Slice (2026)

Director: Nick Iway, Dustin Mills, Austin Shell, Dylan M Shell

Year: 2026

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Anthology

Plot:

In a special meeting together, the members of an addiction support group discuss several stories about others who have seen the pain and desperation that have led others down a path of death and despair.

Review:

Ready Cash-About to lose their house, a man tries to find anything he can to get the money together to pay off his debts while trying to not let his addiction take over his life, eventually leading him to a cannibal club his friend partakes in. This was a great way to start this off and showcases what’s in store here. The desperation and financial struggles on display that he and his wife share, from the squalid living conditions, lack of funds to pay off their bills, and finally his frantic call to his friend to help out that puts him into contact with the strange cult and their bizarr ritual where he gets involved in. the unease that arises the longer he’s involved in the bizarre cannibalistic ceremony is quite graphic and intense, focusing on his hesitation to be there but willingness to go along with it due to the money he owes, helping to further the film’s theme of the desperation others are willing to go to overcome the addition that ruins their lives.

Into the Fold-Trying to audition for a big band, a potential bassist in a major metal band finds that membership in the group means that he’s tasked with mutilating a special part of his anatomy to gain entrance into the group, forcing him to decide if it’s necessary. This was a generally solid segment with a lot to like about it. The whole idea of what he’s supposed to go through to get into the band, with him seeing the perks and accolades of doing so and managing to be presented with the offer under the condition of genital mutilation and removal to fit into the rest of the band. The mental anguish and torture of going through something like that, talking himself through the procedure, and then going through it in extreme, graphic detail provides this with the kind of explicit sequences that give it a great sexualized tone. It’s all handled incredibly well, despite a few logic gaps here and there, but that’s about all that holds this back.

Paying Up-Stuck in debt with a local gangster, a man learns that a potential way out of his situation will be to go through with a special procedure that will be of importance for a special cannibalistic cult, and he must decide whether he can go through with it. There’s not a whole lot really wrong here, but its structure has quite a few issues with it. This tends to feel almost the same as the first segment, where a person is tasked with putting himself into extreme physical mutilation at the hands of a cannibal cult for the sake of getting out of debt, making this feel incredibly repetitive and familiar. That tends to undercut the rest of this one, as it’s still a brutal, graphic affair that deals with his desperation to get out of his situation, giving this the kind of thematic connection to everything else that takes place here, but that’s not enough to undo how familiar it is.

Overview: ****/5

An effective and brutal genre anthology, this one manages quite a lot to like that comes together in several fine segments that are tough to get through for how brazen and open the content is. Those with an appreciation for this style or approach, or who are more adventurous genre fans, will want to give it a go, while most others out there should heed extreme caution.