I am not sure what I was expecting, exactly, when I began watching Slaughter Night. The cover did have a quote from Slasherpool that said "A whole lot of gore." Well, that certainly sounds promising. As you probably already know, I do like me some blood and guts with my movies! However, we also all know that gore alone does not a movie make. Was I in for one of those? Or was I in for something altogether different and special? I was really hoping for the latter.
I should have known better. This film from the Netherlands is as conventional as it gets. The only thing separating it from your average American horror film is the language. It certainly does seem like France has a stranglehold on the European horror market. It is hard to argue against many of the titles that have made their way across the pond. Of course, we are also used to only the upper crust breaking free and shipping themselves stateside where they seek success based on a boatload of hype and a little bit of hope. For all I know, France has the equivalent of Slaughter Night that has successfully remained locked away with the nation's borders.
Slaughter Night (aka Sl8 N8) does not waste time delivering a little blood and goo. It starts out more than 100 years in the past, where a particularly nasty fellow named Adrien Martiens is kidnapping and murdering children. He is shown with his handiwork around him. Great way to start, right?
Jump to the present. This is more like it! We pick up our main characters at a big and loud college party. Kristel (Victoria Koblenko) leaves the party and is picked up by her father. The two argue a little about a trip Kristel is planning, causing daddy to be distracted and not see the truck bearing down on them. The resulting accident leaves Kristel without her father and with a boatload of guilt in his place.
Slaughter Night then turns into a bit of a road movie as Kristel and her friends take a long trip to the research location where her father was working. You see, he is a writer. Can you guess who his latest subject was? You got it. Adrien Martiens.
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