Slayer
(2006)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Feature: C+
When I
see who bad the box office has become, one of the reasons I think it failed is
because the studios put their money on the wrong stars. With better handling, Casper Van Dien should
have been at least near the A-list after Paul Verhoeven’s underrated Starship Troopers (1997), but the
industry was more interested in putting their money on duds like Paul Walker,
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Freddie Prinze, Jr. for very dumb films. Van Dien found himself in a nighttime soap
opera that bombed and a bunch of B-films, one of which fortunately was not the
awful Starship Troopers 2.
He has
stayed in there working and his films have been at least as good as the
terrible trilogy noted, but nothing has found traction. Kevin VanHook’s Slayer (2006) tries to combine several types of vampire films we
have seen (like From Dusk ‘Till Dawn)
with the military werewolf favorite Dog
Soldiers. This is VanHook’s
follow-up to the les interesting Voodoo
Moon (reviewed elsewhere on the site) and insists on settling in the
scripts he writes for the average-at-best genre items thousands of others do
with cheap digital productions.
His
directing is a bit better here, as is his cast.
Besides underused Van Dien, he has the appealing Jennifer O’Dell as his
female interest, Kevin Grevioux, Alexis Cruz, Danny Trejo, Tony Plana, Ray Park
as kickin’ twin vampires and the great Lynda Carter as a Colonel related to
O’Dell’s Dr. Laurie Williams and boss of Van Dien’s Hawk. Carter has more than just a cameo here, but she
is not in on screen enough and grossly underutilized to boot. Not that she was going to turn into Wonder
Woman, though there are some sly references to her most famous role, but she
steals every scene she is in.
I hate to
see someone learn how to direct film by film, but VanHook is doing just that
and too slowly for my tastes. However, Slayer is not as outright stupid or
overly dark as many film in this genre (i.e., it is not obsessed with being a
snuff film) and that is actually rare these days with how bad the genre has
been lately.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks like it was shot in digital High
Definition and is unfortunately not as sharp or clear as it might have
been. Detail is an issue, color is not
great (though consistent) and the lighting is goofy. If there are vampires, why is it always so
bright so often? The lack of darkness
would indicate more comedy, but this is not an intended one. Make-up is mixed and digital thankfully
limited. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix has
issues with the dialogue recording in parts and surrounds can be healthy,
though this is not a great mix. Extras
include five trailers for other Anchor Bay DVDs, DVD-ROM access to the
screenplay, a stills section and an audio commentary by VanHook and Van
Dien. All in all, a gag rental at best.
- Nicholas Sheffo
