1 of the BEST horror movies EVER!
rio rob | austin, texas | 04/12/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"so, it starts out like a genuinely creepy ghost story. then, a little voodoo back-story and poof! you have a totally original story-line with a well-written script and plenty of scares that make you jump out of your seat.
it's fun, too. kind of reminds me of the way i felt when i first saw "evil dead," but much-MUCH better!
oh, and there is some gore for the sick and twisted's satisfaction scale.
after i saw it (via netflix), i quickly wanted to add it to my collection of horror greats...so, i did.
it's definitely 1 you want to watch with friends and lots of popcorn, but whatever you do...just be sure and put away your ouiga board!
BOO!!!
i hope you enjoy it as much as i did."
FIRE UP THE SHAFT!!!
Deidra Cox | Garrett, KY | 07/05/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"SLAUGHTER NIGHT was my first encounter with Dutch horror and this was a good introduction. In 1860, convicted killers were used in the mines as fire-men. They were used to detect dangerous gas leaks and then set them off. If they survived the explosion, they would be pardoned. No one ever survived. Andries Martiens killed seven children before he was caught and sent to the mines to die.
Flash to the present, Kris and her father are in a horrible car crash. She survives, but her father doesn't. When Kris learns that her father had been working on a manuscript at a Belgium mine site, she convinces her friends to go with her to pick up his things. Once there, she discovers the manuscript was about Andries Martiens and his weird obession with the occult. Kris packs the manuscript and her father's Ouija board and the gang decide to take the mine tour. This is where things take a decidedly bad turn for the worse.
The good news--there's a wonderful plot!!! An actual storyline that you can follow, a fresh idea that's not been done a thousand times before. There's gore for the gore hounds, scary moments and the fear factor mounts quite nicely.
The bad news--aside from Kris, the female lead, who was brillant--the other characters were a bit flat. I don't know, maybe something got lost in the translation, but I felt like the characters could have been fleshed out a little bit more. It's hard to feel bad and really care for someone getting the axe when you don't really know anything about them.
And the lighting--yes, I know it was a mine shaft, but at times it was nearly impossible to see anything about the monster or the victims. It's hard to be horrified when you can't see anything!
Inspite of these flaws, SLAUGHTER NIGHT is a great movie to check out!! I highly recommend it! So settle back and enjoy!! Just stay out of an abandoned mine shafts:)
"
Pleasingly Surprised
V. D'Amato | British Columbia | 06/28/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I was surprised at how well-paced this horror flick was - back to basics, with a group of tourists trapped in an underground labrynth of mines with a vengeful spirit linked to a past of wrong-doings. Standard stalk'n'scare plot well executed, like a low-rent (but exciting) take on Neal Marshall's "The Descent"."
Pretty much a yawner.
HorrorMan | The Marsten House | 12/14/2007
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I wish I could share in the enthusiasm of the other reviewers regarding this movie, but, alas, I cannot. "Slaughter Night" is presented in Dutch although it does have English subtitles. While I must admit that I would prefer to hear English, that's not the problem that I have with this film.
"Slaughter Night" is about a girl who loses her father in a car accident. She then goes with some friends to an old mine where something evil lurks. Then something bad happens and they get trapped. Throw in a ouija board, a drill, some tarot cards, some pills and bunch of idiots, some interesting death scenes in a darkly humorous kind of way, and voila, you have "Slaughter Night". To call this an original storyline wouldn't be entirely true. The mine thing has been done before and much better in "My Bloody Valentine" and while the supernatural element was an interesting advent, I felt the movie failed to execute and develop this theme in a way that is scary or even intriguing to the audience.
"Slaughter Night" comes across as a movie that is just thrown together and executed by a bunch of people who really cannot act. The death scenes were fairly amusing, for lack of a better way of putting it, but that's just not enough to make an effective horror movie. "Slaughter Night" has plenty of cheap "jump out at ya" so-called scare scenes, but it has no style, no atmosphere, and very little in the way of substance. There is no suspense, no mystery and for all intents and purposes, there is nothing scary about it. I was especially disappointed in the evil presence theme which was very poorly executed and poorly developed showing a lack of imagination and creativity on the part of the creators of this flick.
To be frank, I watched this movie tonight, and I really couldn't wait for it to end because I was yawning throughout...I'm normally a nightowl, but this one just made me sleepy for some reason. If it wasn't for the death scenes which were curiously interesting, albeit unconvincing, I would be inclined to give this movie one-half or zero stars. In short, it just aint worth it."