SLAXX IS STACKED

Sehar Bhojani and Romane Denis in Slaxx

When you read the synopsis of this film Slaxx many would probably take an easy pass but you might want to think twice about this film.  To think that a killer pair of jeans would do just that literally to the staff of a corporate clothing store would be absurd.  That is not the case as this Frontiere’s project that was pitched back in 2017 has been tailored or hemmed to the vision of director Elza Kephart.   Being critically acclaimed for her first feature film Graveyard Alive now teams up with producer Anne-Marie Gélinas and writer Patricia Gomez to bring you the dark horse of this year’s Fantasia Film Festival.

The premise of the film is pretty simple and the formula works.  A young tween named Libby, played Romane Denis, starts the first day of her dream job at an internationally recognized corporate clothing store called CCC in which they resemble the Apple of clothing because of their similarity in their mission, values and work ethic.   They are known for their environmentally sustainable, non-GMO, sweatshop-free production of clothing and Libby tries to fit in right away with her new co-workers and of course her boss Craig, played by Brett Donahue, who is also known as the Robot King.

Libby could not have picked a better to become part of her new work family as they are about to unveil their new revolutionary pair of jeans called Super Shapers that are gender-inclusive and made to fit any size and shape.  Top fashion influencer Peyton Jules, played by Erica Anderson, is also set to make an appearance at the store to do a YouTube review of the jeans.  As they are all set to make these major changes before their Monday Madness event where the jeans will be finally going on sale, a possessed pair of revolutionary jeans starts to set its prey on the staff of CCC one by one as they all want to try them on.  The store, unfortunately, has to go on lockdown to get their store ready for this massive sale and for many of us we are all aware of how lockdowns go especially when a killer pair of jeans is out to get you.

Kenny Wong as Lord

What we love about this film Slaxx here on FERNTV is that there is never a dull moment and that it is filled with stimulation.  There is much comedy that happens between Libby and her Indian counterpart Shruti, played by Sehar Bhojani, that is Judd Apatow– like and fulfills the soul.  There is a lot of blood that is shed amongst Libby’s co-workers such as the sexy Jemma, played by Hanneke Talbot and the corporate brown nose, Lord, played by hilariously by Kenny Wong who shows us his diverse range of acting whom we spoke to here on FERNTV when we were covering Dystonia.  Then we were so surprised to learn that the CEO of CCC is Harold Landsgrove who is played by Stephen Bogaert of whom we have also interviewed before here on FERNTV for The Hidden Valley at TIFF.  He cleans us well for the role almost to be appearing like Tim Cook and getting his staff motivated about the next new product.

Then there are the special effects lead by Jean-Mathieu Bérubé, Carlo Harrietha and Marie-Claude Labrecque who made the possessed pair of jeans a slasher and the main yet comedic focus of the film.  The Super Shapers is diverse, frightening and creepy and sneaky for the most part as you can see itself sliming its way to its next kill through security cams.  If it weren’t for these amazing special effects, Slaxx would have been a total bust and would have not upheld the film as being silly.  But since the special effects were on point, director Elza Kephart was able to bridge the gap between horror and comedy with such precision and finesse.  Slaxx is downright fun and has exceeded all expectations.