SLASH

Mac is the leader of the pop group Slash. One evening, after a concert, Billy Bob goes to visit Mac, announcing the death of his aunt and the imminent funeral. Mac and his colleagues and friends go to the farm where the boy grew up in the band's van to attend the funeral. There, however, Mac sees his father after many years, and the tragic events that led him to leave that place come back to his mind, especially linked to the death of his grandfather Jethro, who was suspected at the time of being a terrible killer. At the moment when Mac is back at the farm, a mysterious man dressed like a scarecrow begins to reap victims in the area. Not even South Africa misses an incursion into the slasher movie genre, and to do so it decides to ride the wave relaunched by "Scream" and friends. Reading the plot of "Slash" one would not give a penny to this teen slasher directed by Neal Sundstrom ("Howling IV"), but going a little deeper, one understands that this slasher actually has some good ideas, even if, in the end, the result is not even worth that miserable penny. The screenplay by Stephen R. Francis and Gus Silber collects all the narrative stereotypes of the classic slasher, adds the whodunit formula of the "Scream" craze, and introduces elements linked to pagan religion that somewhat recall the Kingian "Children of the Corn." This last element, which is the only original one in the film, is definitely appealing and capable of linking the classic slasher boogeyman—here with the appearance of a scarecrow, to stay on theme—with pagan propitiatory rites that combine blood sacrifice with the richness of the harvest. Unfortunately, this excellent premise is only hinted at, and after an introduction with a promising double murder, everything else is left to chance and the usual dynamics of the slasher, trite and overdone, in fact, here represented by the worst that could be done. At this point, one must reflect on a disturbing fact. As we well know, after "Halloween" the slasher genre had already used up its best ammunition, and to give the audience something that was not just a simple carbon copy of Carpenter's film, one had to find some element of novelty. Thus, before the foray into the fantastic with "Nightmare," it was decided to add to the elegant Carpenterian formula the characteristic elements of exploitation: sex and blood. The luck was of "Friday the 13th," from which derive most of the most representative slasher films of the '80s, which in fact impose basic rules for the making of a good slasher movie. This long preamble to note how Sundstrom with "Slash" not only denies from the beginning the Carpenterian prototype but also decides not to follow the exploitation of "Friday the 13th," thus making only a slasher with a green stamp that first and foremost bores to death. Before the film gets into the thick of things—meaning serial killer and first murders—one has to wait 50 long minutes of chatter and nonsense said and done by a bunch of characters among the worst ever seen in a film of this type. Do you know the kind of dumb kids who play pranks even when someone has died? "Slash" is full of them. And do you know the guy with the turtle stomach but totally expressionless who for most of the time is shirtless to show off his abs? In "Slash" he is actually the protagonist. Terrifying, huh! Then when something starts to happen and the killer shows up, all the murders occur in the dark or off-screen, not a single drop of blood is seen, and moreover, the two girls in the film do not show even a centimeter of bare skin (there would also be something to laugh about the casting choices in this regard, but let's skip it). So much for that, Sundstrom did not understand what his target audience is and hence it goes without saying that the film is a disaster. The only positive notes are a dignified packaging worthy of a Hollywood film, with beautiful desaturated photography, and a look for the boogeyman that is appealing even if a bit too similar to the Creeper of "Jeepers Creepers" with a Leatherface-like mask. That's it, then boredom and frustration. To be avoided even by slasher lovers.