The plot follows Donald Wallace (Finn Cole) who is shipped off by his mum to one of those generic palatial British boarding schools, you know the ones which come with dark secrets lurking within their four walls…or in this case, deep inside the surrounding woods and in the reeking secret school tunnels. Long story short, Donald has to team up with his classmates as well as school authorities (the ones who’ll believe him anyway) to fight off grotesque ancient beasts who come alive due to illegal fracking work on the grounds of the school.
I liked a lot of the humour; and although the movie struggles to juggle multiple genres like comedy, slasher horror, romance, satire et al., and almost crumbles on itself at times, it’s still an enjoyable Halloween watch. And if you’re a fan of blood and gore, there’s plenty of that. If you’re a cinephile in general, there’s plenty of tongue-in-cheek references to classics like “300” “Shaun of the Dead” (the movie feels like an ode to the same at times), etc. to crack you up. I appreciate that the movie addresses themes like homophobia and often feels like a piss take on the classist, elitist atmosphere of British boarding schools.
I also found Margot Robbie’s chemistry with Simon Pegg cute, but their Skype romance in this movie doesn’t add much to the plot and goes nowhere. In fact, most of the romantic subplots, apart from Willoughby’s (Asa Butterfield) brief and tragic romance, come off as forced.
The young cast does what is required of them, which is to kick arse and take names, with Asa Butterfield and Isabella Laughland being the standouts for me. Michael Sheen chews the scenery and gets some humorous lines, and I couldn’t find anyone better than him to do justice to the eccentric headmaster Bat, who may or may not just be the headmaster version of “Twilight’s” Aro. Nick Frost is a hoot as always, although I’m still gritting my teeth over him not sharing screen space with Simon Pegg in this like I’d expected.
All in all, despite its flaws, “Slaughterhouse Rulez” is still a treat for blood and gore aficionados, and is well worth a one-time watch.
