If a cheesy slasher flick was made in the early 1990’s and sold only in sex stores across the country, it would look a lot like FoxTrot Productions Casting Couch Slaughter. I don’t know what the fuck I just watched, but I give the cast/crew a ton of credit for achieving their goal and completing some sort of passion project. In the film, written by Krystal Shenk, Emir Skalonja, Jacob Hodgson, Cody Wight and Heather Dunham, two porn directors attempt to make “the greatest porno ever.” They begin conducting special casting couch interviews, only to find the process disrupted by a power-drill wielding serial killer. All sorts of bodily-fluids will flow in the latest picture from directors Krystal Shenk and Emir Skalonja. Casting Couch Slaughter is currently available to stream on Vimeo and physical copies are being pressed courtesy of a successful crowdfunding campaign. So, here’s why you should check out this new movie.
Casting Couch Slaughter appeals to a very specific niche in horror – low-budget sleaze-lovers. A lot of people will turn their nose up at this title due to its content, which clears the board in terms of definition. It’s the perfect mix of soft-core porn and a grindhouse picture from The Golden Age of Horror. Made for just $5,000, Casting Couch Slaughter is rough around the edges based on today’s standards, but it was supposed to be that way. I think this title would look weird if it was ultra-polished considering its atmosphere and nostalgic bits. It’s hazy and lingers to long and contains some rough cuts, but that appeals to the indie scene of decades gone by that this title fits so delicately into. Produced by Jacob Hodgson, Peter Hopkins, Krystal Shenk and Emir Skalonja, Casting Couch Slaughter‘s biggest highlights are the outlandish behavior and the old-school special effects.
Again, people are going to look at this review and say, “really? you liked this?” And, yeah, I actually did. It’s not really my demographic, but neither is Get Out – and I still praised that movie. Sometimes you have to look at a movie and admire it for what it’s supposed to be, not what you want it to be. That’s the case with Casting Couch Slaughter. It spoke to me as a man who’s continuously horny and as a horror fan who wishes he was alive a decade sooner. I was able to overlook its pitfalls and errors to appreciate it as a title that dares to be different. And, honestly, it’s just so fucking bizarre that I had to watch it in complete awe. Sure, I wish it had a little more traditional slasher elements to it, but I’ll take what I can get. And, surprisingly, the acting wasn’t absolutely terrible, either!
Emir Skalonja, Cody Wight, Kristina Santiago, Jacob Hodgson, Heather Dunham, Michael Balch and Mac Brewer star in Casting Couch Slaughter – now streaming on Vimeo! Final Score: 8 out of 10.
