Horror has a long and vibrant history with violent animals, from vicious sharks to enormous arachnids, and bears on class As intent on wreaking havoc and racking up an impressive body count. Among these apex predators you probably didn’t expect to see a sloth, but Matthew Goodhue’s sophomore feature release Slotherhouse sees one of the three-toed fluffs out for blood.
Slotherhouse follows senior college student Emily Young (Lisa Ambalavanar) who strives to be elected president of her sorority, Sigma Lambda Theta. To boost her popularity and secure the win, she adopts a three-year-old sloth, Alpha, which her peers waste no time snapping pictures of for their social media accounts. However, her run soon turns into a bloodbath as a string of deaths are linked to the seemingly lovable mammal.
From the bat, Slotherhouse nails its cheesy, darkly comedic chops with scenes packed full of satirical commentary on social media and the politics of high school, and weird and wonderful kills at the hands – or claws – of the titular villain. The film champions its bizarre and insane concept without taking itself too seriously, as other modern creatures have done, leading to their undoing. Slotherhouse is well aware that it won’t be the next award-winning horror powerhouse, but it revels in its ridiculousness and the gratuitous violence that will have you looking at sloths in a different light.
The film at times runs out of steam as we lurch from kill to kill, but Goodhue captures the imagination with some clever cinematography choices to ramp up the tension between each graphic kill. The practical puppet used to bring Alpha to life is inspired as it never looks fully realistic, adding to the peculiar nature of the narrative. From her unusually human emotions to her unnatural movement and appearance, Alpha become much more of a boogeyman than an actual sloth which lends itself well to the bizarre situations she finds herself in, least of all becoming a mascot for a sorority house before embarking on a homicidal rampage.
Lisa Ambalavanar oozes sunny charisma in the role of Emily, while Sydney Craven commands the screen as the tyrannical Brianna. Their over-the-top performances add to the camp factor of the film, though become somewhat grating in the film’s inflated 91-minute runtime.
But beneath the ridiculousness, Slotherhouse brings up some interesting points about the exotic pet trade and exploiting animals for content purposes at the expense of their wellbeing. Beneath the wild and wacky exterior of the film is a message far more clever than one may expect when they hit play.
Ideal for those who just want some hack-and-slash fun with a hilariously odd creature at the centre, Slotherhouse offers buckets of blood with a message at the centre that seems out of place and yet perfect at the same time. While it loses itself in the third act, the film champions some impressive British names in its cast and enough ridiculousness to have you bursting into laugher even after the credits role.
Slotherhouse
Summary
Exactly as ridiculous as you may expect, and more clever than you may anticipate, Slotherhouse is a wild ride of blood and mayhem with a message all at the paws of a psychopathic sloth.
Slotherhouse will be available on Digital Download from 12th February 2024.
