Slay Belles

I suppose the main question is: why?

Usually a low budget holiday romp is fun. With over the top gore and nudity. This film seems to pretend it has that but never really delivers all that much, and it doesn't have any decent writing or acting to make up for this.

There are lots of scenes where something wacky or wild is supposed to be happening, but it's far too clear that nothing really is going on. There are lots of ways to pad out a tiny budget and this film seems to just hope that optimism and people being in on the joke will cover it, and it doesn't.

I wanted to like this, I really did!

Well I sat down to watch the 2018 movie "Slay Belles" to sort of warm up to the Christmas season that is about to kick off. I thought it might actually be a fun way to lay the ground for all the sugar-coated and candy-sweet Christmas movies that will be coming at us like a tsunami in the coming month.

And when I saw that Barry Bostwick was in it, I must admit that I was actually having some hopes for the movie.

However, turned out that not even someone as iconic as Barry Bostwick to salvage this sinking movie project. Wow, this movie was definitely not my cup of tea at all.

Why? Well first of all, the storyline was just rubbish. I have no idea what writers Jessica Luhrssen and Dan Walker were thinking when they concocted the script for "Slay Belle". Maybe it seemed interesting on paper, but it lost all its luster and appeal in the transition to the screen.

The acting in the movie was atrocious, downright bad. Sure, Barry Bostwick managed to keep his own and stand firm, but he was just dragged down by some questionable and dubious performances from the majority of the cast.

Now, it wasn't all bad mind you. The krampus creature was actually nicely made, and it looks very interesting. I definitely did like what the special effects department had managed to do there. But it just wasn't enough to make up for a total lack of proper storyline and script.

This is by no means a Christmas classic, nor is it a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

My rating of "Slay Belles" is a mere three out of ten stars. It really isn't worth the time, effort or money.

If you're looking for perfection, you're not going to find it here. But if you want a fun, better than expected, b-movie to watch around Christmas time I think this is one to check out. I kinda expected just a super low budget sjinf flick. But I surprised to find a fairly well done movie with only a super brief nude scene. The camera work damn near made me see sick and done if the visual effects were bad, but it is fun.

I won't go through the plot here, as I'm sure you've read the synopsis . So here's what I liked .

• Our 3 lead female characters have good chemistry , seem like they'd really be friends and were zany and fun to watch
• The Krampus costume, looks pretty good to me. i like the way it's design resembles the classic Krampus look from the old German illustrations , and for a lower budget i thought the effects were pretty good
• I enjoyed the reveal towards the end of the movie which i won't spoil
• The Movie has it's tongue in cheek and has a good sense of fun

But what did not work

• Biggest issue by far is the truly poor cinematography , camera work , editing and the lighting wasn't great either . Often shots are poorly framed , too dark, and edited in a way that makes the Taken sequels look well edited
• Acting by additional cast seemed a very miked bag
• Unnecessary scenes and characters. So many scenes were of the police station, i actually thought they might have something to do with the plot. Nope , just a running gag about the dis organised cops. Plus what was the point of the Richard moll scenes? Just smacks of reshoots to fill out the running time
• A bit light on horror. Not as many kills or gore as i was expecting with a title like that
• The movie lags in the second act. When the girls are holed up in the house. Nothing really seems to happen for about 20-25 mins

Overall fans of B-Movie cinema may enjoy a festive treat , but for the more casual fan , there are better produced modern Christmas horror movies out there

We get literally one hundred new cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies each year and I think us horror fans deserve at least a couple annual cheesy Christmas horror movies at least! Sure, this movie isn't "good" but it's totally fun and good-hearted. You could do way worse when celebrating the holiday season.