‘Slayers’ is Light on Both Scares and Humor [Review]
I was excited for Slayers when I first got word the picture was in development. I am a fan of both Thomas Jane (The Mist) and Abigail Breslin (Zombieland). But it pains me to report that, in spite of a solid cast and a premise that has potential, the film never really manages to strike the proper balance between horror and comedy.
The flick follows a group of influencers known as the Stream Team, as they set out to meet a billionaire philanthropist couple to discuss a lucrative collaboration. But what the social media stars don’t know is that the wealthy entrepreneurs they are meeting with are bloodthirsty vampires with malevolent designs on the Internet celebs. Their only chance of survival rests in the hands of Elliot Jones (Jane) a true crime television host turned crotchety vampire hunter.
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One of the greatest shortcomings of Slayers is that efforts to make the influencers come across as vapid and obnoxious are a little too effective. But because of that, we aren’t left with a lot of key players worth investing in. I initially thought Jane’s Jones character would offset the obnoxious influencers and provide a level of balance. But Jones is painfully two-dimensional. Aside from Jones and the influencers, the audience is left with the billionaire villains. And they, too, are relatively one-note.
Under-developed characters aside, cowriter/director K. Asher Levin seems to struggle to strike the right balance between horror and comedy here. The film is far heavier on comedy than horror. Many of the deaths transpire off-camera and those that are screened for the audience appear to be overly reliant on VFX. The problem inherent to that is that horror comedy tends to work best when a balance exists between chuckles and chills. Too many of either can disrupt the efficacy of the formula and that’s precisely what happens here.
Further complicating matters, the tone remains fairly lighthearted, even when primary characters find themselves in peril. In one such instance, we see one of the leads accosted by a bloodsucker but the music playing is up-tempo and almost jovial. There is a multitude of similar missed opportunities that cause any tension established to quickly fall flat. What viewers are left with is a film tragically light on scares which features comedy that is hit or miss.
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Also detrimental is the use of complex mythology that feels largely unnecessary and unduly byzantine. The flick riffs on established lore but creates some of its own along the way. In my experience, that approach often works better with television. Series like True Blood have ample time to establish nuance. But here, the attempts to introduce new mythology over the course of less than 90 minutes are decidedly less successful.
To be clear, I’m not talking about a couple of minor changes from convention. Slayers sees multiple deviations from the established lore. And said deviations are casually introduced in an offhanded way. In one such instance, the audience is told that vampirism is reversible. But that’s only supported by a cutaway with a YouTube tutorial on curing vampirism. That is far too major a deviation to be explained away with a clunky aside that doesn’t present itself until that very plot point is dropped into our laps.
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Another aspect that doesn’t quite work is the quirky use of Scott Pilgrim-esque onscreen graphics that feel a little trite. In Scott Pilgrim, the onscreen stuff feels very fresh and original and suited to the concept. Here, I suppose the idea might be, in part, to mimic the social media/Twitch streaming experience. But stuff like the kill count meter doesn’t seem entirely necessary.
With all that said, there are elements to the film that I enjoyed. I like the idea of juxtaposing a crotchety vampire hunter alongside a team of self-obsessed influencers. I think there was potential there for some effective comedic exchanges. Additionally, Jane demonstrates solid comedic timing with some of his more effective lines. As such, Slayers comes dangerously close to being enjoyable at times. But the film’s shortcomings are more noticeable than that which actually works. The end result is a horror comedy that isn’t all that funny or scary.
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Slayers
Summary
Sadly, the horror isn’t particularly scary and the comedy is hit or miss.
