Slasher: Flesh & Blood Like a Deranged Soap Opera with David Cronenberg to Boot

By Thom Ernst

Rating: A-

Hollywood Suite held a drive-in preview of the first two episodes of Slasher: Flesh & Blood. I considered going, I love the drive-in, and I love the Slasher series. But I've seen Flesh & Blood, or as I call it, Slasher season 4. Not that watching the series again would be a problem; I've watched all three previous seasons at least twice, and there is no reason I won't do the same with Flesh & Blood.

My hope in going to the drive-in is to observe others’ reactions to a program that frequently has me reeling in astonished but appreciative shock. But a drive-in isn't the place to people watch, at least not without raising concern. And, I would have to go alone because, in my household, I'm the only one who would watch a show called Slasher. Alone is fine when going to the theatre, not so fine when going to a drive-In.

The key reason for staying home is to curb my inevitable frustration over knowing what comes next and then watching people having to leave before it happens. Sure, there's plenty of guts and drama to hook you in the first two episodes of Flesh & Blood, but if you want to see people freak out, it's the last two episodes they need to see.

But, of course, no one's going to release the final chapters of a series that pulls you along with the promise of a killer reveal and at least one over-the-top WTF bit of carnage per episode. Even so, I just want to be in a room of people when the colon scene happens—and that's not a spoiler; it's a teaser.

Flesh & Blood is aptly titled, combing the saga of a wealthy family headed by Spencer, a wicked patriarch played by David Cronenberg. Family members are systematically knocked off in increasingly cruel ways. As each episode passes, the choices whittle down (some literally) as to which of them is the killer. I've seen all four seasons of Slasher and never once correctly guessed the culprit.

At first, casting Cronenberg feels like a mistake, particularly during flashback scenes showing

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Spencer as a younger man. Spencer preaches a philosophy of cruelty and survival of the evilest. But Cronenberg is too Cronenberg and, despite being once labeled The Baron of Blood, he is an inherently decent man. Even beneath the personification of soulless evil, Cronenberg's decency comes through—at one point, that decency serves the script well.

But decent people creating nasty things on screen is one of those behind-the-scenes truths to the horror genre; Cronenberg is one of them. Canadian novelist Andrew Pyper is a notoriously good guy, and I've heard terrific things about Guillermo del Toro, as well as Wes Craven. And I was surprised after watching In the Realm of the Senses by its director, the late Nagisa Ôshima's gentle demeanour and kindness. (Yes, I'm name-dropping. You would, too, if you met Nagisa Ôshima).

Slasher films are fun, and no one knows that better than producer Aaron Martin. Hard to fathom that Martin is the same dude who helped bring Being Erika to the screen (unless Being Ericka isn't, as I remember). I have been a fan of the Slasher series since season one. When a season ends, I immediately go into withdrawal, pining for the next season.

Flesh & Blood is directed by Adam MacDonald, whose film Backcountry has sworn me off backpacking. MacDonald has the infectious energy—he reminds me of Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition—to fuel the series with enough controlled mania to make Eli Roth squirm.

Slasher: Flesh & Blood is essentially an eight-hour movie; time enough for the character's death to mean something even as it arouses squeamish thrills. Martin, along with co-writers Ian Carpenter and Lucie Pagé, among others, plays with the tropes of soap operas as much they do with the tropes of slasher films. At times the story veers wildly into the absurd, but those are the times to remind yourself that Flesh & Blood is not Mindhunter.

Flesh & Blood is Agatha Christie gone mad. It's Jason Voorhees on the set of All My Children. It's Friday the 13th in designer clothes and Knives Out with all knives in.

It's Saw with a plot.

In my household, I'm the one who watches Slasher while others tout the excellence of something they call Bridgerton and Succession. They don't get it, and there is nothing about Slasher that I can point to so they'll understand. In fact, anything I might point to would only further damn me.

Slasher is wrong: wonderfully, hysterically, horrifically wrong. And this fourth season Slasher: Flesh & Blood is about as wrong as I could imagine a series can get. But I don't know the creators. Maybe they'll outdo themselves with Slasher 5.

But I know that I'll be watching just in case they do.

Slasher: Flesh & Blood. Directed by Adam MacDonald. Starring David Cronenber, Paula Brancati, Jefferson Brown, Patrice Goodman, Sabrina Grdevich, and Christopher Jacot. Available on Hollywood Suite's 2000s channel. Episodes will be available on Hollywood Suite On Demand the Wednesday following their premiere.