Slasher is a 2007 German horror film edited and directed by Frank W. Montag (Cannibal Diner) from a screenplay co-written with Jörn Döring. The movie stars Christiane Imdahl, Christian Stock and Sebastian Badenberg.
Plot:
Psychology student Erin has had enough with her studies. Frustrated, she and her friends Julie and Danny decide to spend a relaxing weekend in the woods, far from their everyday lives. Gathering up several more friends, the group heads into the forest – but their carefree weekend quickly goes downhill.
When an unexpected stranger arrives, their fun turns into a nightmarish race for survival as a psychotic slaughters them one by one. Alone, bloodied, and hunted – the group’s friendship is put to the test… and secrets from their black pasts bubble to the surface to unleash holy hell on everyone left alive.
Review:
Desperation marks Frank Montag’s German-made Slasher (2007). It desperately tries to have the energy of the typical American hack-n-slash movie from the ‘80s, yet Montag’s direction lacks the proper tempo; it desperately tries to make the viewer uneasy, yet the tension required for that is entirely lacking in Montag’s listless editing; it tries to appease the grittier gorehounds, yet Caroline Becher and Sandra Sauerwein deliver little more than perfunctory special effects; it desperately tries to be clever and tight, yet the script by Montag and Jörn Döring feels childishly naive and overstuffed.
The soundtrack music works as an homage to Harry Manfredini’s Friday the 13th (1980) score, yet fails here because it intrusively blasts through several scenes, and on numerous occasions, shifts strikingly from diegetic to non-diegetic sound, as if the filmmakers were attempting to broadcast what few technical skills they have.
Neither scary nor entertaining, Slasher is a typical example of non-Americans trying to make a sloppy American horror film replica without having the requisite domestic sordidness to back up the effort; few outside the U.S. can capture that kind of gratuitous stink without making the viewer feel as though the filmmakers are over-reaching and lost. And Montag’s Slasher feels just like that; it’s thin and lightweight and smells more of Limburger than sliced American.
Ben Spurling, MOVIES & MANIA
Other reviews:
“Slasher feels like an amateur film made by a group of teenage friends with more enthusiasm for the genre than they have film school experience. Director Frank W. Montag’s handling of actors seems awkward, while the dialogue scenes are lacking in greater nuance. This is particularly the case when it comes to the backwoods family the group encounter who are so caricatured that they verge on parody.” Moria
“The surreal American 80’s vibe is highly entertaining, but the gore is where the shit is baby. I’m a huge fan of Ittenbach, Flipper, Bethman, and Schnaas – all German splatter mavericks. German splatter has dwindled away with the birth of CG (even my idol Olaf Ittenbach used some in K3), but Montag goes back the roots of junk like Burning Moon and Violent Shit to bring us 100% practical effects (for the gore at least, there’s a few shots of some amazingly crappy CGI).” Sins of Cinema
“an unimaginatively titled, unimaginatively written, poorly directed, low-budget horror film from Germany that, in my opinion, didn’t even rise to the worst German splatter films. The cons are incredibly numerous here including days that run into nights in seconds, non-stop music, bad writing, color saturation issues and more.” Wildside Cinema
“At first this looks like it was intended to be a comedy, using slasher cliches to have fun with the slasher genre, but it’s really just using slasher cliches, and the title is more about a complete lack of inspiration and originality rather than anything cheeky. The killer is a poor-man’s ripoff of Gunnar from Texas Chainsaw, the teenagers are the usual horny boring stereotypes running in the woods…” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre
Cast and characters:
- Christiane Imdahl … Erin
- Christian Stock … Danny
- Sebastian Badenberg … Mike
- Pia Sarpei … Julie (as Pia de Buhr)
- Michael Eisenburger … Chris
- Maja Makowski … Maya
- Heiko Lange … Tom
- Peter Herff … Farmer
- Hannah Kobitzsch … Farmer’s Daughter
- Meelah Adams … Lea
- Patrick Battenberg … Alex
- Rüdiger Schulte … Police Officer
- Vivien Walter … Professor
- Vanessa Radenberg … Victim
- Patrick Dewayne … Victim
Release:
Slasher was shown at the Weekend of Fear Festival on April 27, 2007.
The film was released in the USA on DVD on May 4, 2010 by Unearthed Films.
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