Slaughter Studios

Last updated
Slaughter Studios
Directed by Brian Katkin
Screenplay byDan Acre
John Huckert
Story by Damian Akhavi
Dan Acre
John Huckert
Produced by Damian Akhavi
Starring Nicolas Read
Amy Shelton-White
Tara Killian
Peter Stanovich
Anand Chulani
Eva Frajko
Matthew Roseman
Darren Keefe
Laura Otis
Darren Keefe
Serra Ellison
Lorissa McComas
Cinematography John Matkowsky
Edited by Brian Katkin
Music byChristopher Farrell
Distributed by New Concorde
Release date
  • December 31, 2002 (2002-12-31)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Slaughter Studios is a 2002 comedy/horror film. [1] It was directed by Brian Katkin, with the screenplay by John Huckert and Dan Acre, from a story by Huckert, Acre, and Damian Akhavi. The film, 86 minutes long and rated R, was released through New Concorde.

Contents

It was the last film shot at Roger Corman's studios in Venice Beach, California, and it only had a 12-day shooting schedule. The studio was being torn down during the production.

The film began life as a remake of Slumber Party Massacre , and writers John Huckert and Dan Acre were hired to pen the script. But after visiting the soon-to-be-demolished studio they came up with this idea instead. Producer Damien Akhavi helped them write the story. Footage from the original Slumber Party Massacre can still be seen during a murder sequence as an in-joke for the production crew.

Though principal photography took place in February 2001, the final sequences were not filmed until July 2002. The long break was necessitated by the fact that the scenes were to be shot in Malibu, but the rainfall was unusually heavy, so the completion of the film was postponed. Director Katkin shot another film during the break in this movie's production.

Plot

The film begins with an egotistical film student named Steve (Stanovich) recounting to his girlfriend Madigan (Shelton-White) the history of Slaughter Studios. As a child he adored the horror movies that were produced there, but the studio closed down twenty years ago after an actor named Justin Kirkpatric was accidentally killed during a film shoot.

The next day Steve tells Madigan and some of his fellow students that he wants to use the abandoned studio to film one last horror movie. The catch is that the studio is being torn down the next day, meaning that they only have 9 hours to shoot the entire feature-length picture, whose script is titled Naughty Sex Kittens vs. the Giant Praying Mantis. One of Steve's friends, Trish (Frajko), says that some of the girls in her acting class would probably love to do it. Steve selects a young actor named Kevin (Read) to play the monster, and Madigan will be the production assistant, though she would much prefer to act in the movie, though Steve refuses to give her a part.

Later that night Steve and Madigan arrive at the studio, and they are introduced to the cast...snotty Portia (Killian), dim-witted Rebecca (Otis), floozy Darlene (Ellison), airhead Candace (McComas), and Chad (Keefe), who is playing the leading role. Also helping out is Olie (Chulani), who is there to work as the sound department. Steve explains to them that they have to be careful because every hour the security guard will do his rounds. They break into the studio (accidentally disturbing a homeless man in the process) and begin to set up for the shoot. It turns out that Chad is a truly lousy actor, so Steve sends him off to a secluded room to practice his lines so he will not disturb anyone. While going over his lines by himself a shadowy figure sneaks up behind him and kills him with a pick ax.

Believing that Chad decided to leave, Steve casts Olie as the leading man. Steve also improvises a lesbian sex scene to be included in the film, and gets Darlene and Rebecca to agree to it. The two become so excited during the scene that they end up actually having sex. Following this the two women go off to shower to clean themselves up; while finding their way back to the set they are murdered.

Steve is becoming increasingly agitated due to the disappearances and high levels of his stress medications. Madigan is finally able to secure a part in the movie because of the shortage of actors, and she and Kevin become attracted to one another. During this time Candace wanders off by herself to look for the ghost of Justin Kirkpatric (she is obsessed with him) and is killed. While getting ready for her next scene, Trish is strangled to death by the unknown assailant, but unbeknownst to the murderer, her death is recorded by a hidden video camera.

Madigan finds the hidden camera and confronts Steve with it, thinking that he had hidden it in the women's dressing room on purpose. It turns out the camera belongs to Olie, who was hoping to sell the footage to an online porn site for some extra money. Olie decides to leave the studio for fear of facing Madigan's wrath, but on his way out he runs into the security guard, who chases him back into the studio.

Steve has Gary (Roseman), the cameraman, hook up Olie's camera to a television to see if they can use any of its footage, whereupon they stumble across Trish's recorded death. Madigan realizes that there is someone hiding in the studio with them, and that this person has probably butchered everyone who has disappeared. Gary, Kevin, and Madigan all think it is best to leave, but Steve, who by now is half crazed with drugs and fear, is only concerned about completing his film. Meanwhile, Olie has discovered the bodies of Rebecca and Darlene and is being chased by the killer, who dispatches him with a spike through the head.

Portia, who is unaware of the evening's events because she was passed out after taking too much of Steve's stress medication, comes to and is angered when Kevin refuses to sleep with her. She storms off by herself.

Gary, meanwhile, has become separated from the others and is decapitated. Likewise, a delirious Steve has stumbled back to the sound stage and is crushed to death when the killer drops a piece of heavy equipment on him. Kevin and Madigan come across the security guard, who proceeds to chase them throughout the studio. Believing him to be the killer, they escape via car, but the guard gives chase. The two eventually overpower him, and it is discovered that he is not the murderer. In fact, he is the actor who inadvertently killed Justin Kirkpatric twenty years earlier. The three realize that the killer is still inside the studio...and so is Portia.

Back at the set Portia is trying to find the others when the killer impales her. It is then that the murderer is finally revealed to be the homeless man that the students scared off earlier in the evening. He says, "It ain't right to fuck with a man's house." Beside him sits the ghost of Justin Kirkpatric, who shares his sentiment.

Cast

Unused ending

Director Katkin and composer Christopher Farrell state on the DVD commentary that the ending as originally written revealed the night's events were actually part of a film that was being shot at the studio, therefore the whole movie was a film within a film (within a film), and none of the preceding events were real. The film originally ended with a director yelling Cut! and the crew applauding. Katkin filmed this ending but didn't like it and edited it out.

Related Research Articles

A snuff film, or snuff movie, or snuff video, is a type of film that shows, or purports to show, scenes of actual homicide. The concept of snuff films became known to the general public during the 1970s, when an urban legend alleged that a clandestine industry was producing such films for profit. The rumor was amplified in 1976 by the release of a film called Snuff, which capitalized on the legend through a disingenuous marketing campaign: that film, like others on the topic, relied on special effects to simulate murder. According to the fact-checking site Snopes, there has never been a verified example of a genuine commercially produced snuff film. Videos of actual murders have been made available to the public, generally through the Internet; however, those videos have been made and broadcast by the murderers either for their own gratification or for propaganda purposes, and not for financial gain.

<i>Scream</i> (1996 film) 1996 American slasher film

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. The film stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy, and Drew Barrymore. Released on December 20, it follows high school student Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and her group of friends in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who become the targets of a mysterious killer in a Halloween costume known as Ghostface. The film satirizes the clichés of the slasher genre popularized in films such as Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and Craven's own A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Scream was considered unique at the time of its release for featuring characters aware of real-world horror films who openly discussed the clichés that the film attempted to subvert.

<i>Scary Movie</i> 2000 film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans

Scary Movie is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Anna Faris, Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri and Dave Sheridan, it follows a group of teenagers who accidentally hit a man with their car, dump his body in a lake and never talk about it again. A year later, someone wearing a Ghostface mask and robe kills them one by one.

<i>Peeping Tom</i> (1960 film) 1960 British film

Peeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological horror-thriller film directed by Michael Powell, written by Leo Marks, and starring Carl Boehm, Anna Massey, and Moira Shearer. The film revolves around a serial killer who murders women while using a portable film camera to record their dying expressions of terror. Its title derives from the expression "peeping Tom", which describes a voyeur.

<i>Jeepers Creepers</i> (2001 film) 2001 American film by Victor Salva

Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 horror film written and directed by Victor Salva. It stars Gina Philips and Justin Long as Trish and Darry Jenner, two siblings in college who are pursued by the Creeper, a demonic serial killer portrayed by Jonathan Breck. The film takes its name from the 1938 song of the same name, which is featured in the film under a version by Paul Whiteman. Patricia Belcher and Eileen Brennan also appear in supporting roles, with Salva making a cameo appearance.

<i>The Slumber Party Massacre</i> 1982 film by Amy Holden Jones

The Slumber Party Massacre is a 1982 American slasher film directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown. It is the first installment in the Slumber Party Massacre trilogy, and stars Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, and Michael Villella. The film follows a high school senior who gathers her friends for a slumber party, unaware that an escaped power drill-wielding killer is loose in the neighborhood.

Ocean Ave. is a Swedish-American low budget daytime soap opera, produced by the Swedish production company, Kajak, and filmed at the Florida-based, Dolphin Entertainment. It was set and filmed in Miami, Florida between 2002 and 2003. The series was made for Swedish TV4 where it was moved from early prime time to middays due to bad ratings. No American or international network or channel picked up the series. The main cast included only five Swedish actors, four other Swedish actors were seen in minor roles. Dialogues were shot in both Swedish and English with hopes to sell the series internationally. One hundred and thirty episodes were filmed but TV4 cut it into 260 episodes. Ocean Ave. received bad reviews from the start.

<i>Doctor X</i> (film) 1932 film

Doctor X is a 1932 American pre-Code mystery horror film produced jointly by First National and Warner Bros. Based on the 1931 play originally titled The Terror by Howard W. Comstock and Allen C. Miller, it was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Lee Tracy.

Scream is an American horror slasher franchise that includes five films, a television series, merchandise, and games. The series has grossed over $740 million in worldwide box-office receipts. The film series is created by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the first two films and the fourth. The first four films were directed by Wes Craven. Ehren Kruger wrote the third film. Recent entries have been directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett with Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt as writers and Williamson returning as executive producer. Bob and Harvey Weinstein served as executive producer in the first four films, while Gary Barber served as executive producer in the fifth film. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Roger L. Jackson, who voices the various Ghostface killers, have all starred in the first five films, with Cox and Jackson reprising their roles for the sixth film. Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Mason Gooding, and Jasmin Savoy Brown joined the franchise in the fifth film and are all due back for the sixth.

<i>The Curse of the Living Corpse</i> 1964 film

The Curse of the Living Corpse is a 1964 American horror film produced, written and directed by Del Tenney. The film is about a series of murders that haunt the family of a man who died leaving extensive instructions in his will to avoid him being buried alive. The film marked the feature film debut of actor Roy Scheider. It was originally co-billed with The Horror of Party Beach (1964). Both movies were filmed in black-and-white in Stamford, Connecticut by Iselin-Tenney Productions, a short-lived production company the director formed with Alan V. Iselin, the owner of a chain of drive-in theaters.

<i>Hack!</i> 2007 American film

Hack! is a 2007 American horror film directed and written by Matt Flynn. The film centres on a group of students who, while on a field trip, become victims in a snuff film, and stars Danica McKellar, Jay Kenneth Johnson, William Forsythe, Sean Kanan, Juliet Landau, Justin Chon, Travis Schuldt, Adrienne Frantz and Gabrielle Richens. The film was released in the UK on July 20, 2007 before receiving a US release on December 11, 2007.

<i>Slashers</i> (film) 2001 film by Maurice Devereaux

Slashers is a 2001 slasher film written and directed by Maurice Devereaux.

<i>Nail Gun Massacre</i> 1980s American rape-and-revenge slasher film

Nail Gun Massacre is a 1980s American rape-and-revenge slasher film directed by Terry Lofton and Bill Leslie. A young doctor and a sheriff seek a killer in a motorcycle helmet who kills locals with a nail gun.

<i>Scream</i> (2022 film) 2022 American slasher film

Scream is a 2022 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It is the fifth installment in the Scream film series. Though billed as a relaunch of the film series, the film is a direct sequel to Scream 4 (2011) and is the first film in the series to not be directed by Wes Craven, following his death in 2015. The film is dedicated to Craven at the beginning of the closing credits. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar, alongside Heather Matarazzo, Roger L. Jackson, Marley Shelton, Skeet Ulrich, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell, who reprise their roles from previous installments. The film takes place twenty-five years after the original Woodsboro murders, when yet another Ghostface appears and begins targeting a group of teenagers who are each somehow linked to the original killings. Similar to previous entries, Scream combines the violence of the slasher genre with elements of black comedy and "whodunit" mystery to satirize the trend of reboots and legacy sequels. The film also provides commentary on the horror fandom culture, particularly the divide between "elevated horror" and classic slasher films.

<i>The Remake</i> 2006 American film

The Remake is a 2006 American slasher film directed by Tommy Brunswick, and written by Todd Brunswick and Dwayne Roszkowski.

<i>Hunting Humans</i> 2002 American film

Hunting Humans is a 2002 horror film written and directed by Kevin Kangas. The film gained notoriety when a copy of it was found among the possessions of murderer Adam Leroy Lane.

<i>Gore, Quebec</i> (film) 2014 Canadian film

Gore, Quebec is a 2014 horror film directed by Jean Benoit Lauzon, and written by Rick Mele.

<i>Slasher</i> (TV series) Canadian-American anthology horror television series

Slasher is an anthology horror television series created by Aaron Martin. It premiered on Chiller on March 4, 2016, and on Super Channel on April 1, 2016. The licensing rights for the second season were acquired by Netflix in January 2017. The second season was released on October 17, 2017. On August 8, 2018, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on May 23, 2019. An eight-episode fourth season was ordered for Shudder, premiering on August 12, 2021. On February 10, 2022, the series was renewed for a fifth season.

<i>Slumber Party Massacre</i> (2021 film) 2021 film by Danishka Esterhazy

Slumber Party Massacre is a 2021 slasher film directed by Danishka Esterhazy and written by Suzanne Keilly. It is described as a "modern reimagining" of the original 1982 film The Slumber Party Massacre. It stars Hannah Gonera, Alex McGregor, Schelaine Bennett, Mila Rayne, and Rob van Vuuren and follows a girls' slumber party which becomes a bloodbath when an escaped mental patient arrives with a power drill.

References

  1. Newman, Kim (2011-04-18). Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 523. ISBN   978-1-4088-1750-6.