Slaughterhouse(2012) Review

7/10

So I wake up this morning, and I check out all of my stats for the page and my Instagram and Facebook accounts for it, and I see that I'm tagged in a post to a movie that director Carlos Junior(whom I follow on Instagram) made. I was totally psyched that he wanted me to check out the film, because I'm open to watching new things all of the time, and it is my honor to be looked at to review peoples' films now.  So the film I watched was a 2012 indie horror flick called "Slaughterhouse."  I really didn't know what to think of the film at first, because I had never heard of it, but Carlos told me I could watch it on YouTube, so I gave it a shot.  Let me just tell you all that this film was very very well made. There was great acting, dialogue, etc.  It was a great indie flick for sure.  While some of the scenes portrayed are really not for me at all, I totally respect the way the film was made, and I give total props to Carlos for his achievement. 

The movie starts out with a quote from the notorious pyscho Ted Bundy.  The quote was "I just liked to kill, I wanted to kill." In my opinion, this was an ingenious way to start the film off, because it really set the dark tone to what was going to happen. I could almost make an analogy to how the 1985 film "The Breakfast Club" used a quote from the David Bowie song "Changes" to really foreshadow the events of the film. This was a totally awesome idea, and the maturity of it impressed me a lot from Carlos. 

This film was made in Brazil, and is spoken in Spanish, but it is still easy to connect to the characters and what they're saying. The first reason for this is the good subtitles. They weren't too quick, and not too slow, and they were very easy to read. Another thing that really helped was that the dialogue wasn't spoken at rapid speed either. 

One of the things I wasn't huge on in this film was that it was shot with found footage. I have watched movies like this before, and I really can never get into the style. It is way too shaky for my taste, and it makes me scatterbrained. I actually noticed my eyes starting to hurt from the rapid movements of the camera, and I had to look away a little bit. I understand that some people really like this technique, and it is an interesting tactic, but it's just not for me. 

Basically the film starts off quite uneventful, but yet I wasn't bored. The first twenty five to thirty minutes is a bunch of teens driving around in their car, and they eventually break down and fix the car. By this description, I know that many of you expect this film to be exhausting, but in reality, these moments were very fun. One of the saving graces that helped it stay good was the sense of humor from the cast members. They were constantly spitting out hilarious jokes, and I was laughing most of the time. There was also very spontaneous scenes like the teens randomly singing and playing guitar that made the film very light hearted and fun at these times. 

Honestly the way that this car ride starts this film off really reminded me of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Both movies start off uneventful like this, and both are in a car to start. Then both of them really start to kick in after the first attack.  I really love the way that Carlos referenced other horror films in this, because he really give a fresh reminder of the greatness of the genre. 

The cast in this film was awesome. I really loved the fact that a lot of the time I actually forgot I was watching a movie. The characters didn't even seem scripted at all, and their performances were just natural and authentic. Another great factor of the acting was that everybody was just genuinely funny. They had a great movie personality, and I congratulate them all grandly. 

As I mentioned briefly before, the film really takes off after the first attack. This scene was done very well, because you could barely see anything that took place. All you know is that the character named Junior falls to the ground, and is seen being dragged away into the midst of a field. The scene was shot skillfully, because all you can see is Junior's hand as he is being taken away, and then the screen blacks out. This really causes the viewer's imagination to go wild as to what might've happened to this poor man. 

There are many things that really captivate the terror in this movie. The first is the very dark tone used in the color scheme. It makes the scenes very shady and trippy, and it really adds to the horror effect of the film. The next is that when the screen blacks out, there are many screams and shouts in terror that add to the brutality. Even though we have no idea what's going on, the sounds itself make us think the worst is happening. 

The last twenty to twenty five minutes of the film are when things got really crazy. The people are taken into a slaughterhouse, and are completely terrorized. This is more than just a slasher film, it's full on torture. Honestly some of the events that take place really weren't for me at all. The idea of watching these people be beaten constantly is just a little much in my opinion. The worst though is an assault that was modeled off of the film "Deliverance." The humiliation put upon these two men really crossed my line in viewing.  

Overall, the film was quite enjoyable. There were a lot of fun and terrifying moments to it, and it was a great achievement for the up and coming director. I am giving this film a good grade for the fact that there was not much to dislike about it at all.  With the exception of my utter distaste to found footage, the making of this film was super well done, and I was impressed.  I just can't recommend this film to all of you, because honestly there was stuff that was way too much for me, and not knowing where your line crosses, I don't want to put that upon you. If you are a person that really digs this kind of film, then I totally recommend it, because it was a brilliantly made work, but if you don't want to watch the brutal torture of these innocent people, then I say skip it.