SLAXX
Directed by: Elza Kephart
Starring: Romane Denis, Brett Donahue, Sehar Bhojani, Kenny Wong, Erica Anderson, Jessica B. Hill, Stephen Bogaert, Tianna Nori
Young Libby Is excited to be starting work at the Canadian Clothing Company (CCC), an uber-fashion store, on the eve of the release of their new clothing collection which includes jeans which will morph automatically to your body shape. However the night ahead is not only going to disillusion her of her desire to work in fashion, but its also going to put her and the other staff in great danger…
SLAXX is a very entertaining horror movie which takes one of the most bizarre set-ups for an evil threat and delivers a film which works on multiple levels.
After a prologue full of foreboding (which informs us the cotton used to make the jeans was from an experimental cotton field), we are introduced to Libby, bright eyed and bushy tailed, looking forward to joining the CCC team. She has totally bought into their "fairtrade" ethos and feels she's going to be making a difference in the world just by working there.
Her enthusiasm isn't shared by the people already working there, such as Lord, Hunter and Barb, three elitist workers who look down upon everyone - especially their manager, Craig, who they dub "the robot". There is some nice interplay between the characters to show what a toxic workplace Libby has actually wandered into.
It transpires that the central garment in the new collection, the SuperSize jeans, are in fact possessed in some way and are homicidal. One of the staff sneaks a pair out of the backroom for herself and finds out the hard way that the pants are literally out for blood. The film has a bit of fun coming up with different ways for people to suffer at the hands of denim. There's also an interesting visual motif where the "SS" symbol on the jeans slowly colours red with each kill.
This could have remained an enjoyably silly film about killer jeans, but Elza Kephart and Patricia Gomez' script adds other layers. First we have the workplace comedy element as Libby finds out just how awful and toxic a place the CCC store is. Then there is the commentary on how elitist the fashion industry can be - Libby being berated for wearing out of fashion (by two months) CCC clothing, and being made to buy a new outfit (without staff discount) - with the full knowledge that by the next morning, her "new" outfit will be out of date again because they are stocking the new season. She is literally working at Fashion Police headquarters and it was no accident on the film-makers part to make the jeans logo resemble that of the Gestapo/SS.
They then add a whole new layer at the half-way point, as we discover the reason behind the supernatural rampage and the true nature of CCC, especially how they operate and source their goods. Integral to this element is Shruti, a young Indian woman who works with Libby and is able to communicate with the denim entity. This puts a whole different spin on the film and even, for a time, delivers a different kind of evil.
There are times when the film cannot avoid the absurdness of its main plot and the sight of a pair of jeans crawling across the floor will never look scary, let alone convincing. However the film-makers do a very good job overall of animating the jeans, even giving them a sense of identity and character. The film's end credits sequence goes a long way to satisfy any enquiring minds about the special fx and even lets us in on a couple of very effective, lo-fi fx solutions.
THE VERDICT
SLAXX is a film which works and operates on many different levels - it's a workplace comedy, a statement on the evils of the fashion industry and a touching revenge story. But most importantly it's a fun and gory horror with an absurd antagonist who you will nevertheless be enthralled by.
8 out of 10 RECOMMENDED
(MikeOutWest)