Chance the Rapper Goes Dark for 'Slice'

American movie goers can count on a few things every Fall. The days will get shorter, the winds will get colder, and the horror movies will be out in force. The cinematic gods have decreed that the annual slew of horror movies that follows the summer blockbuster cycle be particularly robust, both in terms of quality and cost of quantity. Audiences can rest assured that the requisite number of ghouls, witches, and werewolves will be present, especially in the movie Slice.

Set in a world where ghosts and other paranormal creatures live alongside humans in mundane life, Slice is the epitome of the modern direct to video film. A Fall 2018 horror and comedy film written and directed by newcomer Austin Vesely, it’s certainly a piece more concerned with laughs than with scares, but it’s also a film that depicts horrific events with potentially horrifying consequences. It showcases characters who experience a specific set of emotions, be it fear when confronted with a morphing werewolf or betrayal when reunited with a cheating significant other. The film then seeks to evoke an entirely different set of emotions centered on humor, in its audience.

The plot is centered around the murder of a pizza delivery boy, a killing carried out in slapstick fashion. In fact, most of the character deaths in this film are played for laughs and treated lightly by the camera. Yet, the characters experience fear in bunches, including the characters who end up dying. Even the ghosts in this film, who make up nearly half the population in the town of Kingfisher where the film is set, express shock at the visages of those struck down in cold blood. In fact, it is the ghosts who seem to find the murders and other supernatural occurrences the most disturbing. The human characters on the other hand, face other anxieties, like paying the rent for the pizza store, or holding sway over their electorate, and are generally unconcerned with their own well-being. Many of them seem to view death as almost meaningless, perhaps because every person killed in this universe returns as a fully corporeal ghost seconds later.

Combined with this general lack of care regarding personal safety, is the overwhelming presence of buffoons. Nearly every character in this movie could be described as a blithering idiot, even in their smartest moments. The prospect of a world so subject to the whims of fools is both horrifying and hilarious, but the apathy with which the few intelligent characters contend against the idiocy is most concerning. Two of the protagonists, a werewolf (Chance the Rapper in his film debut), and a journalist (Rae Gray), actually evince functioning brains throughout the film. This is not to say that they are geniuses, as they make several questionable decisions and avoidable mistakes, especially on the part of the werewolf. But, for the most part, they display a level of self-awareness lacking in other characters. Still, there are few efforts by these two characters to reason with the stupidity that surrounds them. And it is this apathy which could prove either horrifying or annoying to audiences.

The film was distributed by indie giant A24 and went straight to video on Amazon Prime a day after its September 10th release for those of us who may be a little strapped for cash, and unwilling to pay surging theater prices. It’s basically a well-acted B-movie with purposely cheesy effects and an appropriately absurd premise. Most hardcore horror fans will probably disappointed with the lack of concrete scares. Unlike some horror movies of its status, it’s not forcing jump scares into the plot or throwing in creepy music. The scariest aspect of the movie will probably be when you start to recognize your friends or co-workers in the guise of one of the poor saps who just got killed on screen. Because, just as the town of Kingfisher cannot rid itself of its fallen citizens, who roam as unseemly, but mostly harmless ghosts, fools are plentiful in the real world, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere. A 6.5/10