Hazmat (2013) by Lou Simon

Director: Lou Simon

Year: 2013

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Gathered together at an abandoned building, a group of friends try to set up one of their members on a hidden reality prank show set up at the location, but when their actions instead spur their friend to snap and turn into an axe-wielding maniac out to kill them must find a way to get out alive.

Review:

There was quite a lot to like with this one. One of the better elements here is the rather impressive and enjoyable setup that provides an incredible baseline for the antics to follow. The early exploits of the reality show, giving us a chance to see who they are, what they're all about, and what they're capable of, serves to bring up the plausible motivation to understand why the friend group is dedicated to following through with their plans to scare him. That goes along nicely with the concurrent setup of the show going on where the friends going through the area trying to get everything started with the genuine background on the location being brought up as a means of trying to get under his skin and freak their friend out while tying together the series of storylines going on to have a great opening setup here.

As this setup offers a lot to get started, there are some fun antics on display here when it turns into a straightforward slasher effort. The setup is somewhat flimsy but it works well enough to get a deranged individual inside a creepy location where it all takes place, especially with the place set up for the show meaning it’s already a dark and creepy location. This provides the kind of building block for the ambush encounters here where he appears out of nowhere to attack with the trusty axe to chop them to pieces in brutal fashion throughout the building as the use of the cameras set up initially for the shoot being used to guide themselves to safety by keeping track of his whereabouts to then find a way to maneuver around. This goes along with the fine gore to give this one a lot to like.

There are some minor issues within this one that hold it down. Among the main drawbacks here is the main setup to try to justify why the killer is supposed to snap as he does as this is immensely underwhelming. The whole setup has very little build-up to get him to the location for the show to start with but then almost immediately snaps and goes crazy which is given just a cursory line about some kind of trauma as a motivation to explain why the whole thing is happening. The explanation is not only flimsy and underwhelming but the way it’s given so little time to build up and being dropped so early means the second half struggles at times by having a series of interactions between everyone who is simply hiding out together instead of being chased or stalked so the pacing is a bit off. These are what hold it back overall.

Overview: ***.5/5

A generally impressive indie slasher effort, there’s quite a lot to like here as the enjoyable factors come to the forefront more than anything leaving this one with quite a lot to like over its minor detriments. Those who appreciate this kind of feature, are huge fans of indie slashers in general, or are intrigued by the creative crew will have the most to like here while most others out there should heed caution.