Slashening: The Final Beginning — Slashening: The Final Beginning( Blu Ray)

Slashening: The Final Beginning is a send-up of post-modern slasher films- where a sack masked killer is taking out the members of a self-help group. The film is a blend of PC/ woke/ feminist mocking humour, and general slasher parody, with brief gore, and some sexualized humour/ nudity.  Here from Troma Entertainment is a region-free Blu-ray release of the picture-taking in directors’ commentary, and a few other extras.

Slashening: The Final Beginning is from 2021, and is the sequel to 2015’s The Slashening - which was another slasher send-up, set at a female sleepover party. It was written & directed by Brandon Bassham- who also co-wrote and directed the first film. He has a total of thirty directing credits- most of these are TV series episodes, shorts, and anthology entries. Aside from the two The Slashening films- he has one other feature to his name comedy horror Fear Town, USA (2014).

Before I move on, I think I need to discuss the elephant in the room, and really get it straight/ clear before we move on. Yes- this is a Troma-released film, and I’d say it’s fairly typical of the company’s output- with at points it even being comparable to a film already released by the company's 1999’s Terror Firmer- though being a lot less manic-ness/ gory, and no Ron Jeremy.  So, if you don’t enjoy Troma’s output- this won’t be for you.

The film kicks off with a group of friends buying the house from the first film- which apparently has all the same furniture in it still. They all chuckle about the possibility of the killings happening again- but guess what they do. So the six or so members are taken out by the sack-masked, blue boiler suit & black glove-wearing killer- with really focus on the parody side of things- for example, we have a couple going to make out- turning the light on & off, as they debate consent- as the killer gets near & nearer each time the light comes on. And we get a killer who can’t manage to light a match to roast his petrol-covered victim- the victim tries to give him advice.

Next, we meet our lead twentysomething Madison Santangeli (Addie Weyrich) whose father committed suicide, hence she signed up to a self-help group. The group is led by Pat (Patrick Foy) who is a survivor from the first film- the killer removed his eye, cut off his dick and burnt his face. And as the film unfolds members of the group are killed- going from old-fashioned throat slashings, bashed to death with a banjo, and having drug paraphernal forced into head kills.

We take a few wacky setups/ locations like a send-up of a quirky folk-rock gig, a no-sex spooning festival, and a vagina art-focused show. Yes, a few of the jokes/ set-ups are a little overplayed- but largely I found myself chuckling a few times, with the whole Slashening: The Final Beginning being an entertaining enough send-up/ parody.

 

On the extras side, we get a director's commentary track, and this isn’t bad- as these things go- though initially, the mix between the track & the films sound is messed up, so at points, it’s difficult to discern what he’s saying- but this improves as the film moves on. He starts by talking about the first location- which was the producer’s house, just before he moved out of it.  We find out he was very ill when they started shooting- been just propped up in a chair.  The film was shot between 2016 and 2020- a lot slower than the first film, which was filmed in just a few weeks- he talks about how they’d shoot a few days and then had months off. We find out a few people played sack-head including himself, and that many of the film's actors were taught by the director in acting classes. He briefly talks about his background in sketch writing, and chats about why he did the sequel. Later on, he discusses the feminist T-shirts appearing in the film, and the self-defence class scene- which features a cameo from Mr Troma himself Lloyd Kaufman. He talks about the setting up of certain scenes, and the killer's reveal. Otherwise, we get a Zoom interview with the director(46.56), a mock-up Oscar intro,  and a few trailers.

I’d say if you’re both a slasher fan with a sense of humour and a fan of all things Troma then, Slashening: The Final Beginning will most certainly be enjoyed/entertained. And it would be neat to see another follow-up, as I think there’s still more gas left in the tank for a third film.