Eighties slasher throwback Slashlorette Party is a valentine to direct-to-video horror fare of that decade. It’s chock full of gory kills and naked gals, and is an impressive independent effort that rises above being mere pastiche.
Brie (Molly Souza) is engaged to controlling, full-on chauvinist jerk Dolph (Andrew Brown). After consulting with her therapist Dr. Jordan (Ginger Lynn), Brie writes a letter to Dolph giving him reasons why she will call off the wedding. As cinematic fate would have it, her maid of honor Alexa (Brooke Morris) and friends have planned a combination bachelor and bachelorette party for the weekend at— where else but? — a cabin in the woods. Nia (Nina Lanee Kent) wants Brie to end the engagement but doesn’t want to miss out on a weekend of drinking and cavorting.
Someone else, though, has different plans for the party guests — final plans, as in death. Unlike many slasher films, Slashlorette Party reveals rather early on who is behind the axe, machete, and other slayings, but I’ll save that for future viewers to discover on their own.
The writing and directing team of Paul Ragsdale and Angelica De Alba, who previously worked together on Streets of Vengeance and Cinco De Mayo, have crafted an impressive slasher throwback that has a lot of heart behind it. It’s the kind of film that overcomes its budgetary limitations with infectious energy, and though it follows many of the genre’s tropes and beats, it serves up some memorable moments of originality. The acting runs pretty much the full gamut, from Souza’s outstanding lead performance to classic fun scenery chewing from Lynn to deliberately over-the-top complaining from Morris to spirited turns to enthusiastic attempts that miss the mark.
The gruesome special effects makeup and practical effects are all impressive. There’s plenty of the red stuff on display. Speaking of “on display,” two female strippers get a fair amount of screen time, and a male stripper gets a funny scene, as well.
The ending, unfortunately, leaves a lot to be desired. It feels like a bad mistake tacked on after an original ending, but because there is no big studio behind this production, it seems like a misfire on the part of Ragsdale and De Alba. The rest of Slashlorette Party works rather well, though.
Slashlorette Party screens as part of Grindsploitation Film Fest 2021, which runs at Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, Virginia, from April 23–25, 2021. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/noogagrind/.
(3 / 5)
He is a contributing writer for the "Phantom of the Movies VideoScope" and “Drive-In Asylum” print magazines and the websites Horror Fuel, Diabolique Magazine, The Scariest Things, B&S About Movies, and When It Was Cool. He is a co-host of the "Uphill Both Ways" pop culture nostalgia podcast and also writes for its website. Joseph occasionally proudly co-writes articles with his son Cohen Perry, who is a film critic in his own right.
A former northern Californian and Oregonian, Joseph has been teaching, writing, and living in South Korea since 2008.
