Slashlorette Party (2020)

 Subject:  Slashlorette Party

Year:  2020

Director:  Paul Ragsdale

Run Time:  78 mins

Cast:  Molly Souza, Krystal Shay, Katee Hudson, Drew Marvick

Genre:  slasher/comedy

Skin:  a lot of teasing - until the strippers show up

Blood:  hell yeah

Rating:  3.5/5

The Story:

We've got one of the oldest and strongest slasher movie motifs on the go here, kids.  A group of young people head out to a cabin in the middle of nowhere to party and a masked maniac (or two...or three) show up to cockblock them and make them pay for something they really weren't responsible for to begin with.

It worked in 1980, it works in 2020.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Or add jokes to it...

So, we have a couple getting married and all the boys and girls are headed out to party.  Strippers are on the way, liquor's flowing like water, and none of the women have pants that fit over their asses.  Ain't life grand?

As the night drags on and the bodies pile up we learn about secret lesbian love, abusive asshole boyfriends, psychiatric problems, chronic shyness, and the limits (or lack there of) of a mother's love.

Dummies head out to the woods.  Killers are in the woods.  A story as old as time.

Review:

What do you get when you cross Alice, Sweet Alice with Alone in the Dark (1982), tack on a bunch of Friday the 13th inspired kills, and top it off with a crazy pornstar?  A roundhouse kick to the jaw that'll rock your VCR into next week.  You also get Slashlorette Party - kind of.

Very, very obviously drawing inspiration from Old Man Voorhees and tacking on some trappings from other 1980s slasher flicks, this one goes old school at times and new school at others in a sickly sweet concoction that...kind of works.  I really dug the F13-inspired kills and setting, and I liked most of the cast, but again director Ragsdale falls back on comedy rather than going straight for the throat - which I really feel like he could have with this one.

And the twist ending(s) really weren't worth the few chuckles throughout.  Play it straight, just once, and see how it goes.  You've obviously got the skill to do so and can throw together strong cast after strong cast, so make a real horror movie and drop the limp jokes.

That's just my take though, your mileage will vary.

Jokes or not the kills are still pretty gnarly here, and we get some killer practical effects.  The cast and score are also strong, as is the setting (though I'd have liked to see some more action in the woods rather than just the one scene).  Who knew Ginger Lynn Allen was such a consistently good actress?  I'm beating a dead horse here, but it'd be nice to see her in non-comedy horror flick.  

And speaking of dead horses, I'm complaining again about Ragsdale teasing skin in these movies.  Over and over we have nudity teases and skimpy outfits with no payoff - it's like he's making movies for A-Pix back in the day.

Now that's a dated reference nobody will get.

Same old complaints aside, I think this is Ragsdale's best movie to date and shows his potential clearer than any of his other work.  A few tweaks and he could be producing some of the best modern retro slasher flicks out there.  A very solid 3.5 out of 5 despite the flaws, and well worth checking out.