Having followed the social media postings and rave enthusiasms of a couple of cast members from this, I took a gamble and pre-ordered the DVD. In a sign that the postal service isn't a complete waste of time, I got a film on a Saturday that wasn't due out until the following Monday. So that made my day.
Having been filmed in 2017 but not released into cinema until late 2018, Slaughterhouse Rulez was painted by said cast members as being the best thing since sliced bread. The basic principle which as it turned out became relatively topical is the supposed dangers of fracking under buildings. Whether one agrees with such a principle and the methods is for them to decide; news events at the time of writing suggest that fracking is responsible for mini earthquakes. Slaughterhouse Rulez suggests otherwise that the principle disrupts a network of underground "monsters" from an underground labyrinth underneath the grounds of the school featured in the film and so things sort of go from there really.
Unfortunately we have problems already because that principle only covers the last 45 minutes or so of the film. We seem for some reason to have two films stuck together, one of life at Slaugherhouse, the other of getting eaten by monsters at and around Slaughterhouse. The first half of the film supposedly builds up these characters and the fracking and the back story, while later a bunch of monsters come out to play while everybody screams the place down and runs like hell in the other direction.
The pacing and editing of the film particularly in the first half seems to leave a bit to be desired; it comes to something when I can find stuff that's better edited on YouTube by people who do it on a cheap laptop in the back bedroom. I get the feeling something's missing but I'm not sure what it is; some of the subplots were underdeveloped, maybe that was it. The bullying and mentoring of Wootton in particular seemed thrown in for the heck of it. Kit Connor must have drawn the short straw because he spent the first half of the movie having the crap severely bullied out of him, but his character Wootton (and most of the others as well) went to waste later and Connor seemed to just be floating around in his character's wellies of all things trying not to get eaten. That's not Connor's fault, he just did what he was asked to, that's a fault of the writing and/or editing. Asa Butterfield seems to be "in" at the moment, if only for the fact he can still get away with looking like a 14 year old in stuff like this.
Rulez doesn't quite know what it wants to be or what it wants to do. Now I appreciate the cast members I followed were always going to sing this thing's praises to the heavens and back but from an independent point of view this needed more work, it was half baked in many areas. Best piece of advise I would give is to go in not expecting much and you can never be disappointed. If you overlook the flaws and the crap editing and take it for what it is, its quirky and offbeat and it is watchable, its not a total trainwreck.
Having been filmed in 2017 but not released into cinema until late 2018, Slaughterhouse Rulez was painted by said cast members as being the best thing since sliced bread. The basic principle which as it turned out became relatively topical is the supposed dangers of fracking under buildings. Whether one agrees with such a principle and the methods is for them to decide; news events at the time of writing suggest that fracking is responsible for mini earthquakes. Slaughterhouse Rulez suggests otherwise that the principle disrupts a network of underground "monsters" from an underground labyrinth underneath the grounds of the school featured in the film and so things sort of go from there really.
Unfortunately we have problems already because that principle only covers the last 45 minutes or so of the film. We seem for some reason to have two films stuck together, one of life at Slaugherhouse, the other of getting eaten by monsters at and around Slaughterhouse. The first half of the film supposedly builds up these characters and the fracking and the back story, while later a bunch of monsters come out to play while everybody screams the place down and runs like hell in the other direction.
The pacing and editing of the film particularly in the first half seems to leave a bit to be desired; it comes to something when I can find stuff that's better edited on YouTube by people who do it on a cheap laptop in the back bedroom. I get the feeling something's missing but I'm not sure what it is; some of the subplots were underdeveloped, maybe that was it. The bullying and mentoring of Wootton in particular seemed thrown in for the heck of it. Kit Connor must have drawn the short straw because he spent the first half of the movie having the crap severely bullied out of him, but his character Wootton (and most of the others as well) went to waste later and Connor seemed to just be floating around in his character's wellies of all things trying not to get eaten. That's not Connor's fault, he just did what he was asked to, that's a fault of the writing and/or editing. Asa Butterfield seems to be "in" at the moment, if only for the fact he can still get away with looking like a 14 year old in stuff like this.
Rulez doesn't quite know what it wants to be or what it wants to do. Now I appreciate the cast members I followed were always going to sing this thing's praises to the heavens and back but from an independent point of view this needed more work, it was half baked in many areas. Best piece of advise I would give is to go in not expecting much and you can never be disappointed. If you overlook the flaws and the crap editing and take it for what it is, its quirky and offbeat and it is watchable, its not a total trainwreck.