 |
 VIDEO/DVD |
||||||||
|
Slaughterhouse review by Lee Peterson
Obviously influenced by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (and released a few months after that films great, under-appreciated sequel), Slaughterhouse is the heartwarming story of pig-farmer Lester Bacon (Don Barrett) and his dumb, 360-pound son, Buddy (Joe B. Barton, who snorts and squeals like a pig and has "what you might call basic hygiene problems"). New, industrialized slaughtering methods have made the old-fashioned Bacon farm obsolete, much to Lesters dismay ("We did it with the skill of craftsmen, and sharp knives not sinew-chewing chainsaws!") The bank has decided to foreclose on the mortgage, tear down the slaughterhouse and replace it with a modern plant—but Lester, Buddy and his giant meat cleaver arent about to let that happen. Meanwhile, a group of "teenagers" (the kind that can only exist in 80s slasher flicks) thinks the old slaughterhouse would be the perfect place to make a Halloween rock video, and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and on the business end of Buddys cleaver. It may sound like routine slice-and-dice fare (and it is), but if youre like me (and you should be), its a hell of a lot of fun. A healthy measure of humor and some unexpectedly good performances add up to a fun, cheapjack effort thats much closer in spirit to the original Chainsaw than the completely unwatchable Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4: The Next Generation. The uncut, fullscreen video transfer looks amazingly crisp and clean for a film of such (ahem), modest means, and the Dolby Digital Ultra-Stereo Surround Sound is nicely mixed. As for the Special Features, check em out: • Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Rick Roessler, Executive
Producer Jerry Encoe and Production Designer Mike Scaglione DVD-ROM Features: • Original Screenplay • Photo Gallery with 90 behind-the-scenes stills • 16-page Working Budget form for the movie • 34-page original Distribution Contract for release of the movie • "Thumbnail" sketches of ad campaign concepts • Newspaper clippings, ads and reviews Slaughterhouse is Vol. 1, No. 1 of Program Power Entertainments "Lucky 13 Cult Collectibles" series, and if this is any indication as to how seriously theyre taking the DVD collectible market, sign me up for the other 12, pronto! The next two in the series are the 70s cult comedy White House Madness and the marijuana "mockudrama" Acapulco Gold, to be followed by Mangled Alive and the absolutely amazing Curse of Bigfoot (aka The Teenagers Battle the Thing—I must be dreaming!). At a time when the majors show us how much they care by releasing
their DVDs with no extras whatsoever (and no, Chapter Stops are
not a "Special Feature"!), it is comforting to know that someone
is looking out for the serious cult film collector. We already have
Anchor Bay, Elite, Image, OFFICIAL WEB
SITE:
|
|
||||||||
|
We
are truly living in a golden age, friends. Who would have dared
to dream that a crude little slasher film that was (barely) released
to the drive-in circuit in 1987 (and then dumped onto video) would
one day be available in a deluxe, special edition that would be
so complete and thorough that it would set a new standard for the
term "Special Edition"? Well, the dream is now 