By John Duarte
When someone tells you “Hey!, those are a killer pair of Slacks.” You, of course, would accept that compliment. In the new horror-comedy premiering on Shudder this Thursday called SLAXX, if someone tells you “HEY!, THOSE ARE A KILLER PAIR OF SLACKS!!!” You better run for your life. Let’s dive into the synopsis, shall we?
"A possessed pair of jeans is brought to life to punish the unscrupulous practices of a trendy clothing company. Shipped to the company’s flagship store, SLAXX proceeds to wreak carnage on staff locked in overnight to set up the new collection."
Yes, the synopsis sounds ridiculous but the trailer makes it look like a laugh a min horror-comedy. But SLAXX is a little bit more than that. By the time it gets to the third act of the movie, I was surprised by the little turn it took and sold the movie for me. I’ve been wanting to check SLAXX out since it hit the film festival circuit last year but unfortunately never got the chance.
So after watching it, I’m happy to say I enjoyed this very interesting concept. The performances from Bret Donahue who plays the store manager Craig who from the beginning there’s something off with him. The MVPs of the movie are Romane Denis playing the young new salesclerk and Sehar Bhojani as Shruti the longest standing employee.
Oh yes, Let’s talk about those killer pants for a second. What I loved about this movie was the practical effects with little CG enhancement. The pants were all done with good ol’ fashioned puppetry and the kills that the pants do were fun as well. Finally, there’s a cool little dance scene with the SLAXX that you don’t want to miss. I definitely give props to co-writer/director Elza Kephart for keeping the movie fast-paced but still entertaining at the same time.
SLAXX may not be winning awards anytime soon but it’s still a fun horror-comedy with some ridiculous kills, cool practical effects, and characters that need to be killed.
SLAXX releases on March 18th only on Shudder.