Esquiando para a Morte

Starring the seriously underused/underrated Lindsey McKeon this is a highly colour by numbers slasher with a couple of redeeming features.

For a start the setting is great, set high up the mountains where all the snowboarders/skiers dwell. Next is the cast, better than you'd expected considering what type of film it is. And finally though they are deep into the film it does have some quite neat ideas! Blending the excellent Out Cold (2001) with one of a billion generic slashers pays off with bits of comedy thrown into break free of the predictable tedium of the genre.

You won't even easily predict the identity of the killer, I was astounded when it turned out not to be Reverend Green in the kitchen with the rolling pin! Flabbergasted I tell you.

Better than you'd might think but still instantly forgettable.

A group of 'teens' go up to the mountains to go boarding. But someone doesn't like that they're there illegally, trespassing on private property, and breaking the safety rules to boot. So they're stalked and killed one by one. The intentional humor falls flat, yet luckily the unintentional humor saves this film from being totally unwatchable, but only barely. The 'teens' are horrible actors and whiny people and their death scenes are a hoot. Would I ever watch it again? Nope, but I had fun seeing it the first time, well perhaps not fun, but I wasn't hating my life. The beer helped. What din't help was the cardinal sin of Slasher films: showing a shower scene with NO nudity.

Eye Candy: Holly Towne as Robyn shows her mosquito bites

My Grade: D+

'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.

An annoying bunch of 20 somethings go to spend a weekend at an abandoned ski resort. They plan to go "shredding" (snow boarding) and whoop it up. All the stereotypes are in place: the nice girl; his girlfriend; the female slut; the maybe lesbian; the crazy "funny" guy; the constantly stoned guy and the mysterious European guy they pick up along the way. Also the "funny" crazy guy is constantly videotaping everything and we get extremely annoying, jarring cuts to his footage. This has quickly become a cliché since "The Blair Witch Project". Can we put it to rest now? It also seems the resort was the site of an unsolved murder...and there are rumors that the killer is still around...

It all starts out great with a bloody, gruesome murder...then falls apart quick. All the characters are annoying with the girls constantly prancing around in their underwear and being used (and filmed) as sex objects. Some people have complained that there wasn't enough female nudity in this film. Well...you know what? Not EVERYBODY wants female nudity in a horror film! As a gay man I find it boring and pointless. This film deserves credit for not having too much. And they do have hunky handsome Brad Hawkins shirtless a lot! That's a good thing. Also we have to wait 40 minutes in till the next murder. There's also a really stupid final revelation at the end and I love how a dead person mysteriously is alive at the end! On the good side: the acting isn't bad. That's surprising in a film like this. The best acting comes from Hawkins and Juleah Weikes. The only bad performance is from Scott Weinger. It's not entirely his fault...he's given little to work with but he does try. And there are a few very amusing lines. At one point Cole (Weinger) is constantly accusing one person of being the murderer. When they find that person dead he say's "All right--it's not him. Let's get out of here!" Also when a woman finds some dead bodies in the basement she goes screaming upstairs. Pike (Weikes) confronts her saying, "For future reference, the next time we're stalked by a serial killer do NOT go into the basement." Also the murders are VERY violent and incredibly bloody (I mean this as a good thing). The film also really picks up speed and the final half hour is good, fast and violent. The film has high production values (for a direct to video feature). It has some nice direction during the shredding episodes and the cinematography is nice, clear and crisp.

A lot of people have blasted this film but...come on! It's a direct to video horror film! What were they expecting? "Gone With the Wind?" It's a fairly good, fast horror flick. Worth a rental but don't go out of your way to see it.

Coming up with a generic plot is often compared to shuffling a pack of cards in order to come up with a slightly different plot each time . Unfortunately by the end of the 20th century the pack of cards entitled " Bunch of teenagers get stalked and killed " had been shuffled to death and what the post modernist humour of SCREAM did was bury the pack once and for all . Guess how the producers of SHREDDER ( A made for video movie released in 2002 ) take a new approach ? That`s right they make the teenagers snowboarders !

Just to explain the reason why teenagers get bumped off in these type of movies is to introduce a subtest of proteastant ethics . Horny teenagers both slappers and studs who have sex just for the fun of it must be horribly murdered as retribution for being promiscuous while the gutsy virgin must survive the film as reward for keeping her honour , but unless I`m missing something there`s not one honourable virgin ( Well female ones ) in this movie or any sympathetic character at all . In fact if I bumped into any of these characters in real life I`d be hard pressed not to put an ice pick through their heads . Oh and there`s a scene at the end that can be described as cheating . I won`t spoil it for you but you`ll know the scene when you see it .

If there`s any film producers out there thinking of making yet another movie about horny teenagers getting sliced and diced can you please consider another career option