''Slash'' is a 2016 American comedy film directed and written by Clay Liford. The film stars Michael Johnston,

Hannah Marks Hannah Marks (born April 13, 1993) is an American actress, writer, and director. She is best known for directing the films '' After Everything'' (2018), ''Don't Make Me Go'' (2022), and ''Turtles All the Way Down'' (2024). She also played Amanda ...

Michael Ian Black Michael Ian Black ( né Schwartz; August 12, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He has starred in several TV comedy series, including ''The State'', '' Viva Variety'', '' Stella'', '' Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp'', ...

Missi Pyle Missi Pyle (born November 16, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in films including ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), ''Josie and the Pussycats (film), Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Bringing Down the House (film), ''Bringing ...

Sarah Ramos Sarah Emily Ramos (born May 21, 1991) is an American actress who began her career as a child actress. She is known for her roles on the television series ''American Dreams'' (2002–2005) and '' Parenthood'' (2010–2015). Early life Ramos was ...

, Peter Vack, Jessie Ennis, and Matt Peters.

Plot

Fifteen-year-old Neil Shafer is a nerd in

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

whose secret passion is writing

slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

– amateur fiction that imagines erotic relationships between the two male characters of various TV and film series. His specialty is the book and film series ''Vanguard''. Neil is greatly embarrassed when another student snatches the exercise book that contains his writings, and it is shown all around the school. It is picked up by Julia Jordan, who thinks it is hers. Neil and Julia discover a common interest in writing slash and quickly become best friends. She urges Neil to publish his work on the fan fiction website The Rabbit Hole and he soon gains a following. At the same time, Neil is not sure about his own sexuality and whether he is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

or attracted to Julia. Julia pushes Neil to attend a special session held by the Rabbit Hole at a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

convention, Comicpalooza, where they have been invited to come and read their works. Neil has also struck up a conversation with Denis, a gay fellow reader of his work, who urges him to meet up. Neil lies and says that he is eighteen years old to gain entry, but this causes problems when the truth is found out.

Cast

* Michael Johnston as Neil *

as Julia *

Jessie Ennis Jessie Ennis is an American actress, director, and writer. Personal life Ennis was born in Boston but moved to Los Angeles at the age of 2. She is the daughter of American actor and comedian John Ennis. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence Coll ...

as Martine * Peter Vack as Mike Holloway *

as Ronnie *

as Marin * Robert Longstreet as Blake *

Angela Kinsey Angela Faye Kinsey (born June 25, 1971) is an American actress. She played Angela Martin in the sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013) and appeared in the sitcoms '' Your Family or Mine'' (2015) and ''Haters Back Off'' (2016–2017). Since ''The O ...

as Anglaxia Supremacy IV *

Laura Bailey Laura Bailey (born May 28, 1981) is an American voice actress. She made her voice acting debut as Trunks (Dragon Ball), Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of ''Dragon Ball Z'' and has since voiced List of Gunslinger Girl characters#First Generati ...

as Laylanath Inquisitrix VII * Luciana Faulhaber as Luxalia Contendrax III * Liza Oppenheimer as Merculliax Pernicious IX * John Ennis as Deron Zaxa *

Lucas Neff Lucas Neff (born November 7, 1985) is an American actor. Known primarily for his work in television, Neff received mainstream recognition for his lead role as James "Jimmy" Chance on the Fox sitcom ''Raising Hope'' (2010–2014). After ''Raisin ...

as The Kragon * Tishuan Scott as Vanguard *

as Denis *

Allie DeBerry Alexandria Danielle DeBerry (born October 26, 1994) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her roles in '' A.N.T. Farm'' as Paisley Houndstooth, '' Shake It Up'' as Destiny, ''Lazer Team'' as Mindy and ''True Jackson, VP'' as ...

as Jessie Hunt *

Burnie Burns Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns (born January 18, 1973) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, host, and director previously based in Austin, Texas. He was a co-founder, former chief executive officer, and former chief creative offic ...

as Mr. Snow *

Matt Peters Matt Peters is an American actor, known for his role as Joel Luschek in the Netflix comedy-drama series, ''Orange Is the New Black''. Life and career Peters began performing as a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles and appeared in a number of shor ...

as Mr. Ford * Isaac Ireland as Nintendo DS Kid

Production

Filming began in June 2015 in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. Producing by Brock Williams through Boxcar Films and Jason Wehling through Arts+Labor. The film had its world premiere at SXSW on March 13, 2016.

References

External links

* * * 2016 films LGBTQ-related comedy films Films shot in Austin, Texas American comedy films 2016 comedy films Gay-related films 2016 LGBTQ-related films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films American LGBTQ-related films {{2010s-comedy-film-stub