Slasher: Season One
Creator: Aaron Martin
Cast: Katie McGrath, Brandon Jay McLaren, Steve Byers
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
Horror on TV is hot right now. Make that blistering hot. From pay cable, to basic cable, to network television, everyone wants to have their own horror TV show, so it would only make sense that a cable channel all about horror, like Chiller, would jump on that bandwagon. Even if Chiller is one of the smallest and least widely available channels out there. Even if most things that begin with “Chiller Original” in the credits ranges from middle of the road meh to out and out laughably bad. Well this is their latest offering and for it, they have dipped into the ever reliable well of nostalgia, more specifically 80’s (or maybe 9’0s?) slasher flicks. That is the one horror subgenre that ebbs and flows, but never completely goes out of style with the fans. Is the aptly named Slasher the hit they’ve been craving for or yet another dose of meh? Well grab your knife, mask, and list of victims, and let’s find out.
One Halloween night in the little town of Waterbury (ugh, that is such a corny, fake sounding name, and one chosen, I assume, only because it sounds a little like Scream’s Woodsboro), a man in a mask shows up to a house belonging to a husband and a very pregnant wife. But this guy, dressed up like an executioner, is not there for tricks or treats – he kills the couple and cuts the baby out of the mother’s belly with a machete. Jump forward some years and that baby girl is now a young woman named Sarah who is moving back to Waterbury with her husband and into the house where her parents were butchered like pigs. Whatever could go wrong with that? Yeah, pretty much what you expect to in a slasher flick.
Naturally, this homecoming sets off a whole new rash of murders by another hooded killer. I say “another” because the original executioner has been in jail since the first killings, and so there is a mystery afoot as to who is currently behind the mask. Of course the answer to this is a bit convoluted, and everyone in town has their own dark, shameful secrets they want to keep hidden, and there are red herrings galore. On the pro side, there are some good gory kills in here, but on the con side, there are some silly bits, like attacks happening right in the middle of town (and yet no one ever witnessing them), and the killer always being able to escape like Houdini when the plot calls for it. It’s all pretty basic slasher fair, neither the best of the stalk and slash genre, nor the worst. There are only eight episodes in this first season, so things move briskly for the most part, but the episodes run the gambit on quality. Sometimes the show manages to pull off some effective tension, mystery, and frights. Other times it leaves you rolling your eyes, scratching your head, and laughing at it instead of with it. Both the acting and direction are hit or miss, too, and lead actor Katie McGrath’s natural Irish accent haunts her American character about as much as the killer does. Or maybe she’s Canadian since all her costars are obviously from the Great White North. Whatever the case, it’s not too distracting, and can even be a bit fun if you make a game out of it.
Now on to the special features included on this new Blu-ray from Scream Factory. There is a 14 minute behind-the-scenes featurette. That’s it. Yep, that’s all. I realize this it a TV series from a cable channel on a budget, but for a Scream Factory release, that’s kind of lacking.
Slasher is not a great show, but neither is it horrible. It is easily the best thing Chiller has ever put out, so there is that. I enjoyed my time in Waterbury (ugh) for the most part, but then I am a die-hard slasher fan. I mean the subgenre, not necessarily this show. If you love masked maniac movies, too, then I recommend this. If not, go ahead and give it a pass.
