I found "The Slaughter" to be an enjoyable viewing, and eons ahead of it's contemporaries... In an ocean of independent (no-budget) horror films, very few shells wash ashore that are worth picking up, but this one worked for me on a few different levels. The story, although we've seen it before, never seems to take itself too serious, which is so important when it comes to these type of films. I've watched far too many (no-budget) horror films that want to be smarter then it's audience, and it has yet to be proved successful... The acting appears to be much stronger then you will normally find in the (no-budget) genre, which always helps to sell the drama. And lastly, they really seem to have taken the time and effort to produce some quality makeup effects, which is almost NEVER seen in these type of films... On the down-side, the film could have done without some of the cheesy visual effects, which hampered the over-all value of the film. (The ghost hands coming out of the floor seemed quite laughable when it shouldn't have, and some of the fat could have been trimmed off the story...) BUT... All in all, "The Slaughter" was an enjoyable effort and worth a viewing for anyone looking for a bit more out of the (no-budget) horror genre.

I'll say this, "The Slaughter" starts out great. The opening scene with a bevy of the most beautiful witches (or witch worshipers, or whatever they are) that have probably ever graced the screen this side of porn getting naked, seductively self-mutilating themselves (!!) and calling to life the demon-woman pictured on the DVD cover is up there with the phantasmagoria of Ken Russell in his prime. It's very MTV but also effective...all double exposures and reaching hands, muted, digitized images and an eerie score. I was already prepared to accept I'd gotten my $1 rental money's worth for taking a gamble on an unknown DVD with a neato cover. Had it gone on in this way I was prepared to call this the most original fear film to have come out in decades, but it couldn't keep it up.Cut to a bunch of beautiful, stupid young people "required" to be in a haunted house for one of the lamest reasons ever (they're cleaning it) and we're back on the same ol' territory as any run-of-the mill haunted house flick. The good news is that this is a dumb movie about idiotic people made by people who appear to be quite smart. The characters are oddly likable because it's clear the actors are talented and were having a ball (I particularly enjoyed the brain-fried stoner and the slutty girl). Unfortunately, the tone of the film goes from being scary-with-some-humor to out and out ridiculous and it descends into "student film" territory. I wish we were having as much fun as the people making the movie seemed to have been...either let us in on the joke or let us laugh AT you, but when people in a movie on a screen are laughing at themselves it seldom is fun for an audience.The script has some fun one-liners and fast-paced dialog, the effects, though incredibly cheap, are fun, the gore is gratuitous and gloppy and the make-up on the demon-woman is really, really nice. The actors are all beautiful and fun to watch, the attack scenes (when they come--you have to wait a good 50 minutes! Sheesh!) are satisfying. Too bad the witch just never really DOES anything, too bad there's just no plot at all and too bad we've seen most of this before a million times. The speed-monster-metal score is a nice touch, though it doesn't really suit the material that well.Oh, who am I fooling--this movie blows! It really is something only a slightly-feeble-minded 12 year old could truly enjoy, but as a dirt-cheap rental before Halloween I found it was actually amusing enough. Next!

Now, I give this movie a 10 knowing full well that there are MUCH better-made movies out there. But for what it IS, and what it's trying to be... TEN easily.I saw this movie on Comcast OnDemand, and thought the plot sounded pretty interesting, so since I was bored, I checked it out. The opening scene I thought was amusingly stupid, and all the nudity was kinda surprising. Pretty interesting camera work in this scene, and I actually quite liked the style of it. Still, I NEARLY turned it off, but thank goodness I didn't. The second scene was much more serious, and offered some cheap scares. I could tell this movie was gonna be a B flick, and figured it not to be a very good one. Boy was I wrong.The teens start coming in and immediately the movie intrigues me. The acting is much better than I thought (though purposefully over the top), and the comic relief was golden. Here's some of the characters: There's a slutty chick who gets some cheap breast-shot thrills, and has a few funny parts. There's a "tough-guy" who turns out to be a total wimp who is just such a jerk yet has some brilliantly funny moments. There's a dorky anti-capitalism guy who is by far the golden nugget of the bunch, and has a brilliant script written in his favor. Then there's a totally serious chick who turns out to be pretty funny herself near the end. There are some brutally funny lines in the movie if you have a wide sense of humor.Anyways, back to the movie plot. There is a long time before you see anyone die, and then the movie just gets ridiculous... and I mean this in the BEST possible way. About the time when we see our first zombies... the movie switches gears and does not AT ALL take itself seriously. Just awesome. First 1/3=serious business, second 1/3, pretty funny, still kinda serious at times, last 1/3=golden comedy, no seriousness.Horror fans, there's some gory gruesome and original deaths--so unrealistic you'll laugh but enjoy it anyways (i.e. a rock hitting a guy in the face and ripping all of his face off?!). So the deaths are pretty suspenseful, the scares are cheap but occasionally work (loud noises + startling scary image = cheap scares, and comprises most of our horror films of today unfortunately). The humor is VERY sarcastic, parodies/rips on horror films (i.e. "Ok, let's stay together from now on... Let me go get my stuff and I'll meet up with you guys upstairs!"), has some downright cheap shots at the expense of the Bush administration (hysterical in a corny way), and then the humor that can only be described as complete disregard for the deadly situation they're in. I'm probably not doing this movie justice, but I laughed harder in this than in most comedies of today's day (which doesn't say all THAT much about it... but you know what I mean).WATCH THIS MOVIE! IT IS AWESOME FOR A "BAD" MOVIE!! VERY QUOTABLE, but I don't wanna ruin too many of the good lines for you guys. Don't listen to the bad reviews... those people people have a different sense of humor and I understand that. But realize that if you're like me and a lot of others, you'll find this movie to be hysterical.This movie is much funnier than Raimi's Evil Dead series, or Shaun of the Dead, and much more overall entertaining (and NOT because of the nudity). Whoever the main guy is in this movie should be in more movies cuz he's hilarious.PS The story is interesting too...

This movie starts out as a potential cult film, then quickly proceeds to take a Kamakazi dive into suck. Every film festival that gave this movie an award should have its license revoked for incompetence. The "acting", and I used the term "acting" sarcastically, will give you a headache. A porno has better acting...and better lighting, and better story. The actors had absolutely no chemistry and were too clueless to know when they were suppose to be scared. The director/writer was probably too busy dreaming up fx gimics that haven't been used since the invention of sound. A note to any "filmmakers", if you don't have the budget to make a real horror movie, then at least do yourself a favor and make it a horror comedy. That way people can at least get a laugh out of the campy entertainment value. My roommates made me do laundry and dishes for a week, and I'm officially banned from bringing home anymore horror flicks.