Plot: Emily Young, a senior, wants to be elected as her sorority’s president. She adopts a cute sloth, thinking it can become the new mascot and help her win, until a string of fatalities implicate the sloth as the main suspect in the murders.
Review: There are some horror movies whose whole purpose is to be subversive. Funny Games, The Cabin in the Woods and Scream are all great examples of this. Then there are those horror movies like the Sharknado films that know exactly how ridiculous their premise is and embrace the stupidity with both arms (in this case, very long furry arms) wide open.
Emily (Lisa Ambalavanar) wants to be president of her sorority, but she doesn’t have the popularity to dethrone mean girl and current president Brianna (Sydney Craven). Emily thinks her luck has changed when she “adopts” a cute little sloth she names Alpha. But this is no Zootopia and Alpha is anything but sweet as she very slowly but surely eliminates the competition.
Where Cocaine Bear failed miserably Slotherhouse shines as a hilariously absurd send up to the over-the-top creature features of the 80s. The key to these types of films has always been to embrace the insanity and that’s exactly what director Matthew Goodhue and writers Bradley Fowler and Cady Lanigan did with this tale. They smartly made the choice to use puppets for their killer sloth which meant scenes of Alpha stalking and dispatching of the poor sorority sisters played out like an R-rated Muppet Show. And I couldn’t help but laugh every time she popped up.
Funny as this was, the movie does suffer a bit due to the uneven performances of some of the actors but then again, that’s par for the course when it comes to these B-grade creature features, isn’t it? I also thought the kills, while inventive, were a bit on the tamer side and the outrageous nature of this plot would’ve benefited from them going bigger on the blood and gore.
Still, the film has a fun energy and an easy-going vibe that makes it impossible not to enjoy. Alpha is equal parts evil and cute and the campy nature of the whole thing outshines the missteps and missed opportunities to the point where I’m hoping for a sequel. If slow and steady truly wins the race, Slotherhouse may not have taken first place, but it definitely deserves a place in the winners circle.
Sommer’s Score: 6.5 out of 10
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Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More