“SLASHER” is a Canadian series available on VOD & Netflix. The first season is eight-episodes long and follows a woman and her husband that return to her childhood home where her parents were murdered. Adjusting to life back in the small town will not be easy as her past begins to re-emerge, with tragic events rocking the tight-knit community soon after her arrival.
Campy slasher flicks are a genre of their own and beloved my millions around the world, including myself. Often the films suffer from weak plot-lines and under-developed, or even cardboard characters. You can enjoy the scares of various killers preying on hapless victims. But without the resonated connection to the plot, or the characters, it can often feel like something is missing. Weaving the genre into a series that can take time to develop narratives was an interesting concept, and “Slasher” pulls it off with success.
This was a great series that weaves a compelling plot with many twists and turns. It’s loaded with characters of various personalities, that continually have you guessing what their exact motives are. The story-line has a smooth progression through the episodes and continually peels back layer after layer to the story that each get more compelling. Sure, you need some mild suspension of disbelief (like how a small town can have many people murdered with no outside authorities coming in) but it was still a fun ride. Added with all these positives, were the gory horror moments a show called “Slasher” should deliver. The kills are fun, they are creative, hyper-violent, and woven nicely into the fabric of the story. Most importantly it provides motives for the killings and helps them land with a much stronger impact.
Everything blends together very well into a story that will have you anticipating each following episode. It plays out like a horror film but with much deeper substance. The secrets in this small town are revealed through the characters in a compelling fashion with loads of unpredictability. Something that is often missing in the genre. The enjoyment of being surprised and caught off guard by certain story-arcs or character twists, were what made this such an appealing series to watch.
The performances were also serviceable for the needs of the different characters. Katie McGrath was a solid lead and carried the season on her shoulders. She brought the needed range of emotions for the role and she sold a majority of the impactful moments her character experiences throughout the season. She felt genuine, and it was easy to connect with her to see where the story would take her. Brandon Jay McLaren was also very good. He was charming and felt natural in the role and was effectively able to pull off the emotional layers to his character with realism and intrigue.
Everyone did an effective job of bringing life to their characters. There were some moments of overacting here and there, but for a small-screen series, it was not a hindrance at all, and the unfamiliar performers really added an organic vibe to all the characters. Overall this was a fun season to watch. It builds an appealing plot-line and spends just enough time on other subplots, to keep the pace moving and the overall tone fresh. It takes the time to develop the characters which adds an investment to the suspenseful horror moments during the season very nicely.
Because the strongest aspect of this series, is easily the practical-effects. The show knows its genre and it does not forget it. There are loads entertaining killings that are creative and well-crafted. They use some fun practical-effects that at times gave me a nostalgic feeling to the old horror films prior to computer technology. Sure, there was some CGI used at times, but it never lessens the impact of the make-up design and practical imagery that is on display as this mysterious killer takes out people in the town one-by-one. If you enjoy gory, campy horror films, then I recommend checking this series out. It’s shows effort and it takes itself seriously in creating guilty pleasure genre violence, only it adds some interesting characters and compelling story elements to make it all mean something.
Grade: 85%
