The Slaughter

USA 2006
produced by
Calvin Green, Judy Marcelline, Michael J. Zampino, Angela Lee (executive) for Scream HQ
directed by Jay Lee
starring Jessica Ellis (= Jessica Custodio), Zak Kilberg, Terry Erioski, Laura Stein (= Laura Bach), Travis Wood, Jen Alex Gonzalez, Brad Milne, Billy Beck, Adriana Esquivel, Carmit Levité, Cheyenne Ault, Eva Derrek, Penny Drake, Elana Blank (= Elana Schwarzman), Jessica Elder, Elizabeth Goddard (= Ellyn Daniels), Jessica Harbeck, Kristen Karvouni, Jennifer Salvucci, Tiffany Tejeda, Sasha Yates, Tiffany Hayden
written by Jay Lee, music by Chauncey Mahan, special makeup effects by Patrick Magee (II)/Magee FX

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Hired by ruthless businessman Mr Stevens (Brad Milne) and his bitchy assistant Alexandra (Jen Alex Gonzalez), a sextet of college teens from all walks of life (Jessica Ellis, Zak Kilberg, Terry Erioski, Laura Stein, Travis Wood, Builly Beck) are renovating an old house, and only eventually, they find out that it is haunted by a she-demon who wants to sacrifice them to take over earth. Of course, they only figure that out when the demon is already on a killing spree, killing them one by one in often bizarre fashion, and before you know it, our heroes are down to three, resourceful Dana (Jessica Ellis), nerdy Iggy (Zak Kilberg), and the no longer all that bitchy Alexandra - while all those previously killed come back as zombies who devour Alexandra in no time, while Dana and Iggy try to figure out what to do - and Dana figures the only thing to do is to blow the book the she demon needs to conquer the earth to smithereens, and while she's at it, she blows the whole house and herself and the demon up with it as well. Big mistake, because the last thing standing between the demon and world domination was the ultimate sacrifice of a human - Dana - for humanity. Admittedly, it was a lose-lose situation for Dana though ...

A rather well-directed film: Director Jay Lee knows how to create atmosphere by simple unusual lighting techniques, knows how to use unusual camera setups and not quite ordinary shots in a narrative way, and not even less-than-perfect special effects stand in the way of his directorial effectiveness.

Unfortunately, though, Jay Lee is by far not as talented a screenwriter as he is a director, so the first part of the story is little more than a clichéd teens-in-a-haunted-house plot, with rather bluntly drawn standard characters. And while at least the build-up of the story is rather well-handled, Lee decides to throw everything out of the window about 2 thirds into the film to present the audience with a zombie comedy instead - but in all fairness, it's a pretty funny zombie comedy in which both Jessica Ellis and Zak Kilberg give really amusing performances and seem to have some sort of chemistry - my main complaint about this is though that it has next to nothing to do with the first part of the movie.

So no, The Slaughter is unfortunately far from perfect, but it's pretty well made nevertheless, rather bloody towards the end, and even funnier once the zombies take over - and all of this isn't too bad in my book, now is it?

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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