31 Days of Halloween 2017: Slasher

2016, Super Channel -- download

The season began to wind down around this viewing (you get, I don't always write these on the publishing date, right?) as the stress at work felt like it was being carried home with me, when I subjected myself to the tension and stress of psychological horror movies. I just felt that these movies were not far enough separated from reality to allow for that escapism. And of course, there is that trouble of having depleted most of the quality films.

Slasher wants to recreate the retro fame of Stranger Things while grabbing the audience of anthology series like American Horror Story or Channel Zero. The first season intends to draw upon the memories of Halloween, a psycho killer who stalked a small town. In this case, it was a small Canadian town -- no, really truly Canadian, not just shot in Canada, but set. This killer, dressed in an elaborate executioner outfit, slew a family on Halloween night. Well, not the entire family, as he cut the unborn girl from her mother's belly and left her alive on her mom's belly. Almost 30 years later, the girl Sarah returns home. Of course, trauma mixes with recurring sights of a new executioner.

We only watched the first episode, but it was not terrible. It is so very very Canadian. Its almost a game of "name that familiar Canadian actor", with only lead Katie McGrath standing out from all the recognizable faces. Also, the idea it was shot in Sudbury, Sault Ste-Marie and Parry Sound makes it even more than seminal Canadian. The acting is decent, the directing is capable but, as expected, nothing really stood out.

Well, it did well enough to get a second season, one that will recreate the summer camp murderer idea.