The Slasher (2006) - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews: The Slasher (2006) - By Brian Morton
Posted on Saturday, September 01, 2007 @ 00:05:55 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

A good filmmaker should stretch their talents. Now, that's easy to say, but it's very hard to do...and still make a good movie. Jim Haggerty manages to do both with his movie, The Slasher.

When you read the title, you're probably going to think, 'Oh No! Not another rip off of 80s slasher movies!', but, as they say, don't go there. The Slasher may appear that way, but it's a movie that attempts to stretch the genre. While The Slasher has a slasher movie at its core, there's also an added touch of police drama in there too. The story centers around a slasher that's terrorizing New York, he kills women seemingly at random, and the police are baffled and are being mercilessly scrutinized by the media. When one of the slasher's intended victims gets away, it becomes the cop’s opportunity to use her as bait to draw him out.

Now, that description is a bit simple, the movie is deeper than that, there's a romance angle between the lead detective and the escaped victim, the slasher (when he's finally revealed) is an excellent villain, who nearly does get away, and the ending is one of the most satisfying I've seen in any slasher movie...and it doesn't do the obvious of leaving the movie open for The Slasher Returns, which is also a breath of fresh air for the genre. Jim Haggerty has found himself up to the difficult task of taking a recognizable genre and putting a great new twist on it. Now, the movie isn't perfect, if you're a fan of the police procedural, you'll be aware that it's very difficult to do on a low budget, and that's a little complaint (but coming from a family of cops, it's one that stands out to me), also there are times when humor is used (which seems to be a Haggerty trademark) and it just doesn't work. I'm not sure if it's the timing, the delivery or the just the places in the film that it pops up in, but there are times when the jokes just fall over flat. Now, those complaints are rather small, The Slasher over all is a great, fun movie, and the ending is incredible, it takes the movie to another level. I'm giving The Slasher three out of four cigars, because while it's not a perfect movie, it's far better than what you're going to expect from a slasher movie! You can check it out for yourself by heading over to Pendulum Pictures Web Site, The Slasher is part of the 50 movie, Tomb of Terror set. So, until next time, when we'll slash through genres, and gut some horrible movies, remember that the best movies are bad movies.