In SLAUGHTERHOUSE RULEZ (2018, streaming on Netflix), troubled teens attending a dysfunctional elite boarding school find themselves fighting for their lives after a nearby fracking operation unleashes subterranean monsters. Another horror-comedy creation of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ fame, SLAUGHTERHOUSE RULEZ doesn’t accomplish much as either horror or comedy, resulting in a passable if forgettable movie, one you’d put in the “turn off your brain and kill some time” category.
The film focuses on Wallace, a teenager from a working-class family given the chance to enroll at an exclusive public school called Slaughterhouse, an opulent institution oppressed by brutal traditions. As he struggles to fit in, a nearby fracking operation unleashes a swarm of hungry monsters from the depths of the earth, and now it’s up to a small group of teens to save the day, with a little help from a teacher (Pegg) and a local environmental protester (Frost).
Writing this, I realize this is going to be a short review. It’s not very funny, lacking the humorous charm of Pegg and Frost’s previous work, and the monsters are hardly menacing. As usual, Pegg plays his role with plenty of raw nerves, being a teacher whose love interest, another teacher, left England to do volunteer work in the Sudan, and he can’t handle the separation. I kind of wanted to see THAT movie, him and Frost doing their thing, and leave out those meddling kids who are likeable enough but acting out a plot that is mostly going through the motions.
Anyway, again, SLAUGHTERHOUSE RULEZ is fine. It was nothing special for me, but it made a passable watch on yet another night in lockdown.
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