Netflix Review: Slasher

Seeing Slasher on Netflix filled me with glee.

I enjoy binge watching series, and I love horror. So seeing an original Chiller production that was only 8 episodes long seemed like a dream come true.

And it is . . . almost.

Slasher follows protagonist Sarah Bennett, who returns to her sleepy hometown of Waterbury after 30 years with her journalist husband Dylan in tow. The only problem is that the house they purchased was the site of a brutal double murder by “The Executioner”.

Of her parents. When she was ripped from he mother’s womb via machete.

Soon the murders start again and with the old Executioner in jail (and assisting with the case), Sarah is in a race against time to uncover the town’s dark secrets before more people she loves are butchered.

Right away the plot sounds stupid, but Slasher handles it well. A large number of the characters, while consoling or judging Sarah, openly question why she returned. It happens often enough that eventually you get that while Sarah needs the catharsis, she herself questions it. It humanizes a rather basic (and laughable) horror trope, allowing the rest of the plot to flow smoothly.

I say this ad nauseum but I’ll say it again: I like “contained” settings.

By that I mean I like when movies or TV shows operate in on specific setting for the majority of their run time. It forces them to get creative, moving away from set-pieces and stupid eye-catching effects and focusing on camera work and characterization. Because the entire series takes place in a small town, you feel trapped along with Sarah. You’re stuck in the backwater town, unable to get away from it’s weird residents and the killer who rests among them.

I was able to predict very few of the plot twists, which is a HUGE plus when maintaining tension over the course of the series. At least once an episode I would go “NO WAY!” as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. A friend of mine said it’s easy to spot the killer, but that doesn’t happened until episode 5 or 6 when the loss of so many suspects narrows down the field considerably.

One interesting thing about this series is that the victims unsympathetic to varying degrees.

It’s not quite Dexter level where the people he targets are also serial killers themselves, but every time you learn why the people were targeted you end up disliking them a little more (or that may just be me). But what it does is keep the focus on the mystery of the killer. The killings are just another clue for Sarah and the viewer to analyze to try and discern the identity of Executioner 2.0.

It’s a neat balancing act, characterizing the residents of Waterbury enough to make them interesting but making them expendable enough that their death doesn’t slow down the plot.

And the series doesn’t focus on the kills, which is so important for horror movies, games and shows. The shock value of a kill produces rapidly diminishing returns (I’m looking at you, SAW) but suspense and tension can carry entire franchises. It’s part of why Asian horror (while occasionally nonsensical and wacky) is a revered sub-genre.

So, the bad.

Sarah and Dylan don’t have enough chemistry to be a believable husband and wife, and the scenes that feature the two of them DRAG. It wouldn’t be bad if their interactions didn’t sponge up so much screen time, but it does and it’s like pulling teeth. Individually the characters are well written but together it’s like pineapples on pizza.

Hey it’s cool you have a black protagonist . . . just maybe don’t make us hate him?

But the worst is that the killer has absolutely no characterization. This isn’t really a spoiler, but the killer is one of the preexisting characters. His/her facade is well characterized, but as a killer the motivation is nil. They try to make up for it as the finale progresses but its still kind of a let down.

Maybe it’s a personal choice, but I actually didn’t like who the villain turned out to be. I understand how it ties into clues throughout the series, but still he/she seemed to be a poor choice. I wonder if the writers had a 20/20 hindsight moment where they realized the villain was crappy, but they were too far into the story to change the Executioner’s identity.

All in all I enjoyed this show. At 8 episodes it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and its tense enough that I forgive the ending.

Siri Karri

Siri is a mixed martial arts and video game aficionado, but only had the physique for the latter. Proudly goofy and reluctantly pudgy, he tackles writing in the same way he tackles a burger; enthusiastically but with adult supervision.