste. The unknown Lucy Holt and Amy Shiels are very beautiful and talented actresses and I look forward to see them again. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available