Slashers (film)
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''Slashers'' (''スラッシャーズ'' ''Surasshāzu'' in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
) is a 2001
slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...
written and directed by Maurice Devereaux.


Plot

The latest craze is ''$la$her$'', a Japanese
blood sport A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities charact ...
game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
where contestants can win millions of dollars if they survive being hunted through various arenas by costumed killers. All crimes are legal on the sets of the show, and what few rules there are (like having to remain motionless during commercials) are enforced by
shock collar A shock collar or remote training collar, also known as an e-collar, Ecollar, or electronic collar, is a type of training collar that delivers shocks to the neck of a dog in a misguided effort to change behavior. These collars incorporate a radi ...
s that the players and murderers must wear. The latest episode of ''$la$her$'' is an all-American special in which the six contestants (Megan, Devon, Michael, Rick, Rebecca, and Brenda) will be pursued by "
newbie ''Newbie'' is a slang term for a ''novice'', ''newcomer'', or somebody inexperienced in a given profession or activity. In particular, it may refer to a new user of computers, and often concerns Internet activity, such as online gaming or Li ...
" slasher Preacherman, and returning fan favorites Chainsaw Charlie, and Doctor Ripper. A few minutes into the game, the contestants are scattered, with the single cameraman, Hideo, following Megan and Rebecca. The women are attacked by Preacherman, but Rebecca stabs him in the eye with a makeshift wooden stake. The victory is short-lived, as Charlie and Ripper appear, cut Rebecca in half at the waist, and terrorize Megan, who only volunteered to be on the show to protest it. Megan rejoins the others (with the exception of Devon) and together they reach the Bridge of Death, which is situated above a pit of spikes. The group is confronted by Charlie, just as a commercial occurs. During the break, Rick reveals he plans to save the others by throwing himself and Charlie off the bridge, which causes Charlie to panic, and agree to let Rick pass. When the show returns to the air, Rick reneges on the deal, jumping off the bridge, and dragging Charlie down with him, leaving only Doctor Ripper. In the next zone, Brenda is beheaded by Ripper, and Megan and Michael are chased to the Love Room, an area where players will be left alone if they have sex. When Megan rebuffs his advances, Michael tries to rape her, but is scared off by Devon, his screams subsequently emanating from the room he enters. Devon (who is separated from Megan) finds Michael's body, and is attacked by Ripper, who he stabs in the ear with a stake. Michael (who had faked his death) then kills Devon, takes Ripper's gear, and goes after Megan. As he pursues Megan, Michael reveals that he is in fact a
serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
, and that he only wanted to be on ''$la$her$'' so he could die a spectacular death, though now that he has a chance of winning the game, he is going to take it. Michaels catches up to Megan just as another commercial airs, and during the down time he brags about his history as the Bible Doll Killer, content that the rules of ''$la$her$'' make his declarations inadmissible in court. Megan turns the tables on Michael, stating that while what he says during the live broadcast cannot be used against him, the footage recorded by the always rolling camera while they are off the air can be used as evidence. The break ends, and Michael lunges at Megan, but is shoved away by Hideo. Distraught, Michael goes ahead with his original plan of dying on live television, and commits suicide by decapitating himself. Hideo mocks the dead Michael, asserting that Megan was bluffing, and catches up with Megan. When asked why he stopped Michael, Hideo says that while he is fine with whoever is stupid enough to volunteer to be on the show dying on it, he could not stand the thought of "that sick maniac" being back out on the streets, several million dollars richer. Megan rants at the staff of ''$la$her$'', threatens to use all her winnings to try to bring them down, and tells Hideo (who has asked for money, since he will probably be fired for helping her) that she will pay him if he turns the camera off. As the credits roll, the sponsors of ''$la$her$'' are shown to be the cigarette companies Black Lung, Coffin Nails, and Cancer Man.


Cast

* Sarah Joslyn Crowder as Megan Lowry, a 20-year-old law student and political activist from
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
studying in Tokyo. * Tony Curtis Blondell as Devon White, a 29-year-old ex- Marine and former boxer from
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. * Kieran Keller as Michael Gibbons, a 28-year-old computer programmer from
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. * Jerry Sprio as Rick Fisher, a 32-year-old nightclub
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from
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
. * Carolina Pla as Rebecca Galley, a 31-year-old fitness instructor and bodybuilder with MS from
Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...
. * Sofia de Medeiros as Brenda Thompson, a 22-year-old aspiring actress and model from
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
. * Claudine Shiraishi as Miho Taguchi * Christopher Piggins as Doctor Ripper * Neil Napier as Chainsaw Charlie and Preacherman * Takaaki Honda as The Announcer and Hideo * Koichi Yano as The Technician * Erik Rutherford as Steve Taylor * Shigeru Fugita as DJ Slash * Akemi Yamagishi as The Makeup Girl * Martin Quimet as Slasho the Clown * Marco Savignac as Switchblade Sam * David-Bernard Blanchet as Pirate Pete


Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, a
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
, reports that 20% of five surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 4.2/10. Video Graveyard rated the film two and a half stars and called it "a ride that incorporates both horror and
reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
clichés in a funny, gory manner" with "a great concept that is executed with confidence and does not hold back despite the budget". While it wrote that the acting was below average and the characters were unrealistic, The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre still found ''Slashers'' to be "a somewhat entertaining
B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...
". Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic heavily criticized ''Slashers'', writing that it was boring "bargain-basement dreck" that was witless, full of shoddy gore effects and painfully amateurish acting, and was ultimately nothing more than "low-grade horror machinations at their most confoundingly stupid".
Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...
rated it 1/5 stars and wrote that the film did not live up to its promising premise. Eric Campos of
Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an American online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. ...
rated it 1.5/5 stars and criticized the poor dialog that dominated the film at the expense of horror.


References


External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0286975 2001 films 2001 horror films 2000s Canadian films 2000s chase films 2000s exploitation films 2000s Japanese-language films 2000s slasher films Canadian black comedy films Canadian comedy horror films Canadian independent films Canadian serial killer films Canadian slasher films Canadian splatter films English-language Canadian films Films about death games Films about snuff films Films about television Films set in Tokyo Films shot in Montreal Horror films about clowns Reality television series parodies Quebec films