There have been plenty of slasher throwback films made over the past couple of years and Roger and I have actually reviewed quite a few of them. Some of them turn out to be complete trash, while others end up being surprisingly entertaining. The latest indie slasher film to come my way is Sledge co-directed by Kristian Hanson and John B Sovie II.
Sledge is actually the title of a film inside of the film, which is being viewed by a girl who has apparently just broken up with her boyfriend. In Sledge, a psychotic backwoods killer named Adam Lynch is killing off anyone who goes into the wooded area in which he lives. He is a wise-cracking, foul-mouthed psychopath who actually ends up being just as annoying [if not more] than the group of teens he is killing off.
I can’t help but think that this film would have been a whole lot better if it was created with a more serious tone. The horror comedy thing should only be done sparingly, but when the jokes are as bad as we see here, it shouldn’t be done at all. The character of Adam Lynch is a cool concept and one that could have easily stood above other recent independent slasher flicks with his creepy mask and weapon of choice, but as soon as his idiotic dialogue is heard, all of that goes out the window. I’m not sure if director/writer Hanson was going for a Krueger-type of comedy, but it really just didn’t work.
The only thing more annoying than Adam Lynch’s one-liners were the teens he was killing off. There was way too much useless banter between these kids and none of it really brought anything to the story. Why should I care that Sarah is going out with Nash, but is really still in love with Alex? Even if I did care, do I want to watch an entire 75 minutes of them talking about it? The answer simply is… no.
Sledge had a crisp, clean look to it and really could have been a great little flick. Hanson and Sovie clearly know how to make a film, but I’m not convinced they know how to make a good one. Their production value is on point, they utilize great cinematography, and even the effects and make-up seen throughout the film were impressive, but the writing was just too poor to make any of this enjoyable.
If you like cheesy horror films with high-school humor, I recommend Sledge. If you’re looking for the next good slasher film, however, you can skip right over this one.
I give it 1.5 puppet TV show hosts out of 5.
Doesn’t reallysound promising, I think don’t even want to give this a try
Thank you for taking the time to watch Sledge, Frank. Even though you didn’t enjoy it I do appreciate you sitting down to watch my movie.