Slash (2002) User Reviews

Harvest of Blood

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 8 July 2007]

While in a tour with his rock band Slash, the lead singer Mac (James O'Shea) is informed that his aunt died and his family is expecting him in their farm, where he spent his childhood, for the funeral. The group travels in their bus and meets the weird patriarch and Mac's father Jeremiah (Steve Railsback). The local Billy Bob (Nick Boraine) tells about an old tradition called "harvest of blood" used to improve the harvest. Their bus has problems with the injector and they get stuck in the farm, while a serial killer chases each one of them to collect their blood.

"Slash" is a rip-off of many others similar slasher movies in a cornfield, with scarecrow, harvest and axes, but it is watchable. The story is predictable and has a huge flaw, when Mac uses a fake knife to stab his girlfriend. How could he know that the knife was false, if he had no contact with the owner? My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Slash – Rock do Terror" ("Slash – Rock of the Terror")

Slash is not THAT bad.

[jpkwolf · 5/10 · 6 April 2006]

A b-grade horror movie where a rock band gets stuck on a farm haunted by a super natural killer. Some of the acting isn't very good but I've seen worse and the movies plot was fine too. One good scene was definitely the axe battle (guitar versus normal axe. Get it?) and the kills of the movie have some creativity in them.. Minus points come from some really bad scoring and the characters of course in the wonderful b-horror movie tradition behave like idiots. It's a fine choice if you want to see a b-grade horror movie. You know what you are getting, nothing special. This one isn't THAT bad though. As a horror fan I was decently entertained.

Well Daddy, it's harvest time.

[lastliberal · 5/10 · 1 January 2009]

This really could have been a bit more interesting. There was a lot of farm boy humor in the first hour, but not much of anything else. Nick Boraine (The Breed) was really good.

It was almost an hour into the movie before it started getting good. But, it never got bloody, except for the harvester.

Nick Boraine, Steve Railsback (Rest Stop: Don't Look Back, The Stunt Man) and Zuleikha Robinson (Hidalgo) all did very good jobs, and the music was really good.

The only thing that really detracted was the lack of blood. How can you have a slasher movie without it?

A VERY UNIQUE SURPRISE,WELL DONE

[filmingpro · 14 September 2003]

This movie was a very enjoyable change of pace. It hold's all the major elements of a studio horror film but maintains its independant spirit. I was very pleased with the film,it held my attention with likable character's. The shots are awesome and the whole film moves you without loosing your attention. Loved it, James Vallo Chicago

Slash

[Scarecrow-88 · 4/10 · 3 December 2008]

A young boy, playing in his papa's barn, witnesses his grandfather Jethro's secret operation..extracting human blood from victims he wheels in on a gurney to supply that special ingredient which is said to help the crops multiply(..a form of voodoo adopted by superstitious farmers desperate for successful crops). When grandpa wishes to *scold* the child, a lantern turns over setting fire to the hay within the barn. The boy escapes but Jethro is not so lucky..engulfed in flames, we figure his fate is sealed. We later find that a couple driving to a costume party, nearly hitting a cow in the road, bursting through a fence into a field, fall prey to a psycho, donning the disguise of a scarecrow, wielding a scythe. Later, we discover that the child has fully grown into the lead singer of a rock band called, appropriately enough, Slash. Mac(James O'Shea), after performing a gig, receives word from "paw" that his aunt had passed from farmhand, Billy Bob(Nick Boraine). Taken from his father's farm by his mother, Mac decides to attend his aunt's funeral, and thus reawakening the painful memory he had buried regarding Jethro and that traumatic day in the barn. Mac's father, Jeremiah(Steve Railsback), is proud to have his son home, despite the ordeal that prompted his return. Mac's band come with him, their tour bus pulling into Jeremiah's farm presenting quite a contrast, to say the least. But, Mac finds that he enjoys spending time here despite his band's reservations towards such a rural setting. Particularly token black character, Jesse(Jocelyn Broderick), who certainly feels out of place, representing your typical thuggish stereotype, even carrying a gun on his person. When the *scarecrow killer* targets his posse, Mac will have to decide which is his true family, pops or the band. In a major development, the tour bus has been tampered with the injector pump damaged by someone, obviously the killer. It seems that Jeremiah's harvest just might bring forth plentiful crops..

I'm such a fan of Steve Railsback that I'll just about watch any type of dire entertainment he participates in. Slash is a very tame slasher movie with typically obnoxious characters, the geeky band members & their roadies. Railsback has a little fun with his redneck farmer role, another stereotype very similar to his ED Gein portrayal. As he's entering old age, Railsback sounds a lot like Walter Brennan. I enjoyed how the director shoots him and Railsback understands just how to deliver his corny hick dialogue with just the right amount of aplomb. Nick Boraine amazingly injects a nice amount of innocence and amiability to his stereotypical role of dirty-teethed, filthy farmhand Billy Bob, often the object of Jesse's ridicule. The film really plays off the theme of clashing worlds..the "fish out of water" division between the urban and rural. The killer mostly commits his murderous deeds off-screen with director Neal Sundström pulling his camera back probably due to lack of funds. An ax is also used on victims. My favorite kill-scene would be when the killer chases after the remaining members of the band, not yet murdered, with a crop machine "threshing" one victim, with the remains "fertilizing" the field! No nudity although a female groupie, who travels with the band, does have sex with the guitarist(..it, just like the murders, is filmed in a rather tame manner). I suggest watching this slasher for Railsback, who really provides most of the entertainment. The film presents three likely possibilities of who the killer might be..Billy Bob, Mac, and, of course, Jeremiah. Although you might be minorly surprised at who it is, you won't be blown to smithereens when his identity is uncovered.

Not as horrible as expected, but virtually no blood

[Mike_T-Little_Mtn_Sound_Archive · 5/10 · 12 March 2019]

Super quick tidbit here...

This was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. At least it is filmed on professions equipment and the production facets are decent.

The acting is average at best, but very tolerable. There are a couple characters who were played quite well even (Billy Bob, and Daddy McDonald).

That said, for my purposes, it really missed the mark with the "horror." There is virtually no blood, and nowhere near the number of creepy scenarios and frights this film could produced, especially being set on a (clichéd) farm with corn fields adjacent. I dunno...maybe it's just me, when you call a movie "horror" it should have some horror. This was more of a thriller-light, with the last 30 minutes having a few (non-bloody) horror moments. I guess that's what a smal budget does.

Terrible but not the worst

[preppy-3 · 2/10 · 6 June 2004]

Mac (James O'Shea) the lead singer of a band called Slash finds out his aunt has died. She lived in a remote farmhouse in the middle of nowhere with her husband Jeremiah (Steve Railsback) and farm hand Billy Bob (Nick Boraine). The whole band goes to attend the funeral. While there Mac starts having flashbacks to a traumatic childhood incident and someone is killing people off...one by one with a scythe....

Sounds dull...and it is. The writing is lousy! The script contains some truly idiotic moments. Why does the entire band attend a funeral for someone they don't even know? When two people are trapped in a barn they (VERY stupidly) chose to hide in a dead end cellar other than running outside! Also I found it a bit questionable that the one black member of the band brings a semi-automatic gun (WHY?????) and is one of the first killed. Also two band members who seem to be gay (they are shown sleeping together) are also killed. Everyone else stays alive. That's another thing--this is a HORROR film. There are next to no deaths! I counted FOUR--and there's next to no blood or gore too. Horrible ending too.

As for the acting....there are two OK performances--Railsback as Jeremiah and Boraine as Billy Bob. They're nothing spectacular but they're better than everybody else. Everybody else SUCKS! This is truly horrible acting...I've rarely seen worse. The worst is O'Shea (naturally he's the lead). He is handsome with a great chest and 6 pack abs (which we're shown quite a bit)...but his face never changes expression. He has the same blank look all through the film. Just terrible.

On the plus side--it's filmed in washed-out color (which actually helps the movie) and there's some OK music.

So I'm giving it a 2...primarily for Railsback, Boraine and O'Shea's body. Still, that's not enough to recommend this crap.

Surprisingly this was filmed in South Africa!!!!

One of the worst of the newer slashers

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 1/10 · 21 May 2004]

The slasher genre started with great movies like Halloween, Friday the thirteenth and Nightmare on Elm Street; now it has degenerated into this amateurish mess of a movie. Most of the slashers, new and old, try to impress with interesting, and a lot of the time, extremely gory, death scenes. But whereas most other slashers offer some new, innovative ways to knock off their characters in no particular order, this just seems to re-use many of the old ideas. The movie is based off some of the same ideas as the Children of the Corn films, and while I haven't seen all of them, I can safely say that they are far better than this. Children of the Corn actually features some interesting and fairly scary/disturbing ideas, whereas this film just exploits the theme to explain why there is a maniac going around killing people. The plot is fairly boring, and seems to mainly be there for these characters to smoke pot, have sex or drink beer in every other scene. This is probably due to the original idea of having the slasher killer kill off teens who don't follow the ethical rules(no drugs, no beer if you're underage, and no pre-marital sex). However, it doesn't work well. It just makes you care less about these characters, maybe even to the point of wanting to have them killed off, and just waiting impatiently for that to happen. At times, I found myself cheering at the killer rather than hoping for this faceless, shallow, one-dimensional character to live. The acting is atrocious. There weren't one single character that was well-acted in the film; this could be attributed to the fact that they're all no-names, but that's no excuse. Robert Rodriguez used ordinary people, with zero acting experience in El Mariachi, and that contains far better acting. The characters are all one-dimensional, if they're not breaking one of the aforementioned ethical rules, they're mocking each other, acting unbelievably stupid or just basically being extremely egotistical. I never cared for any of them, and was actually happy to see them die. I was actually more annoyed at the fact that so many of them lived, rather than the opposite. The ending is so ridiculous and predictable, that no one could actually be surprised by it. The twist was also painfully obvious from the very beginning; I had figured it out not long after the opening scene. Something I also found extremely annoying was the seemingly lazy attitude of the filmmakers; many of the scenes, especially the death scenes contain ridiculous and obvious continuity errors, due to the scene being shot in as few takes as possible. The effects of the movie were also far below average. The scenes involving the killer inspire no fear in the viewer, as we either see him too much or too little; both a lot and a little exposure to the killer in a slasher can work, but both require him to be presented as powerful. Slash fails to do so, the killer seems too human and weak, even though they were obviously going for him to be strong, judging from his impressive figure and his choice of weapons. The film just fails in nearly all aspects, never scaring you, but rather inspiring you to laugh at the pathetic attempt at film-making it is. I don't recommend this movie to anyone, not even slasher flick fans, except maybe people who know the genre and who can laugh at such a weak, boring, amateurish excuse for a slasher/horror film. 1/10

A decent but flawed South African slasher

[filmnut1 · 5/10 · 17 March 2011]

Eradicating its South African origins, pretending that the open plains of the country are those of America's Midwest, this is an imitation of an American slasher movie with ageing character actor Steve Railsback imported to lend minor star power. His image and performance are eerily similar to that of Anthony Perkins in the latter Psycho sequels.

Slasher formula dictates that we have a killer, a group of youths and an isolated location in which to kill them one by one. The killer is a combination of both the Creeper, first seen in Jeepers Creepers (2001), in his scarecrow-like clothes, and Leatherface, wearing a crudely constructed mask. His weapon of choice is a scythe, giving him an additional reaper quality.

The youths themselves, here twenty-somethings, are members of a band called Slash whose lead vocalist is the protagonist. He's a typically sculpted, Whalberg-esque type whose aesthetic potential is exploited in one especially gratuitous woodcutting scene.

His uncharacteristically feisty girlfriend is the bass player, played by British Zuleikha Robinson, familiar from the short-lived "Lone Gunmen" series (2002). The group is rounded out with a guitarist, drummer, keyboardist (!), groupie and manager. Circumstance brings all these characters together to play 'unravel the mysterious past and discover the identity of the killer' on a farm, eliminating requirements for extras and exploitation of a selection of buildings and cornfields.

It is clear that this is not some cheap wannabe, but a genuine attempt to create a respectable genre entry. This is a straight but tongue-in-cheek movie, there's even a farm owner called MacDonald and the characters joke about this just as we would. Sex and gore are present but in keeping with the more subdued nature of the recent American films, as evidenced by its 15 certificate, which it shares with the likes of Jason X (2001) and Halloween Resurrection (2001). While the content may be cliché, it is in the striking cinematography that the film truly shines. Cinematographer Mark Lennard shoots the rural locations with the same eye as Daniel Pearl, including a striking use of low angle shots and a sharp focus on the clouds in the sky.

The patented mix of postmodern slasher conventions, including pop culture dialogue, unfolds over just under 90 minutes. The hero returns home, uncovers his family's dark past and puts a stop to the dastardly "Harvest of Blood." Setting the tone with a stylishly shot 'couple get killed' scene, director Neal Sunderstrom delivers everything we want from a film like this and caps it off with chase through a corn field by a threshing machine and typical twist ending.

At times Sunderstrom seems to be blatantly breaking the rules of the genre, with the only two sexually active members of the group surviving the carnage, but this is nowhere near the standards of the best in the genre. There is an attempt to take emphasis from gore and lean toward performance, but unfortunately the cast are unable to compliment the standard set by Railsback and the film disappoints as a result. While the idea of making the protagonists a band is an interesting one it ultimately weakens the clichéd narrative; the beginning and ending of the film are drawn out with insufferably dire ballads.

Nothing New, But Definitely Entertaining.

[drownsoda90 · 6/10 · 25 August 2006]

I happened to be surfing through channels one evening, and saw that "Slash" was about to begin. Since it was a horror movie, I gave it a try, and it was actually a surprise. The film revolves around a rock band, called Slash. The group of band members end up at a secluded old farm out in the middle of nowhere, when the band's lead singer's aunt dies and he goes to visit his father at the family home. Things begin to get a little bit spooky when strange events plague the band members. It seems someone is lurking around the farm, putting a stop to all of their attempts to leave. Someone wants them to stay, and then the band members begin to die off. Who is behind the killings? Is it the creepy farm handyman? Or perhaps someone else?

I actually thought this movie wasn't that bad at all. The story (while it is somewhat routine) was interesting enough to keep my attention. The twist ending was obvious but appropriate in the film's context, it worked well. The acting was so-so... let's just say that there aren't exactly Oscar-worthy performances. But what can one expect from a film of this nature, the cast is mostly unknowns (aside from Steve Railsback who plays the band's lead singer's father). The scripting was somewhat corny at times, and some of the characters made stupid remarks, but I wouldn't make a big deal about it, because "Slash" is a B-grade horror flick all the way. The death scenes were creative, especially the harvesting machinery sequence, which was quite brutal, and the setting of the film was isolated and kind of spooky. The finale itself was well executed also and the killer throughout the film was pretty cool.

Overall, "Slash" is really nothing new for horror fans, but it manages to be a decent and fun little movie to view. Complete with a rock soundtrack, some gory death scenes, and an overall decent story, it serves it's purpose and manages to be alright in the end. Horror fans will find it enjoyable, others will probably hate it. 6/10.

How To Make A Bad Horror Film

[funeralfortheliving · 1/10 · 6 June 2016]

Something happened after the 80's where for some reason people can't make a horror film to save their life this movie is a crash course in crappy 90's film making. How to make a piece of crap step 1 ruin the atmosphere by throwing in a bunch of bottom of the barrel pop music songs. OK am I supposed to be thrilled or get up and dance? These hacks are good at one thing destroying the mood with one pathetic song after another after another, did TCSM throw in pop music? Did Nightmare on Elm St.? No, because it sucks how are you supposed to build suspense with cheesy garbage radio pop rock? And this movie just won't quit 13 minutes in and we've already been subjected to 4 pop songs that sound like the director was trying to show case his friends band or something. That's it really I mean if you like push up bras for fake cleavage, people having sex with their cloths on and the worst music since a dingo got shot eating a baby you'll slash your ears and eyes out trying to figure out if this is scary movie 5000 or a failed music video. Rule number 1 how to kill your horror film start picking rock music that sounds like their practicing and walla your movie stinks. I don't get why film makers struggle so hard and pay so much money for songs well I guess if you turn off the sound and see what a mess they shot it makes sense. For future so called horror film makers please do not do this. I know you think the music you are into is so rocking and you got chills while playing tennis with a pink sweater tied around your waist and thought oh this song is perfect. Again show me one horror film that uses pop music effectively and I'll show you that you know nothing about atmospheric horror. The 90's are over stop trying to make hipster horror this is why nobody respects horror and they all get pg 13 ratings because they are all made by hacks who go hey lets make a horror movie those are easy. You ever wonder why their are only two seasons of Masters of Horror because their are only a handful of people capable of creating art that is disturbing. I'm sick of it fangoria shame on you for putting your name on this. Bowwwoooo Bowwwwwooooow Wooooo are you scared yet or are you like me and just slash your finger across the eject button and try to forget you ever heard of this failure. Well maybe I'm wrong and they created a new genre movies that disturb you with their choice in music in that case I give it a ten and rate it up their with Requiem For A Dream as so disturbing I can only watch it once.

The name says it all!

[Nightman85 · 8/10 · 25 September 2005]

Rock band ends up stranded on the family farm of it's lead singer. So what's next? A fight to stay alive when a scarecrow-ish killer starts stalking!

While Slash may not look or sound like anything new, it does serve horror fans best by being a completely entertaining and fairly thrilling ride. It makes the best of it's country setting by being a bit reminiscent of such classic rural horror flicks as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Children of the Corn. Director Neal Sundstrom gives us a musty atmosphere of dread in the movie's nicely rustic filming locations.

At any rate, there's plenty to enjoy in this film. The story provides for enough good thrills and spills, along with some occasional bloodiness. The cast is pretty game, Railsback probably being the best as Mac's gruff father. But such unknown stars as O'Shea and Dukas prove that they are capable as well. There's also a fairly good rock soundtrack, after all, the movie IS named after the band.

Genre fans may find it a fun trip, while others will likely call it silly horror. Either way, it's a fun watch.

*** out of ****

Blood in the Cornfield

[ShadySovereign · 6/10 · 7 April 2006]

When I first laid my eyes on the DVD cover of "Slash", I was thinking that this film would be very bloody and gory. However, as I was going to find out, the movie isn't too bloody at all. It's more thrilling than bloody, with some hilarious performances from the virtually unknown actors & actresses. And the killer in this movie looked cool.

The movie is about a rock group on their way to the lead singer's family home, upon hearing that his aunt had passed away. The group is forced to cope with the singer's father named Jeremiah, and his creepy hill-billy assistant Billy Bob. However, it's not all peaceful in this farmland, as a mysterious killer in the form of a scarecrow is on the loose, waiting to get some new blood...

I think I'm making it sound like a horror movie masterpiece. The truth is, the movie is not bad, but it's not too great either.

There are some funny performances delivered by the supporting characters (especially that black guy and Billy Bob), and the 2 female characters in the movie are gorgeous (especially Candy, the blonde cutie). However, their lines are kinda cheesy and they spit out foul language frequently from time to time.

I liked the way the killer looks in this movie. It's rare to see a killer in a horror movie who wears a hat similar to Freddy Krueger's (from the "Nightmare on Elm Street" horror movies). I also loved the weapon that he used: a scythe. I've never seen horror villains use that weapon before in previous horror films.

Although many of the death scenes in the film are not very bloody, there is one particular death scene that really blew my mind: A harvester machine actually "eats up" a victim and makes mince-meat out of his body. You have to see this death scene to believe it.

And if you're a rock music fan, you will like the music in this movie. There are various scenes that play rock music in the backgrounds, and most of the main characters even perform rock songs. You might feel like you're watching a rock concert!

To sum up, this movie is not exactly a horror classic. However, I think the movie tried its best to thrill audiences. It had some pretty imaginative death scenes (especially the one where a guy is "harvested"), and fresh new actors & actresses who may have greater acting careers in the future. If you've got a girlfriend or boyfriend, rent this movie to watch at home and have some nice thrills. Your partner will enjoy the evening. Just make sure you're far away from farmlands...

I give this film a 6/10.

Liked it better the first 600 times I saw it

[Heislegend · 2/10 · 4 June 2008]

What can you say about a movie like this? Capably acted? Sure. Filmed with a camera? Absolutely. Made on planet Earth? You bet. An original story with compelling death scenes that is capable of holding your interest? Errr...well...not so fast.

If you've only seen 10 horror movies in your life, you've probably seen this plot at least 8 times. Guy returns home to strange (and estranged) family with friends whose only purpose are so we have more people to kill. Mode of transportation breaks down so hapless gang is stuck at the mercy of aforementioned strange folks. Masked killer kills them one by one for no apparent reason. There is so little to this movie that such a synopsis almost borderlines on a spoiler.

It's not that the acting is bad, it's just hard to care about anyone in the movie. And really...where the hell do they get off calling such a sissy rock band "Slash"? "Slash" should be the name of at least a hard rock band (if not metal)...not these bunch of whiny Nancy boys (and girl).

The death scenes in the film are completely forgettable and there's hardly any blood/gore to speak of (a huge minus for me, but maybe a plus for some). All in all you're left with a mildly warmed over version of a lot of much better movies. Save your time and watch those instead because you won't kick yourself for missing out on this garbage.

Scarecrows wanted - Apply within

[Dr. Gore · 1 October 2004]

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

What is it about killer scarecrows? They seem to be dominating the straight to video horror scene right now. I recently saw "Scarecrow Gone Wild" and have my eye on "Dark Harvest". Maybe I'm answering my own question. There always seems to be room for one more scarecrow flick. You want to star in a horror flick? Start lining up now. Stuff your body full of straw, sharpen up your favorite scythe, ask the Wizard for a brain and fill out an application.

"Slash" has a scarecrow going bonkers over a visiting rock band. Some obnoxious punk comes home with his band to visit the family farm and ends up getting stuck there. They landed there just in time because the scarecrow wants to make mincemeat out of them for his harvest of blood. A Blood Harvest eh? Hmmmm… "Blood Harvest" could be the title of the next killer scarecrow bonanza. I'm sure I'd get around to seeing it sooner or later.

"Slash" is OK. It's worth a look. Scarecrow, cornfield, blood etc.

Awful.

[profanitarium · 1/10 · 21 April 2004]

Um, where do I begin?

This film is simply awful. It started off not too badly, with a hokey-but-fun opening sequence, but just dived off a cliff from that point onwards. I couldn't believe what I was watching. There were so many clichés in both the story and dialogue, and they were handled with such a clumsiness and heavy handedness. Like the antagonism between the black band member and the farmer - we've seen it all a million times before, and we've seen it better done than that, too.

It also has some of the worst acting I've ever had the misfortune of seeing. And what's with the crazy extreme wideangle closeups? They look terrible. Oh, and how about cutting to both actors during a dialogue scene, not just one of them... And how about using the music a little more sparingly, instead of every scene in the whole goddamn picture.

Avoid at *all* costs. Please.

Weird but watchable

[KHayes666 · 6/10 · 5 October 2007]

OK, so we have a redneck town with a dark secret and a band from the city in on the festivities.....doesn't sound like an Oscar winning plot but the actors played everything so over the top it turned out to be an entertaining movie.

The idea of a guy running around slashing people with a sickle isn't so bad but the plot twists were iffy at best.

The best part of the movie has to be the cast's interactions with Billy Bob the local yokel. The 2 guys curled up on the bus getting high, the camera dude filming everyone and everything or the embalming of people kept it watchable from beginning to the end.

If you're looking for Citizen Kane, look elsewhere but if you wanna watch something entertaining for 2 hours then this would be a good choice. Its watchable if you're a horror fan.

6 out of 10

It deserves higher than a 4.0, why not a 4.8 to a 5.0??

[the_entombed25 · 8/10 · 19 July 2005]

Just saw this movie, and I personally have to say that I was pleased. I am not sure if this is exactly a B-film, or if its just a plain old Direct-to-video release.

I thought it was just a B-film judging by the previews. Now watching it sort of says something different. To be as honest as I can be, I was very impressed. It has good character development, good twists, and some-what at the bear least descent dialogue.

The main character of the movie, Mac, gives off a strong performance, as does Steve Railsback. Mac sort of has a bit of resemblance to actor Michael Bein. I really enjoyed this movie, then again, I think it could have been because of my low expectations.

This is a Slasher movie, and as most horror movies not to mention now-a-days, the slasher genre of Horror has been disappointing us with all its B-films and Direct-to-video releases. You might sorta say even for a Direct to video or a B-film; which ever this may be, is a good comback to the Slasher Genre. The Slasher genre is one of my favorite genres of horror just as Thrash is my favorite genre of Metal.

Though, I personally do suggest that those who watch it should be aware.

I had no problem with this movie...

[dmularz · 7/10 · 1 July 2005]

It was made on the cheap in South Africa, what does everyone expect? Yeah, the scarecrow was not unmasked... so what? I am sure you have seen burned people in movies before. The mystery was subtle, the characters were fine. I really enjoyed the music. The story was somewhat unoriginal, but it was worth my time and I did find it acceptable.

I liked the music... I have head of some of them, like Zen Arcade. It was not heavy metal, which, quite honestly, I expected given the title. I find it irritating how people like to give bad reviews, claiming they are unoriginal, boring, lack of gore, etc. The cow was a CGI? Give me a break.... who cares if it was. It is my opinion that there can never be the perfect movie, slasher, horror, etc... I am a horror buff. There will always be a problem with the amount of gore, violence, the perfect star, acting, etc.... Just take it for what it was and enjoy the attempt.

A new low in slasher film-making.

[Li-1 · 18 December 2004]

Rating: 1/2 out of ****

Behold, what we have here is quite likely the worst slasher flick of the new millennium (but not the worst horror film, as we can't forget Legion of the Dead). The unimaginatively titled Slash is a new display in complete and total incompetence, and it's about as poorly made as films get.

After dispensing with an obligatory black-and-white prologue, the film makes a quick segue to two teenagers (apparently a couple)driving to a party in the middle of nowhere. Showing off its ineptness from the start, the movie gets into its first stalk-and-slash sequence when the couple in the car swerve off the road to avoid hitting a CGI cow! They crash into a cornfield, with the girl seemingly unconscious and the boyfriend seeing this as an opportune moment to feel her up. Turns out she's faking unconsciousness, and is a lot less angry than one would think she ought to be for her boyfriend showing more concern for her boobs than her well-being.

Anyway, the boyfriend is quickly dispatched by a masked killer with a scythe, so the chick quickly runs to the nearest house, this whole chase accompanied by annoying pop rock music. She hides in a nearby barn, and proves to have nothing in the way of peripheral vision as she fails to notice the killer being right in front of her! The whole scene caps off with her begging for her life as he very slowly approaches her. For crying out loud, why not just run? And the sad part of it all is that despite how terrible this opening is, it boasts the only nice thing I can say about the movie; the chick being chased is pretty hot.

The rest of the movie focuses on a rock band, whose lead singer is called to the very same farm in the opening scene because his aunt's passed away. He hasn't seen his father (Steve Railsback) in fifteen years, so one can expect their reunion to be a little awkward. The rest of the band (one of whom brings his groupie, who's a tarot card reader, no less!) also tags along, doing little things like playing trivia games over how famous singers passed away to entertain themselves. No points for guessing the band will likely serve as fodder for the scythe-wielding killer.

The cast that composes the band is likely the most obnoxious group of protagonists ever assembled in a slasher. Among the lot of them, there's not a single redeemable factor to be found; they're loud, impatient, disrespectful at every turn (especially the token black guy), and they don't even seem to get along as a group, something you'd think would be vital in a rock band.

Director Neal Sundstrom is horribly incompetent in staging and filming scares, suspense, or humor. He gives certain scenes a strange color composition, sometimes desaturating the picture for no discernible reason. Any time the stalk-and-slash scenes look like they might just pay off, all the murders take place off-screen and are even sometimes filmed with annoyingly choppy slow motion. Sundstrom's idea of atmosphere is covering the locations with lots of fog, but all that does is give the impression we're watching a stage play.

The movie actually attempts to build some sort of mystery in regards to the identity of the killer by delivering obvious red herrings, but when the killer is later revealed, he's not even unmasked. The climax is moronic, with a few of the survivors deciding to hide themselves in a cellar that was revealed earlier to them to be the killer's hideout. The lead character also formulates a plan involving a prop knife, even though he had no way of knowing the weapon was a prop (to add further insult, the killer himself should have known it was a prop).

No question about it, Slash is a terrible movie at every turn. It takes a mildly promising slasher concept-which I hear was utilized to much better effect in Scarecrows-and comes up incredibly short in all aspects. I heard this was a South African production, which does help explain some of the cast trying to cover up their accents, but it only proves that filmmakers overseas take too much inspiration from America's own cheap and awful low-budget slashers.

I'd definitely recommend watching this once

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 26 April 2021]

Slash (2002) is a Denmark movie I recently watched on Shudder after seeing it recommended on here. The storyline focuses on a rock-band that takes a detour from their tour to stop at one of the band members family after his mother dies. They quickly discover an old family curse didn't disappear as he thought and as his family history starts resurfacing the band members lives quickly become as risk. This movie is directed by Neal Sundstrom (Dead Easy) and stars Steve Railsback (Ed Gein), Nick Boraine (Black Sails), Zuleikha Robinson (Hidalgo) and James O'Shea (The Foresaken). The storyline for this isn't good but is actually entertaining to watch unfold. The character interactions are very good, and the performance by Railsback is excellent. The kill scenes are inconsistent but good enough to not detract from the film. I loved the closing song and the use of "Ole McDonald" throughout the film. I'd definitely recommend watching this once and would score it a 6/10.

More gore needed, but still not bad

[slayrrr666 · 8/10 · 26 September 2005]

"Slash" is one of the better scarecrow-slashers around.

**SPOILERS**

As a young kid, Mac (James O'Shea) watched as his uncle burned in a fire. As an adult, he's the lead singer/guitarist in a band with a bunch of his friends. After a gig one day, the band is approached and told that his aunt has died. The next day, he and the rest of the band, Keith (Craig Kirkwood) Carl, (Brett Goldin) Susie, (Zuleikha Robinson) Rod, (David Dukas) and his girlfriend Candy, (Nina Wassung) travel to the farm where he grew up for the funeral. As he attempts to reconcile with his father, Jeremiah, (Steve Railsback) being back on the farm stirs up memories of his youth. As they settle down for the night, Mac is still upset by the memories of the past, which makes matters worse when a neighbor pops up dead around the farm. They start to leave, but their bus breaks down a little way down the road. Traveling back to the farm, they stay to help out. Being stuck on the farm takes its toll on the rest of the band, and Keith bails on them. When he pops up dead, the rest starts to fall prey to a murderous scarecrow hell-bent on getting them away from the farm.

The Good News: The scarecrow-slasher film is a new sub-genre that has really gotten some popularity of late. This could be one of the better ones, mainly because it is one of the first, and better, ones. It was a great idea to strand a bunch of city people on a rural farm, as it allows for some brief comedic moments with some great "fish-out-of-water" gags and a couple really cool smart comments. It also opens great, with a guy and a girl on their way to a concert arguing on the way about their sex life, when they suddenly veer off the road to avoid hitting a cow. When they finally stop in the middle of a giant corn field, the man goes off to go to the bathroom, leaving her in the car. When he returns to scare her with a mask, she freaks out and calls him on it. Then, he is pierced through the stomach with a giant knife from behind. The blood flies into the car before she has a chance to scream, but can't find the killer anywhere. He suddenly appears on the room, prying open the top of the car with his scythe. It's a great, but very bloodless way of opening the film. The whole back-story of the band is very smartly played out, and does seem like a believable thing to happen. The killer scarecrow is also very creepy, and the rotting face and hat make him look very intimidating. He is the creepiest scarecrow I've seen.

The Bad News: This is one of the most bloodless horror films I've ever seen. Apart from the cool kill in the opening, this really needed some blood. Seeing a scarecrow slash away at people with a giant scythe demands a lot of blood shed, and this one provided very little. Other than this, I really don't see the harm in this one.

The Final Verdict: With some gore, this would've been a sure fire must-see. However, it isn't, but that doesn't mean it isn't a bad movie. I still think it's a good movie, but some blood-flow and some more nudity and this could be a small little cult film. See this only if you hate scarecrows or seeing a fresh twist on a well-worn idea.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence, Brief Nudity and a mild sex scene

It isn't that bad

[ruudos · 7/10 · 28 February 2003]

This was the last movie I saw at the All-Night Horror Show. I expected a really bad movie because it was rated a 3.3. Before this movie I just saw American Psycho 2 which was terrible (but has a higher rating at imdb.com).

The movie is about a band, the lead singer's aunt died and he's going to the funeral which is at his father's farm. His grandfather used to kill people and use the blood to water the crops, but died in a fire. When the band wants to leave and go to a concert the tour bus is broken and they have to get back to the farm and stay there. But there's still a serial killer around. It's for you to find out who he is.

I totally agree with Kasper's argument about Billy Bob. Billy Bob is by far the coolest character in the movie.

Rating 5/10

No everlasting shame for Steve Railsback

[moviemanic07 · 14 March 2005]

The rising rock-n-roll band Slash faces terror when they go an isolated farm for the funeral of a relative of the lead singer. This film, written by Gus Silber and Stephen Ronald Francis and directed by Neal Sundstrom, thankfully manages to entertain as long as they keep the cast away from their musical instruments. (Why do all the bands in movies suck? Two notable exceptions: The Wonders in "That Thing You Do" and Stillwater from "Almost Famous." Tangent completed.) Granted, the relationships are completely overheated and unrealistic, and characters are constantly making choices only stupid people in horror movies make, but the movie kept me engaged throughout and even managed to inject some wry humor at the expense of traditional stereotypes. The production values are very good for what is essentially a straight to video picture, and Steve Railsback doesn't bring any everlasting shame upon his name for his performance. (I am such a fan of his performances in "Helter Skelter" and "The Stunt Man" that I almost didn't rent this movie. I hate the idea of him being reduced to making low budget films.) One of the most fascinating aspects of this film is that it is South African, but works very hard to convince you that it is an American movie – even to the point of importing American-style racial tensions. Personally, I would have preferred the film to have been set in South Africa and dealt with South African racial tensions. That would have made it more unique.

A Good Typical Slasher Movie

[MaggotShroom · 10/10 · 22 February 2005]

The front case of this movie looked really good, since i am a HUGE HORROR fan...so i gave this a movie a look....it turned out to not be that bad...the story was original and understanding....the killer and his/her mask looked awesome....the band wasn't that bad, meaning the music...i'm more of a metal head, but i got that last song they sang stuck in my head....at the end of the movie wen the band is performing on stage....

(SPOILERS) The things that kinda bummed me out was a lot of the off screen kills, meaning we didn't get to see any of the goods....i would've appreciated more of the red stuff, but maybe thats just vampire/gore-hound inside of me talking....i mean there was some blood in this movie but not a lot...(some stabbings, and the "Thresher" scene)....

But overall i took a ride on this and had a happy, fun IL' time....its not as bad as people are saying....there are tons much worser then this movie....