A Slasher House

source: Slasher House

This isn't the worst low budget horror movie I've ever seen. While not the most original movie idea, the plot idea wasn't terrible. Though I will say I saw "The Hollower" before this movie, not aware it was part of a franchise, and that having seen that "prequel" made some of the storyline more coherent. Even the strange lighting and comic book style villains wasn't what makes this film a 4 on my movie scale. No, what kills this film is the horrible audio quality, especially during the dialogue. This film may have had the worst audio of any low budget horror film I've seen, and I've watched a LOT of low budget horror. This film ended up as a 4 from me because I don't have a ranking for epic production failure ruining a movie... it might have gotten a 6 or 7 had I been able to hear the audio. Note: Stars are given based on my personal enjoyment of the film and plot. My Normal criteria for giving 4 stars. 4 - Disappointing. Started out alright but the plot failed or became incoherent somewhere along the way. Production could be anywhere from terrible to decent.

I caught this film at an indie foreign horror fest in Baton Rouge. It sounded to be honest like something that I may not enjoy but in the end I was pleasantly surprised. The two leads are strong and the fast pace really kept me on the edge of my seat.

I had fun with 'Slasher House'. By no means a perfect film, it's an enjoyable British mashup of various slasher tropes and homages. The budget is clearly low, but you can tell the director's passionate and is determined to make the best with what he has. The film looks really good for what it is. The green and red lighting and colour pallette seen in other slasher flicks like 'Saw' and 'The Collector' adds a really visceral feel to the dilapidated blood-soaked walls. They succeeded in building an unsettling atmosphere with their cinematography and setting. I love the look of our leading lady too. Her bright red hair, lipstick and dress really help to distinguish her from other female slasher protagonists and give her a memorable look. The gore and make-up effects prove well-done and there's enough camera trickery and skill to hide any low budget flaws without resorting to shaky-cam. The overall idea of the film is very fun: a amnesiac girl trapped in a place full of violent serial killers. Right there, is how you build immediate tension and all our killers did a fantastic job of brining a real sense of peril to the situation. Unfortunately, the film falls short for me around the third act, becoming too focused on flashback sequences used for exposition. They lasted too long and hurt the pace of the film. I feel like the better option would have been to use the flashback sequences sparingly over the course of the entire film rather than squeezing them all in towards the end of the film. Most of the acting is also pretty poor, but that's pretty much par-for-the-course for a film like this. There's also some romance that feels rather out-of-place. You could argue it becomes necessary in the third act, but I don't think it was - the same thing could have happened without romance needing to be involved. Overall, if you're a slasher fan or like shoe-string budget films, I'd recommend you check this one out. Again, it's not perfect, but it is a fun nod to the genre and I think you'll appreciate it - just keep in mind that it is very low budget and the cameras used and special effects are not million-dollar-movie style. However, if you're not a slasher fan, this one will probably not be for you - it's clearly made by fans, for fans.

SLASHER HOUSE is a micro budget British horror film with a surrealistic edge. It was made by MJ Dixon, a force to be reckoned with in regards to British independent horror cinema, and it stars the distinctive Eleanor James who wakes up naked in a prison house and soon discovers she's in the middle of a never-ending nightmare. You see, this building just so happens to be home to a number of serial killers, all of whom quickly set their sights on here. What plays out is regularly gruesome but altogether low budget, with a lack of realism in the action bits which hurts it quite a bit. A lot of pressure is heaped on to James' shoulders but she acquits herself well with her role here. It's a very arty film and the green look of the building makes it quite distinctive on a visual level, although it doesn't really add up to all that much.

Red (Eleanor James) awakens naked in a prison cell with a three note piano playing as a soundtrack and the film quickly goes down hill from there. She discovers other prisoners behind locked cell doors with timed lock releases. She teams up with dweeb Nathan as they try to avoid and battle the other serial killer inmates. This is a film for those who can't get enough of these "Where am I and why am I here" mystery film. This wasn't the worst of the lot with a clown, anime girl, and slashers, but the dialogue needed zip and the quick background scenes were amateur. Guide: F-bomb, nudity, plenty of blood.

A naked chick, Red (Eleanor James), wakes up in a locked cell with no recollection of how she got there or who she is. When her cell door is electronically unlocked, she finds post-it notes instructing her what to do. She is not at all perturbed by the fact that everything is green with just an occasional splash of red. She puts on a dress, finds a weapon inside a fridge, and wanders around a bit until she discovers someone else locked in a cell: a young man called Nathan (Adam Dillon). Everything is still green and red. While Red is trying to free Nathan, a homicidal clown called Cleaver (Andrew M. Greenwood) makes an appearance and the pair are forced to defend themselves. Cleaver is just the first of several psychos to be released over a period of time. Why are they there, who is controlling the 'game', and who will make it out alive? These questions and more will be answered by the end of the film, although why everything is green and red remains a mystery. With such a generic title, I wasn't expecting much from Slasher House other than a whole lot of gore; sadly, it didn't even deliver much of that. What we do get is a badly written, poorly acted mess that only displays a modicum of innovation in it's closing moments, when it builds a mythos around the central character that proves rather intriguing. The remainder of the film is dull and derivative, the film's opening being little bit Cube and a little bit Saw, but with none of either film's scares or tension, while the stark colour scheme is straight out of an Argento film, but rather than being used sparingly and with consideration, the effect is clumsily splashed over virtually every scene and soon becomes extremely irritating (while ruining what gore there is). And call me pedantic, but I also have a problem with the scene where one of the killers is pushed into an electric chair and fried with the throw of a switch: in a real electrocution, the whole chair isn't carrying the current-the process requires the application of moist electrodes to the head (via a metal skullcap) and the leg.

I'm not really a fan of slasher films to begin with but when it comes to independent horror filmmakers you can always see the true passion come through even on a low budget. Slasher House is no different and it's clear the director knows his slasher films and what fans of the genre want to see. I'm really surprised how much I liked this film as I was not expecting it to be as good as it is. What starts as a mystery of a girl waking up on what looks like an abandoned prison turns into an expansive mythology of horror with different types of horror movie killers all hunting the lead actress. There are knife wielding slashers, creepy clowns and crazy psychopaths all out to get here and a few good twists along the way. The action is well staged and although it looks like it was filmed on a DSLR the creative choice of lighting and editing elevates the film above its low budget roots. Im sure you can pick this film up pretty cheap now so if you see it I would really recommend buying it. The director has also made a few spin off films and it seems like all the characters have their own connected universe so it will be interesting to see where things go.

After watching this movie I was going to give it 3/10 but I read around the net and learned that the movie was made with a budget of like 5000 (ukrains?) bucks. Interesting. So, keeping that in mind I should mention few things.. ==== Pros ==== Despite the low budget, I must say that they did a impressive job with the whole look of the characters and the set. I suspect that the green tint also helps in hiding a lot of "cheapness" by giving it a stylish look. Acting is.. average. The protagonist is certainly beautiful and can act (but not very good at it..) and she does emotions quite well. The criminals she was trapped with, they did the job well (except for one guy who starts operating.. he was just comically bad). Good intros for the criminals as they are released from their cells, one of them (the most dangerous of them all) was definitely well done. Good music. Not great but was good enough, though too loud during dialogs for some reason. ==== Cons ==== Acting overall was just bad. But I guess for the budget it was pretty good. Honestly, it didn't bother me that much. The "cuts" introducing the characters are good but oddly placed. Storyline, especially after the twist, turned stupid really fast. I still find it hard to take the protagonist seriously. Most of her kills seem accidental or so "girly" that the enemies just shake it off and keep moving.. until the script tells them to die. I am guessing that her inspiration came from Uma's Bride from Kill Bill, but yeah, not very convincing. ============= In the end. I didn't hate the movie, but didn't really like it as well. It is a good movie if you have nothing else to watch. It's watchable and entertaining here and there. Also, 5000 budget is impressive. Movie was shot well for that budget (and like I said, set pieces and characters are well done).

This is a pretty wild ride of a scare flick. For one thing,Why isn't Eleanor James in more or bigger flicks…Look up the titles : Backslasher,Bordello Death Tales,Was that her in CAM GIRL? ! Four serial killers and a babe: Well-We have CLEAVER the clown,CORBEN(Richard?),NATHAN(goblin) and THORN-The doom bringer ? CLEAVER,Like the others has a back story and it reeks in crimson and CORBEN reminds me of THE LACKEY,But bloodier and NATHAN has a GOBLIN/TROLL 2 alter ego that is amazing to watch take him over for the kills and THORN ….we found out is a franchise character who has a prequel in his future or something similar. The set is wonderful and obviously was Used at one time,make-up and effects RAWKED and the sound bothered me—Kept adjusting and then a kill will scare us and sound went down,Back and forth with the remote.