Thursday, September 17, 2020

Slashening: The Final Beginning


Director - Brandon Bassham (The Slashening, Fear Town USA)
Starring - Lloyd Kaufman (#Shakespeare's Shitstorm, After School Lunch Special), Addie Weyrich (Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell, The Marvelous Mr. Maisel), and Jean Louise O'Sullivan (Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Puppet Master: Axis Termination)
Release Date - 2020
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "That knife represents a dick"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):


     Several years ago I reviewed the slasher comedy The Slashening and Fear Town, USA from director Brandon Bassham.  Both were funny and highly entertaining slashers that would go on to get a blu release from Troma.  Yea, both are movies I would highly recommend.  The Slashening scored a 4 out of 5 in my review and from my understanding would go on to score high from other horror reviewers as well which only makes sense that Bassham and company would start work on a sequel.  I've seen updates pop up sporadically here and there but recently he posted that the film would be making it's festival premier soon.  I reached out to him about the film and he hit me back a few days later with a link to review it.  Thanks Brandon!
     The film follows a support group of survivors of different slashenings from around town.  The meet in a room to discuss what happened to them, their friends, and how they survived.  However, their support group starts to dwindle from night to night as the burlap sack killer re-emerges to kill.
     The Slashening was one of the slashers I recommended to horror fans for years so the follow up had some pretty big shoes to fill.  The first film flowed like a standard slasher but the humor made it work.  The follow up was a departure of that standard slasher story but still delivered on the laughs.  The acting in this one is pretty solid.  The characters are flat but their comedic timing and cliched personalities works.  If you have seen any slasher then you know what to expect from this one but in a more exaggerated form.  The story for this one, as I stated earlier, does take a departure from the typical slasher story that we got with the first one.  It still has that slasher element scattered throughout with the "whodunit" angle being prevalent but the slasher style that many horror fans love is not in the forefront of the film.  I really liked how the story was approached but some of the scenes were a little bit of a buzzkill.  Finally, the film has several funny and memorable kills that work for the film's premise.  The effects are nothing extraordinary but they work just enough to get the gag across.  With that being said, the kills really are funny and add even more laughs to an already funny movie.  Overall, Slashening: The Final Beginning is a slasher for the Troma degenerates.  It's funny, sometimes crude, and holds your attention from beginning to end.  The slasher vibe that was so much fun in the first film was replaced with a different type of story but still works for what it is.  I highly suggest checking this one out if you ever have the opportunity.  

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