Slay (2026) by Kyra Elise Gardner

Director: Kyra Elise Gardner

Year: 2026

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: Pink Parrot

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

After the death of their friend, the rest of the friends decide to visit a special cabin in the woods to help them get over the death and celebrate her life to move on from the situation, but as they stay there, they come to find that a masked killer has started killing them, forcing the group to get away.

Review:

This was a fairly fun and likeable genre effort. Among the more likable elements to be had here come from the immensely fun setup that manages to tie rather strong elements of modern influencer culture together into a decent enough offering. The majority of the first half works with the group getting the initial focus on their famous careers in the spotlight as influencers and content creators, featuring the friendship between them that comes about through their skits, collab videos, and behind-the-scenes footage that paints everyone in a great light. The ensuing scandal and fallout that comes from her friend’s death and the need to get away, with everyone else wanting to leave so that they can all escape the media circus that’s erupted from the incident, is a fine way to build off of that to serve as a reason for why they get to the cabin and try not only to mourn the death but also to hang out as friends. As this manages to be quite fun with them around the cabin trying to get back to normal and have fun all by themselves in the woods, the setup for this comes across incredibly well, putting these elements together.

That serves to bring about the rather fun series of slashing scenes here that bring about the kind of generally enjoyable setpieces that have a lot to like. The isolation in the woods and being unable to call for help, the main setup here manages to give this the kind of strong starting point that makes everything immensely fun once the bodies start dropping. With the initial attack on the group inside the cabin and the subsequent panic once they realize it’s not a hallucination or a game but the work of a killer looking to take them out, this sets in motion a series of thrilling scenes around the cabin where no one knows who to trust due to the earlier setup work done here. Even the final reveal in the woods around the cabin, where the masked killer starts to get more involved with the group being stalked in the woods and putting everything together with some brutal kills and gory setups, giving this a lot to like about it.

There are some slight issues here that bring this one down. One of the main issues here is the rather underwhelming and generally lackluster motivation for the killer to start their rampage, as this is immensely silly to figure out as a means to set everything up. The whole thing turns into a special look at the sense of toxicity in this kind of profession and how it turns those feelings into the need to come up with the rampage against the friends for what happened, and it really feels pretty underdeveloped not just as a motivation but also for the individual chosen to become the killer. This individual chosen to come along with this particular motivation is quite problematic and not all that interesting as a motivation for that particular figure, all of which leaves this quite problematic. The other slight issue is the fact that there’s a bit of a slow-going first half where it takes a while building up the friendship group and their various relationships that are in play so that all the stalking takes place in the later half, but it’s not nearly as problematic as the other issue here.

Overview: ****/5

A really solid slasher with only a few minor issues, this one manages quite a lot to like about it that it manages to offset a few drawbacks present that are keeping it down just slightly. Those with an interest in or appreciation for the approach taken here, or who are general fans of indie slashers like this, will want to give it a shot, while most others out there should heed caution.