A movie as outrageously dumb as Slotherhouse is enjoyable alone for how obvious the filmmakers just didn’t give a fuck but still manage to make a movie enoyable. Set mostly at a sorority house that looks like a secluded mansion on top of a hill (because the movie was filmed in Serbia?!?!), the plot revolves around a female sloth being taken in as the pet of Sigma Lambda Theta. The initials also seem to sound like “sloth.” You got to give the writers some credit for that little creativity.
Alpha is a three-toeyed sloth just minding her business in Panama when she is attacked by a crocodile but comes out victorious after killing the animal, but is captured by poachers who hope to sell her on the black market. Emily (Lisa Ambalavanar) is returning to the Sigma house after summer break in hopes of being president while rich and wealthy Brianna (Sydney Craven) is hoping to regain her role as president. Emily meets one of the poachers at the mall who tells her about the sloth, so she heads over to the address and takes Alpha home with her.
What Emily doesn’t know is that Alpha killed the poacher previously. While Alpha earns Emily some popularity among the sorority, Brianna doesn’t like it and wants it gone. Yet, Alpha isn’t going away with a fight as she murders several of the sorority sisters, taking selfies while doing so. Ok, a sloth wouldn’t really move as quick to murder someone none the less have time to snap a selfie. But this movie is so over the top, it doesn’t matter.
Even though they’re at a college, there’s no mention of school or any other events on campus. With the exception of Tyler (Andrew Horton), there aren’t any other young men at the campus. Even more hilarious is the fact that none of the sorority sisters seem to notice that some of the sorority are missing for a certain amount of time, even though they’ve been killed in their bedrooms or other parts of the house where someone would notice. Most of the characters are wooden and forgettable you can understand why.
It’s a horror comedy about a killer sloth that uses practical effects. There’s something comical about how the sloth basks in the attention (and even at one point in the sun) and turns to a blood-thirsty monster where it’s operating a car at one time. How a sloth would be able to operate the steering wheel and the gas and brake is impossible. Emily’s roommate, Madison (Olivia Rouyre), seems to be the only one who thinks it’s wrong to have a sloth in a domesticated house. There’s also Zenny (Bianca Beckles-Rose) who the movie hints may or may not be a lesbian or non-binary. Her and Madison seem to be the only ones who don’t fit the stereotypical air-head concept of sorority sisters.
Because of the movie’s PG-13 rating, there’s not much violence and gore. Not that a movie this outrageous would need to be bogged down in senseless violence. This isn’t an Eli Roth movie. It also won’t win any awards for excellence but if you’re not a fan of straight horror and need something hysterical, it’s for you.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 