BLOOD SLAUGHTER MASSACRE

The setting is the sleepy American town of Havenwood, the 1970s.

Policemen James (Matt W Cody) and Walter (Byron M Howard) are called out to investigate a suburban disturbance of the peace. Far from being a routine task of telling partying teenagers to keep the noise down, what the coppers find when they reach their destination is a bloodbath – two-dozen slaughtered youths.

An altercation follows in which James narrowly avoids becoming the masked killer’s next victim when he's stabbed in the chest while checking out the in-house bloodbath. That killer, dubbed The Ripper, then escapes and disappears into the ether.

Until … ten years later. We’re still in Havenwood. James and Walter are now detectives, but life has taken its toll: relationship woes and even alcoholism factor heavily in their lives.

The killer in the creepy mask returns to slaughter a 15-year-old female in slow-motion one night. As the local news move in to report the murder the following morning, James and Walter view the corpse and uncover their first clue tucked beneath it: a photograph. Further questioning of the deceased's friends leads them to believe that The Ripper has returned to resume his grisly work...

But who is The Ripper, and what is their motive? Can James keep his shit together long enough to find the answers to these questions before the entire population of Havenwood have been butchered? Originally shot as a series of online shorts/trailers, BLOOD SLAUGHTER MASSACRE exists as a cheap throwback to the slasher films of the 1980s.

In its favour, there are a couple of well-sustained moments of tension leading up to some kill scenes. Also, Bradley Creanzo’s Carpenter-esque synth score is the closest the film comes to emulating its forefathers. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the score is really good: dense, atmospheric, stylish.

There are some entertaining nods to the clichés of the slasher heyday here and there: characters such as the bimbo co-ed, the creepy old guy issuing warnings of what’s to come, and so on; clothing and hairstyles are amusingly modelled after early 80s fashion disasters; sex and death (couples fucking before being murdered; the inevitable girl-in-the-shower scene) remain closely tied together; a killer who won't stay dead; a babysitter in peril...

Perhaps a little sexist to suggest it, but there are a fair amount of good-looking women getting topless throughout the film too. In a film of few highpoints, these moments do admittedly stand out.

But, of course, all of that needs to be weighed against the negatives. And this is where the scale really tips over …

For starters, the film is far too long at 113 minutes in length. The story – co-written by director Manny Serrano with Louie Cortes – isn’t engaging enough to warrant such a running time; nor are characters’ relationships explored or developed to any involving extent. Things start getting convoluted, needlessly so, where a more streamlined approach and perhaps less characters would’ve generated more empathy.

Much (all?) of the dialogue appears to have been recorded in post-production. Not only does this lead to poor synchronisation of voices and lip movements, but it allows for glaring instances where no background noises exist. Characters speak clearly, yes, but where are the sounds for the blowing bushes, or car engines, or even footsteps evident in each scene?!

The set-piece scenes feel, by-and-large, unnecessarily drawn-out. Most of the acting is horrible, really amateurish, and the pay-offs tend to skimp on the explicit violence that usually allows fans to overlook such shortcomings. Instead, most kills occur off-screen: although plenty of fake blood has been used, it tends to adorn the aftermaths of slaughters here.

Weirdly for a film where the director also acted as co-cinematographer (alongside the aforementioned Cortes), BLOOD SLAUGHTER MASSACRE looks like shit for the most part. Washed-out colours and overly dark night scenes dare you to question whether this was really shot on HD equipment, while the amount of times the image goes out of focus is just laughable. There are also few efforts made to dress the cheap look up – making me wonder how the alleged $50,000.00 was spent.

Wild Eye Releasing’s region-free DVD presents BLOOD SLAUGHTER MASSACRE in its full uncut form. The picture quality is difficult to remark upon in terms of transfer quality: the film is, as mentioned above, so dark and out-of-focus at frequent intervals that it was never going to look good in playback. Still, for what it’s worth, the 16x9 transfer (2.35:1 aspect ratio) is free from noise and does boast strong colours when allowed to.

English 2.0 audio is a more reliable affair. The audio synching isn't great obviously but at least the track throughout is conveyed cleanly and evenly here.

An animated main menu page opens the disc. Ironically, it is brighter and more vibrant than anything offered in the actual film. Meanwhile, the static scene selection menu allows access to the movie via a whopping 57 chapters.

From there, we get a fair selection of bonus features.

First up is an audio commentary from Cortes, Serrano and producer Lindsay Serrano. This is a fairly entertaining track, albeit peppered with pregnant pauses.

12 minutes of deleted/extended scenes add to the torture; 14 minutes of behind-the-scenes/outtakes footage consists largely of actors laughing at inappropriate moments.

The original trailers that the film was built upon make for a nice addition to the disc. The faux VHS-quality is achieved convincingly, while the bogus text introduction proclaiming this film to be a lost "video nasty" from the 1980s proves that showmanship is alive and well. As fake grindhouse trailers go, these are pretty cool.

A 4-minute music video for the track "Demons of the Night" by Midnight Flashback utilises clips from the main feature alongside cringe-inducing footage of the four-strong band (who also have cameos in the film). The song is hilariously inept. The video is pure trash - well worth a look.

Finally we get an 82-second trailer for Lindsay Serrano's ATTACK OF THE BRAIN PEOPLE, a deliberately cheesy tribute to monochrome B-movie creature features.

BLOOD SLAUGHTER MASSACRE is crudely executed but not without moments of style. Its serious tone is commendable as is its insistence on furnishing each character with (admittedly under-developed) back stories. But it's too long and too clumsily cobbled together to qualify as a "must-see" homage to the halcyon days of slasher movies.

Wild Eye Releasing's DVD serves the film well.

Review by Stuart Willis