Everyone loves a Netflix series: If the theme is madness; you'll feel the insanity (think Orange Is the New Black). For action/sci-fi flicks; you get Jessica Jones.
If you've seen one of the above before, you know what I mean when I say their creatives operate in a league of their own, if not let's just say they don't shy away from shock value. In the case of horror/mystery themed Slasher; prepare for blood, guts and gore galore.
SLASHER is based on the horrifying story of Sarah Bennett (Katie McGrath – Jurassic World, Merlin), whose parents, Rachel and Bryan, were the victims of a Halloween-night massacre before Sarah had even been born - don't get squeamish now, I warned you about this. Moving on, the killer, nicknamed 'The Executioner', Tom Winston (Patrick Garrow – Nikita, Hannibal), was caught, literally red-handed, clutching baby Sarah and locked up for good.
Fast-forward 30 years as Sarah returns to Waterbury, the town she never knew, to move into the house where it all began (blame the housing market). However, as she and her husband Dylan (Brandon Jay McLaren – Graceland, The Killing) quickly discover not only does the town know Sarah, they've never forgotten the killings - nor have the neighbours stopped blaming her parents for what happened...
Sarah and Dylan are barely a day into their fresh start in Waterbury before tragedy strikes: A figure dressed as The Executioner appears, a boy goes missing, and Sarah stumbles onto the body of one of those neighbours.
From here on in Sarah is determined to find out the who/why/how of the killings. Yeah, she turns into that character. She also turns to the original Executioner, killer of her parents, Tom Winston, for help. Although Winston never denies being behind the original murders, he seems to know much more about the copycat killer than he should.
Winston helps Sarah figure out that the current Executioner is selecting his or her victims based on how badly they've sinned. Let the repentance begin...
Everyone in town quickly becomes both suspicious and a suspect as a panic takes over Waterbury.
Here's some background on the main suspects characters:
Sarah Bennett: *collective gasp* Yeah that's right, she's a suspect too. Though it may be unlikely, according to many townsfolk (even Cam, at one point).
Dylan Bennett: Sarah's husband is the new editor-in-chief of the town's major paper. However his caring, sweet persona starts to fade bit by bit after the killings begin. Dylan seems to care more about his next story than the real lives behind it, wonder why?
Cam Henry (Steve Byers – Smallville, The Man in the High Castle): Sarah's childhood friend is a sweet guy and a well-liked Waterbury policeman. A bit too sweet and well-liked to me.
June Henry (Jessica Sipos – UnREAL, Cold Deck): Cam's wife works as a paramedic. There's nothing wrong with her - which is weird, right?
Alan Henry (Rob Stewart – Nikita, Suits): Cam's father and the local pastor was the only witness and survivor of the original massacre. The strange thing about Alan is his regular "counseling" visits to the man who scarred his face for life that Halloween night.
The main cast of Slasher - in order of my personal suspicions: Robin, Dylan, Cam, Alan, Iain, Justin, June, Sarah, and Heather.
Robin Turner (Christopher Jacot – Eureka, Rogue): One-half of Waterbury's top power couple, Robin works as a real estate agent (that's how he met Sarah). He's friendly, bitchy, and rolling in dough. For Robin, the copycat killings are bad for business... So why doesn't that seem to bother him?
Justin Faysal (Mark Ghanime` – Soldiers of the Apocalypse, Helix): Robin's (not better) half, built his real estate empire by stepping on the little people. I don't know about this guy, but the fact that his husband doesn't either is enough to raise eyebrows.
Heather Peterson (Erin Karpluk – Supernatural, Reasonable Doubt): Once a happy-go-lucky wife and mother, Heather kind of lost her mind after the (unsolved) disappearance of her teenage daughter five years ago. Since then, she's become a drunk and delusional shell of her former self. The perfect cover perhaps?
Iain Vaughn (Dean McDermott – Earth: Final Conflict, Chopped Canada): Apart from his obvious indifference to Heather, Waterbury's chief of police is a tough-talking, no-nonsense dude - you know, the kind that seems like they're about to snap.
Everyone in this town has a past. Not everyone has a future.
As a huge horror/thriller fan (name one film I haven't seen, I dare you) I thoroughly enjoyed Slasher. Slasher doesn't feel like a TV show, as the Executioner only goes after those who have committed grievous sins, each episode is more like a 60-minute movie, with its own sub-plot and mysterious backstory.
After finishing season one, I am definitely hooked. I won't give away the ending, but I will tell you I was right.
Well, I was right about one of the suspects...
Release Date (Netflix Australia): 04 Mar 2016
On DVD ( RLJ Entertainment) 03 August 2016
Run Time: 60 min
Rating: 18 & over.
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Mystery
Director: Craig David Wallace
Creator/Writer: Aaron Martin
Starring: Katie McGrath, Brandon Jay McLaren, Steve Byers, Patrick Garrow, Christopher Jacot, Robin Turner, and Dean McDermott.
