Slotherhouse (2023) [REVIEW] | Slay Queen

While i’m sure i can find more old 80s school themed/adjacent slasher, this September we’re doing something a bit more recent for a change, from a chronological standpoint, by unearthing from my Blu-Ray collection 2023’s Slotherhouse.

And yes, indeed, this is a 10/10 title for you killer animal slasher film.

It really is indeed about a killer sloth, and the house is not any common house, it’s a sorority house, where Emily Young, a college student brings a three-toed sloth from the jungle, thinking it can work as a “house mascot” and hence help her be elected as the sorority’s president.

But of course things go awry as a series of sorority girls is being killed, and all the evidence strongly implicates it’s actually the cute sloth the one doing all the murders…

I’ll be honest, the promo material made it look like it was chomping off the modern “retro 80s trend”, specifically aping Happy Death Day…. but i was mistaken, this isn’t the case, as Slotherhouse – aside taking place in modern times – is oddly not even that much interested in aping other slasher films. Not too specifically, anyway.

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[EXPRESSO] Forgotten Island (2026) | Filipino Anime Girl Rock

Since this came out first, the question arising is if this or Disney’s Hexen will be better…. though frankly even from the trailers these two movies don’t seem to share anything besides having young teen female protagonists (and in turn being aimed at a similar demographic).

Set in the Philippines, it follows two girls, Jo and Raissa, whom have been BBF since forever, but find their friendship cracking under pressure as Raissa is gonna go to college abroad, while Jo would like for her to remain, but the night before the flight, they find a strange seashell medallion washed ashore, and the end up whisked away on the island of Nakali, where all the mythological creatures they were told about in stories by Jo’s grandma, actually do exist.

And then they have to piece back what they did last night, since don’t remember anything, in a “The Hangover if it was PG” kinda way… but this movie is actually pretty good, with likeable character, it even manages to have a symphatetic villain without completely undermining its menace, and being rooted in Filipino folklore gives it own distinct personality.

It it looked a bit familiar, it’s because its handled by the same director and team of Puss In Boots 2, and you can tell as they cranked up the anime inspired stylization even higher, on top of still feeling the heavy influence of Sony’s Across The Spiderverse (and K-Pop Demon Hunters to an extent), and it makes for a very visually striking and beautifully animated film that still feels like a Dreamworks production.

Though i feel they could have “toned down the anime” a notch, and the narration would have benefitted from actually slowing down, instead of catering to the perception of younger (or adult) audiences being “brainrotted”.

Still pretty good.

[EXPRESSO] Kensuke’s Kingdom (2023) | Island Survival Of Age

While i wasn’t able to see the French animated film Arco, i was able to see this one, Kensuke’s Kingdom, which actually debutted at Annecy 3 years ago, but just now is in theathers here.

Better late than never, i guess.

Based on a children novel of the same name by Michael Molpurgo, Kensuke’s Kingdom is the story of Michael, whom is travelling with his family in a worlwide sailing trip, when he and his dog Stella (sneaked aboard by the boy) fall overboard during a storm, only to find themselves swept into an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean, which turns out to be inhabited by Kensuke, a WWII japanese struggler from Nagasaki….

I’ll be honest, i decided to see this mostly because i felt like spotting a unicorn when i saw the trailer for a modern animated film actually done in 2D animation that isn’t spun from some popular battle shonen manga, and indeed the 2D animation is as gorgeous as it looks, expecially the backgrounds are amazing, though i find it funny that this also shares an island survival theme with that Ghibli coproduced French-Belgian film from 2016, The Red Turtle.

Most likely a coincidence since this one takes more stylistical clues from French-Belgian comics and it’s more a family film, down to being a fairly typical coming of age story at heart, complete with the boy and his dog, but it’s done fairly well, because you end up caring for the characters, and the themes of friendship and caring for nature don’t feel preachy because the movie also doesn’t shy away from darker scenes to balance things out, and it doesn’t gloss over Kensuke’s backstory and what it obviously entails.

Overall a familiar but well done coming of age story that’s moving AND sports amazing visuals.

[EXPRESSO] The Colors Within (2024) | Catholicspotting

From Naoko Yamada comes The Colors Within, which in many ways looks kinda basic, especially compared to the director’s previous, more well known film, the “A Silent Voice” film adaptation. This one it’s just about Totsuko, a music loving girl that has the capacity to see the people’s emotions emanating as “colors”, and when searching for Kimi, a girl whose “colors” dazzled her before but isn’t showing at their catholic all girls school anymore, he meets with a young boy, Rui, also into music, and on the spurt of the moment, they “decide” to form a band, practicing in an abandoned old church on a island.

There is a bit more to this, but that’s about it, being a fairly straight story about teenage friendship through the love of music, there’s no supernatural horror or sci-fi twist, or any nasty bullshit, you know where it’s going and there is no deep focus on the “process” for example, because it centers mostly on the friendship between these 3 characters (with some LBGT undertones), it wants to do that, to depict the teen awkwardness of many istances as well as the genuine passions, troubles and tribulations, which include religion, as Totsuko especially is fairly devout, but the catholic theming isn’t criticized or promoted, it’s just a part of the characters lives in one way or another.

It’s incredibly wholesome without being gratitously saccharine, it doesn’t feel the need to justify being this jovial and earnest tale of friendship and music by being gritty out of nowhere, and the execution (alongside the excellent animation handled by Science Saru) it’s great, it’s hard not to be engaged and share in its the movie sweetness

Also, gotta give props for the wholly unexpected, cute and non random as it seems instrumental rendition of “Born Slippy”.

[EXPRESSO] Alice, Darling (2022) | “The Truth Goes Unspoken”

As with most releases that distributors are afraid won’t do well, i had to catch this one in theathers not even a week after it was out, quickly before the week’s new releases would inevitably push it out of the schedule altogether, we gotta make space for a russo-hungarian cheap looking animated kids movie about a fuckin rat.

And i’m glad i did, because Alice, Darling tells the story of a woman in an abusive relationship, Alice (Anna Kendrick), that decides to go with her friends to celebrate one of them hitting the 30s, but to do so lies to her strange fianceè because she’s afraid of what he might say or do if he finds out. Or more likely when he finds out, as we slowly learn the kind of abusive, manipulating piece of shit he is, as Alice manages to eventually confront and escape from his web of calculated guilt tripping ways, and her friends also become aware of the situation, feeling like they could have done something better if they actually knew a long time ago.

What is notable is that despite the trailer (or the tags for the review, for that matter), Alice, Darling doesn’t have a “hook” in the way of epitomizing this via a horror or otherwise explicit and graphic angle. This is a slow burner without exploitation style trappings, the psychological abuse and violence is comunicated mostly visually, through timely silences, implications, the poignancy in the unsaid, and there’s no deliberaly exaggerated “setpiece”, as the movie depicts with success the many little things that seem innocuous or benign because the abused has accepted them as the new de facto normality, how they creep slowly over time unquestioned and can fester into a person.

A very solid, worthwhile feature debut for director Mary Nighy.