Death Drop Gorgeous (2020)

Movie Name/Year: Death Drop Gorgeous (2020)
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Length: 104 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Director: Michael J. Ahern, Christopher Dalpe, Brandon Perras
Writer: Michael J. Ahern, Christopher Dalpe, Brandon Perras
Actors: Wayne Gonsalves, Payton St James, Michael McAdam, Brandon Perras-Sanchez, Chris Dalpe, Ninny Nothin, Johnny Sederquist, Matthew Pidge, Michael J. Ahern, Sean Murphy, Complete Destruction, Matthew Cicero
 
Blurb from IMDb: A dejected bartender and an aging drag queen try to survive the eccentric and hostile nightlife of a corrupt city, as a masked maniac slaughters young gay men and drains them of blood.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Death Drop Gorgeous was every bit as campy and over-the-top as one would expect from a drag horror.
 
The start of it didn’t give off a great impression, though. Immediately it reminded me of Psychotic! (2016), which was one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. The comparison didn’t last throughout the runtime. It did, however, put me into more of a guarded state of mind.
 
When I got past the home-spun, off-acted, aspects of Death Drop Gorgeous, I did see some merit.
 
The actual plot was pretty decent. That leads me to believe that a higher budget could have elevated the whole thing past watchable and into ‘good’ territory. The writing needed a boost, as well – but a lot of the quips and one-liners made even that feel somewhat acceptable.
 
The writers were clearly well-versed in the insane talent of drag queen burns. A few of the lines were so good that I absolutely intend to work them into my own life.
 

Among the difficult to sit through scenes, were a few diamonds. For instance, the main antagonist (not naming names, so as not to spoil), had one scene where they stood alone and played out a kind of psychotic break. I’ve seen A-list movies that didn’t freak me out that much. I would love to credit the actor, but some of the characters are played by two different people and I’m not sure which was on screen at that time.
 
That said, I can’t say Death Drop Gorgeous is the kind of movie I would recommend. It could have a ‘so bad it’s good’ quality for a few people, but it really wasn’t for me.
 
If you’re interested in it, this is still not the kind of flick I’d suggest watching alone. Gather a group of open-minded, good-humored, friends to screen it for.
 
Just keep in mind, it’s definitely not for everybody and a lot more brutal than you might expect.
 

Cat’s Point of View:

I had a bit of a struggle to put my feelings into coherent words (that didn’t contain strings of expletives). The credits for Death Drop Gorgeous rolled and I was painfully aware that roughly an hour and forty-five minutes of my life had irreversibly elapsed.
 
There were some positives, so I’ll start there.
 
Death Drop Gorgeous certainly put a new spin on the slasher genre. The practical effects here were fairly on point, though there was room for improvement. If you’re looking for some splatter with a side of sass, and some catastrophe to go with cattiness; this might be the movie for you. All that and a bag of chips – plus extra. That is definitely a good word to describe Death Drop Gorgeous. Extra.
 

That being said, this just wasn’t my cup of tea.
 
The execution, not to pun, of everything just left me feeling off and a little whiplashed. The acting was hit and miss, with far more misses than I’m comfortable with. There were a lot of awkward, cringeworthy moments. I felt like a ping pong ball bouncing from a great moment that had me laughing or wincing along with the characters to the next where I just wanted the nails on the chalkboard feeling to end.
 
This graphic story of sex, drugs, and lip-synching might have been underwhelming for me; but for someone else, Death Drop Gorgeous might just slay. 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 67%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 40%
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 4.2/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: R
 
Movie Trailer:

Fried Barry (2021)

Streaming Services: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Fried Barry (2021)
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Length: 99 minutes
Rating: NR
Production/Distribution: The Department of Special Projects, The Department of Special Projects, Enigma Ace Films, Panalux, Panavision, Zootee Studios, Shudder
Director: Ryan Kruger
Writer:  Ryan Kruger, James C. Williamson
Actors: Gary Green, Chanelle de Jager, Brett Williams, Joey Cramer, Bianka Hartenstein, Sean Cameron Michael, Steve Wall, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Tamer Burjaq, Jonathan Pienaar, Colin Moss, Brendan Sean Murray, Ryan Kruger, Marty Kintu, Gaham Clarke
 
Blurb from IMDb: Barry is a drug-addled, abusive bastard who - after yet another bender - is abducted by aliens. Barry takes a backseat as an alien visitor assumes control of his body and takes it for a joyride through Cape Town. What follows is an onslaught of drugs, sex and violence as our alien tourist enters the weird and wonderful world of humankind. FRIED BARRY is based upon the short film of the same name, which earned 57 official selections and 12 wins at festivals around the world.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
The past hour-and-a-half has been torture.
 
Before I go too far into reviewing Fried Barry, however, I need to take a few things into account.
 
First, and foremost, I don’t tend to like experimental films. Much as I love the horror-comedy sub-genre, there are only a small amount that I’ve ever seen that claim to be ‘experimental’. I’ve liked none of them.
 
Secondly, the director didn’t set out to make a good film.
 
Director Ryan Kruger (The Man Who Beat the Man, Prime Circle: Doors, The SA Way) has stated in several interviews that he wasn’t out to make a flick that everyone would like. There are plenty of people that shy away from mainstream film-making, but his intentions go beyond even that. He sought to make something so strange and unique and ridiculous, that it becomes unforgettable by default.
 
He wanted to make a cult film.
 
I thought that was a little bold of him. Bold to assume that a ‘cult’ status is something that you can seek out from the start.
 
Cult cinema is usually eccentric. It involves original pieces that are extremely memorable and re-watchable. If that was the whole definition of the cult genre, then yeah, you could definitely predict if a project was going to hit the mark. But it’s not.
 
It’s not just about how a film is created, written, or even developed. It can be something that comes out in wide releases or just sent straight to video. What makes a cult film is how it’s received.
 

Directors make movies for specific genres. They can seek to make drama, or a horror, or a romance. They can seek to make flicks that settle into sub-genres like teen stories, superheroes, occult, etc. But it’s the audience that makes a film: cult.
 
No director can control the audience.
 
That said, I think Kruger is onto something here.
 
I’m not going to lie, I fucking hate it. There is not a god damn thing that I enjoyed about Fried Barry. Personally, I’d rather never watch any other movies than watch this one again. It was, as I said earlier, torture to sit through.
 
If I look at it through the scope of what the director was trying to do, though…
 
I think there’s a possibility he succeeded.
 
I will never be able to unsee Fried Barry. It will be scorched into my brain for eternity. It’s weird, and ridiculous and absolutely disgusting. And there are people that I know who will see it once and fall completely in love. They will adore it just for its eccentricity and the message they see behind the script. They will re-watch it and pass it along to others.
 
I will look at them strangely, but if those people actually form a cult for this film, they won’t need me or my opinion.
 
Ryan Kruger is a mad genius. Now get me out of here.
 

Cat’s Point of View:

I have stared at a blank page for a bit now, just…unsure how to put what I’m feeling into words in the wake of the credits rolling for Fried Barry.
 
One thing’s for sure, I feel fried by that movie. What the hell did I just watch?
 
Calling it a strange trip seems like it would be both too on the nose and, at the same time, the understatement of the century.
 
Let me revisit my earlier statement. There’s a second thing that’s ‘for sure’ here, as well. Kids should be nowhere near this movie. Not only is there flagrant and graphic drug use, but there are explicit sexual scenes, and some brief male nudity… among other things I can’t mention without spoilers.
 
The runtime for Fried Barry is just a little over an hour and a half, and there’s a freaking intermission break. Why? Did they run out of ideas for scene transitions? It was so brief that I’m not even sure that it was really intended to be used as such, and debated even mentioning it like it might have been a spoiler to do so. It illustrates the absolute wackiness of this film, however.

 
I think the tone is appropriately set when the opening credits list this as ‘A Ryan Kruger Thing.’  Not a movie or production. Its own creator called it a ‘thing.’
 
This is Kruger’s feature-length directorial debut, expanding a short that he had created back in 2017. I haven’t seen it, I’m afraid, so I can’t comment on whether or not this is a continuation of that story or just a revisitation to the character, etc.
 
If I had to sum this experience up in one word, it would be spastic. The story, characters, settings – everything was spazzy. I imagine that anyone watching this under the influence of mind-altering substances might get an entirely different experience – either in enjoyment or a one-way ticket to a bad trip.
 
The crazy thing is that I kind of liked it...a teeny tiny bit. I admit that grudgingly because this was frankly a horrifying and grotesque film experience that I cannot unsee. I was repulsed and drawn in by it at the same time. I spent a lot of time literally saying ‘what the fuck’ to myself, however. There were a few places I just had to laugh. Under all the insanity, there was an actual story. It surprised the hell out of me, to be honest.
 
I can tell you with certainty that I will never watch this again. This is, however, exactly the sort of movie you tell your friends about to get them to watch it in order to share the misery and see their reactions. For that reason, it very well may become a cult hit.
 
Either way, Fried Barry will be available on Shudder May 7.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 83%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 6/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – Pass/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 1.5/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: NC-17
 
Movie Trailer:

Thunder Force (2021)

Streaming Services: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: Thunder Force (2021)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Length: 106 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Production/Distribution: Marc Platt Productions, Netflix
Director: Ben Falcone
Writer: Ben Falcone
Actors: Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman, Bobby Cannavale, Pom Klementieff, Melissa Leo, Taylor Mosby, Marcella Lowery, Melissa Ponzio, Ben Falcone, Nate Hitpas, David Storrs, Bria Danielle, Tai Leshaun, Vivian Falcone, Mia Kaplan
 
Blurb from IMDb: In a world where supervillains are commonplace, two estranged childhood best friends reunite after one devises a treatment that gives them powers to protect their city.

Selina’s Point of View:
I’ve had a few people challenge my statements about what I expected from this film.
 
If you haven’t read my Top 20 for April 2021, you can read it here.
 
I basically said that Melissa McCarthy (St. Vincent, Mike & Molly, The Kitchen) strikes me as the female version of Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems, Murder Mystery, Hubie Halloween). She’s a great actor who chooses parts in lower quality flicks. Whether it’s because she has bad judgement or just enjoys playing those kinds of characters, I don’t think it matters.
 
As a result, I expected this movie wouldn’t be phenomenal, but I had to include it because of how much I enjoyed the trailer and the idea.
 
Thunder Force hit every pitfall that I thought it would.
 
This is one of those situations where some of the stuff in the trailer didn’t even make the film. The parts that I didn’t see in my watch-through seemed like they had been added to the trailer instead of being cut from the movie. I see this as a form of lying to the audience. It’s not something I can get behind.
 
A lot of the flick was tropey, but I can get passed that most of the time.
 

None of the tropes were of the deal-breaker variety. They were just things you expect from your run-of-the-mill superhero and/or comedy fare. Stuff like a comic book panel exposition opening or talking badly about someone who turns out to be within earshot.
 
A good movie can have those kinds of things in it without taking a quality hit.
 
Unfortunately, Thunder Force just wasn’t good.
 
The actors were fine, but the script was full of badly-done cringe and second-hand embarrassment comedy. A lot of the ‘laughs’ – I use that term loosely – were based on McCarthy’s specific brand of clumsy, too-obvious, humor.
 
I’ll admit that I enjoyed the origin of the friendship between the two main characters and I thought the ‘grandma’ character was way too good for the film. Also, the soundtrack was top-notch.
 
Other than that, I didn’t have a good time watching this one.
 
This is not something I’m ever going to revisit – if I even remember it exists.

Cat’s Point of View:
Thunder Force was a bit of a wild card for us this month. You never quite know what you’re going to get with a Melissa McCarthy movie. Some are excellent, and some are just bonkers. In this case, I’m happy to say that I found this film bonkers – in the most excellent way.
 
For a moment, I was wondering if there was an actual comic out there that formed the basis for this story. It was clear that comic superhero tales were a heavy inspiration for the framing of the movie.
 
Writer/Director, Ben Falcone (Tammy, The Boss, Life of the Party), brought this to life as an original stand-alone and I’m here for it. Hey Netflix – if you’re not planning on doing a sequel or series with this IP, you might consider dabbling in the graphic novel market with this team. Just saying.
 
That being said, I think it’s clear that I really enjoyed the slightly bumbling crime-fighting duo of McCarthy and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures, Ma, Onward). I was really feeling a Hancock (2008) meets a legit superhero movie mash-up. I also love how these 2 beautiful women weren’t forced to crash diet or whatever else it is that Hollywood does to rapidly shed weight for roles. They were phenomenal as their authentic selves and I’m glad that they were able to represent for those of us with ‘realistic’ body types.

As some of you know, I’m a bit of an action movie fanatic. I loved the physicality that was brought to the superhero and villain roles here. The stunts were well executed. For that matter, I didn’t mind the CGI, either. They didn’t have to try too hard to sell this spectacular satire.
 
Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses, Zootopia, Game Night) and Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire, Motherless Brooklyn, Mr. Robot) were also spot-on perfect for their respective character roles. I think Cannavale gets a bit type-cast, but he does what he does really well, so it’s not a complaint. Bateman’s character was absolutely ludicrous and added some of the cornier parts of the humor within the story; but, surprisingly, didn’t make the whole film feel hokey. (Though parts at the end were rather…strange.)
 
My daughter watched this one with me and we had a great time laughing together over this crazy tale of family, friendship, and ass-kickery. I actually got maudlin in a few places and she was engrossed with the movie so much that she didn’t even notice. I would caution that there are some mild language and adult situations in the film so this is generally not the best movie for the very young, but it should be fine for teens.
 
Thumbs up, Netflix. This was exactly what I needed after a miserable week of oral surgery pain. I might even watch this one again. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Thunder Force for anyone looking to de-stress and have a good time.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 23%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 25%
Metascore – 34/100
Metacritic User Score – 1.4/10
IMDB Score – 3.5/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5
 
Movie Trailer:

Killer Sofa (2019)

Streaming Services: Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Tubi
Movie Name/Year: Killer Sofa (2019)
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Length: 81 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Production/Distribution: Mad Kiwi Films, Midnight Shepherd Productions, At Entertainment, High Octane Pictures, White Pearl Movies
Director: Bernie Rao
Writer: Bernie Rao
Actors: Jed Brophy, Jordan Rivers, Piimio Mei, Nathalie Morris, Harley Neville, James Cain, Trae Te Wiki, Hamish Boyle, Adrienne Kohler, Michael Fowler
 
Blurb from IMDb: A killer reclining chair becomes enchanted by a girl and starts committing crimes of passion.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
I have to be fair here. Killer Sofa did meet every single one of my expectations. The problem is, I didn’t think it would be all that good.
 
The acting was awful and the script was rough. Some of the music even made it feel like an 80s porn despite the lack of any kind of sexual action – which is difficult.
 
Worst of all, it was boring.
 
I could barely stay awake through the majority of it. In fact, I actively paused to take a nap at one point just in case I was just tired and not giving it a real chance.
 
I still had trouble staying awake after that.
 

If I had to say one good thing about it, I’d point out the ending.
 
Just in case you’re interested in viewing it, I won’t spoil anything, but I have to say they took it in an interesting direction. In a better film, that ending would have been something I poured praise onto. However, because it was backed by such lousy… everything else… I can’t get as excited about it as I could have.
 
Killer Sofa is not something I find worth watching. There are so many better ‘inanimate object’ flicks out there. In fact, we reviewed one last month that was phenomenal. If you really want a campy film about horror objects, one that won’t put you to sleep, hop on Shudder and go watch Slaxx (2021).
 

Cat’s Point of View:
When someone mentions a title like Killer Sofa, it tends to immediately call to mind movies like Attack of the Killer Donuts (2016) or Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978). While I’m not sure about the donut movie, the homicidal tomatoes were meant to lampoon monster movie tropes as one of the OG horror comedies. I was rather surprised to realize that Killer Sofa doesn’t really fall into that category.
 
Sure, it’s a movie about a deadly chair – how serious could it be?
 
Well… my answer is that I think it tried to be a ‘real horror movie’ rather than some sort of parody.  The next question that immediately springs to mind, of course, asks whether or not it succeeded. It’s hard to keep a straight face even thinking about the topic in general. How could it possibly be a legit horror film?
 
Killer Sofa actually delivers a real attempt at horror, with a sliver of comedy. I was not expecting as much substance as this film offered. It wasn’t an Oscar contender by any means, but I wouldn’t send it to the Razzies, either. It’s somewhere in the middle as a solid B-movie, though definitely closer to the razzing territory. 

Parts were a little awkward with the acting and whatnot, but it was tolerable. I found myself actually interested in what was going on. It was rather odd, really. I was fairly giggling at the silliness of it all, while at the same time really creeped out by this chair.
 
It’s clear that this indie project was working on a shoestring budget and a prayer to put this together – but they did a bang-up job on the production quality, all things considered. It’s hard to suspend disbelief regarding a murderous piece of furniture, to begin with. I’ve got to tip my proverbial hat to whoever’s idea it was to buy THAT chair. It has to be the best hundred-dollar purchase ever.
 
As horror movies go, this one is fairly light on the gore factor. Most of the carnage is off-screen – though, there are a couple of rather grisly scenes.
 
If you’re a fan of the horror genre and are looking for something to watch along those lines that isn’t super scary or heavy, this wouldn’t be a bad way to spend your time. I could probably watch it again and not be upset about it.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 3.6/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: R
 
Movie Trailer:

Willy’s Wonderland (2021)

Streaming Services: Cheapest Option: Google Play - $9.99
Movie Name/Year: Willy’s Wonderland (2021)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Horror
Length: 88 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Production/Distribution: JD Entertainment, Landafar Entertainment, Landmark Studio Group, Saturn Films, Movie Cloud, Pegasus Co., Blitz, Eagle Pictures, Foresight Unlimited, Madman Entertainment, Myndform, Nos Lusomundo Audiovisuais, SF Norge A/S, Screen Media Films, Signature Entertainment, Splendid Film, VVS Films
Director: Kevin Lewis
Writer: G.O. Parsons
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant, Ric Reitz, Chris Warner, Kai Kadlec, Caylee Cowan, Jonathan Mercedes, Terayle Hill, Christian Delgrosso, David Sheftell, Jiri Stanek, Jessica Graves Davis, Taylor Towery, Chris Schmidt Jr., Christopher Bradley, Duke Jackson, Billy Bussey, BJ Guyer, Émoi, Mark Gagliardi, Abel Arias, Madisun Leigh, Kamia Arrington
 
Blurb from IMDb: A quiet drifter is tricked into a janitorial job at the now condemned Willy's Wonderland. The mundane tasks suddenly become an all-out fight for survival against wave after wave of demonic animatronics. Fists fly, kicks land, titans clash -- and only one side will make it out alive.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
There isn’t a gamer alive that didn’t think of Five Nights At Freddy’s when they saw the trailer for Willy’s Wonderland. This is not, however, and adaptation of that. In fact, there’s a Five Nights at Freddy’s adaptation in the works – with Chris Columbus at the helm.
 
Still, the stories are extremely similar. Talking about Willy’s Wonderland to friends, I would describe it with a ‘what if’:
 
What if the protagonist of Five Nights at Freddy’s was a mute psychopath with a military background?
 
If you take that question at face value, you will expect exactly what you get.
 

Nicolas Cage (The Humanity Bureau, Color Out of Space, The Croods: A New Age) is in rare form here. He’s over-the-top, but manages to express a lot in his performance without speaking a single word. I didn’t even need most of the other characters. A couple of them did serve a purpose… but the production team could have saved some money by cutting the rest.
 
Willy’s Wonderland was ridiculous and brutal, which is exactly what I wanted from it. I didn’t need a movie to make me think or a super in-depth story. Just a lot of bloody B-movie fun.
 
It was the perfect mood boost for a rough week.
 

Cat’s Point of View:
Animatronics never cease to be creepy for me.
 
My daughter and I have been waiting with bated breath for the Five Nights at Freddy's (2014- ) video game to be adapted. While we pine for Freddy Fazbear’s eerie laughter, Willy’s Wonderland seemed like it would be a great warm-up for the main event. Seriously, you can’t ignore the similarities between the FNAF property’s general plot and what transpires at Willy’s.
 
This was one of the very rare and few horror movies that my teen actually wanted to watch with me. She doesn’t typically like the genre. She absolutely adores the FNAF games, however.
 
Unfortunately, this didn’t add up to her expectations and she was rather disappointed – only because she felt it paled in comparison to the FNAF plot. She doesn’t play the game much – it freaks her out – but she does watch quite a lot of YouTube streamers playing it and is well versed in all of the lore.
 
I guess the take-away for hardcore fans of the Fazbear is that you can’t expect this to be an early version of your beloved game story. This film is decidedly different, in spite of all the similarities. If you watch with carbon-copy expectations, there’s no way you’ll avoid disappointment. Let’s face it – this production likely wouldn’t have made it to the screen if that were even the case. They’d likely be stuck in litigation over copyright infringement.
 

What it boiled down to for me was a simple question – was I entertained? The answer was, ultimately, yes.
 
The production value was decent. One of the characters was clearly a person wearing a head-piece, however. That was a little distracting, but the performer did their best to be a robot. The janitor character, played by Nicolas Cage, was quite interesting. In spite of his total lack of dialogue, Cage effectively conveyed enough about his character to get a gist of what made him tick.
 
I laughed a lot. Horror comedy is my favorite subgenre. It wasn’t as gory as I expected it to be. That might have been a factor that helped my daughter make it all the way through. Blood and oil were everywhere, but the lighting and environmental effects kept the grisly bits harder to see. It left a bit more to the imagination.
 
There were a few hokey parts, but that’s to be expected from a story like this. There were also a few horror tropes regarding teens that I think they could have done without.
 
In the end, though, Willy’s Wonderland was a solid experience. I feel that it will likely get overshadowed as soon as the FNAF film is released, but it was effective in heightening my anticipation for that next film.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 65%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 75%
Metascore – 44/100
Metacritic User Score – 7.9/10
IMDB Score – 5.6/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5
 
Movie Trailer:

Slaxx (2021)

Streaming Services: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Slaxx (2021)
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Length: 77 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Production/Distribution: EMA Films, Entertainment Squad, The Horror Collective, Filmoption International
Director: Elza Kephart
Writer: Elza Kephart, Patricia Gomez
Actors: Romane Denis, Brett Donahue, Sehar Bhojani, Kenny Wong, Tianna Nori, Jessica B. Hill, Erica Anderson, Hanneke Talbot, Stephen Bogaert, Jonathan Emond, Elizabeth Neale, Aris Tyros, Pritha Mazumdar
 
Blurb from IMDb: When a possessed pair of jeans begins to kill the staff of a trendy clothing store, it is up to Libby, an idealistic young salesclerk, to stop its bloody rampage.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
I have been looking forward to Slaxx since the moment I heard it was coming out. As soon as we had access to the screener, I snapped it right up.
 
A film like this will always be unique. Whether it turns out to have a weird-as-hell (almost surreal) story, like in Rubber (2010); a terrifying classic source, like in Christine (1983); or a plot so awful it’s laughable, like in Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) – there’s never a reason to feel like watching was time wasted.
 
Killer inanimate objects are just put out so infrequently that the tropes utilized are less known and they wind up feeling less overdone.
 
Movies about creepy dolls can technically be included in the whole ‘inanimate object’ sub-genre, but I don’t like to compare the two. Creepy dolls are their own thing.
 
One thing most deadly object films have in common is that they’re ridiculous. Every single one of them requires a huge suspension of disbelief. In fact, most of them don’t take the serious route at all, even if they have something to say.
 
So, that’s what I figured Slaxx would be.
 
In the beginning, it seemed to meet my expectations. It was silly, bloody, and completely bonkers. What immediately caught me off guard, though, was the production quality. I wasn’t expecting the quality to be as high as it was, and I remember thinking it was strange for something from this sub-genre.
 

Three quarters of the way through, I found out why.
 
It turned into a real movie, with something to say, and I was not prepared.
 
Whatever goofiness was attached to the idea of killer pants melted away into a scathing review of retail and corrupt business practices. It got seriously bleak… and the ending was no where near what I thought it would be.
 
Slaxx was good. Not just for its sub-genre, but for a horror film in general. As much as I was looking forward to seeing it, that’s not how I thought it would go.
 
It was brilliant.
 
See it for yourself on Shudder March 18.
 
If you don’t have a subscription, now’s the time to get one. Slaxx is a must-see.
 

Cat’s Point of View:
I have to giggle when I say out loud that I have watched a movie about killer pants – the murderous variety rather than red hot fashion. The entire premise for this horror movie is hilarious. Dare you to say it with a straight face. “These jeans are to die for.” (I’m not sorry.)
 
Corny humor aside, I went into this movie with an open mind, as I mentioned in this month’s Top 20 article. I expected a ludicrous premise and campy horror tropes everywhere. I anticipated a ‘so bad it’s good’ sort of experience.
 
What I got was something unexpectedly different.
 
Slaxx gives its audience a peek into retail store hell. I think anyone that’s worked in clothing retail will appreciate this film on a whole other level. I haven’t, personally, worked in a store like the one in the movie but I have had enough friends vent to me about their experiences that I felt I could relate.
 

I really enjoyed the build-up here. There’s some blood and gore, but it’s not gratuitous and the film draws you in and immerses you in the story before things go haywire. This is something I thought I’d never say about possessed pants going psycho.
 
There’s an actual story here and a meaning behind it. It didn’t feel contrived or hokey, either. I mean… what?
 
Further, the production value was actually pretty good. The store set was amazing and the ‘behind closed doors’ warren of halls in the back felt really authentic. Nothing felt super cheesy or shoestring budget. Even the effects for the pants were well done – I mean… for animated pants.
 
I wasn’t expecting the ending. I thought it was quite fitting, however. (Pun intended.)
 
Kudos once more to Shudder for this gem. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think Slaxx has made it onto my list of favorite horror comedies. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone that enjoys the genre.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 100%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 5.0/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5
 
P.S. Some scenes during the credits, and one after-credits.
 
Movie Trailer: