Slaughter Day (1991) by Brent Cousisns


Director: Brent Cousins
Year: 1991
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural

Plot:
While going about their lives, a pair of friends find their community invaded by a spree of violence caused by the release of a deadly demon from a nearby construction site turning the residents into bloodthirsty maniacs which forces them to stop the madness from spreading.

Review:

This was a generally fun and entertaining shot-on-video effort. That this one goes for a stellar Action-film aesthetic here with the amount of energy put into the confrontations here is quite fun, leading to a great assortment of chases and battles. The stuntwork and planning for the scenes are quite impressive, with battles place on a moving truck, and various high-concept supernatural encounters with the demonic figures coming out of the summoning book to come to life attacking them which all allows for a ton of fantastic cheesy gore. With the battle in the cabin, a brawl in a cemetery, and the later ceremony that finds them captured by the possessed maniacs that end up leading to several thrilling confrontations along the city streets, the reckless energy and enthusiasm that all this portrays manage to make for an imminently likable effort that has a lot to like about it.

There's not much to dislike here but it does have some issues. Among the biggest drawbacks here are the film's high-energy style and approach don't leave this one with much explaining of what's going on. It jumps right into the exploits of the group who are thrust into trouble at their cabin not even five minutes into the film so it's immediately into the fray without much in the way of knowing what's going on. There's also little in the way of explanations about the cause of the possessions and how it all works so this one feels like it's just going along with the flow of things and forcing the viewer to have to go along with the point of everything. That goes along with the low-budget limitations featured here, with the flimsy production quality, camera tricks, homemade gore effects, and props sticking out quite heavily here to always remind the viewer what type of film this is. Overall, these are the main drawbacks to be had with this one.


Overview: ***/5
One of the more enjoyable and likable shot-on-video efforts in the scene, there are a lot more positive features on display that manage to hold this up over the negatives which don't hold this back too badly. Any fan of this kind of shot-on-video genre effort or intrigued by what's going on here will find this enjoyable but those who don't appreciate the style or approach here should heed caution.

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