Review of Slasher by Allison Moore -- Part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays

From Scream to Scary Movie, to the reinventions of the Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween franchises, there seems to be no end to the analyzing, satirizing, commenting, and reinventing the blood and gore movies that arose in the 1970's and were perfected in the early 80's.

With the genre done to death, perhaps the next logical place to move the commentary was to the stage. Allison Moore's Slasher, part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays, details what happens when Sheena McKinney, an attractive young waitress agrees to be part of a low budget slasher film being filmed in Texas by Marc Hunter, a director whose ego far outstrips his talent. By accepting the job, Sheena raises the ire of her mother, Frances, who finds the entire genre degrading. Frances, a drug addicted and scooter-bound feminist, is so incensed by her daughter taking the job that she vows to take her revenge on the director and his production.

Although there are moments of laugh out loud humor and a few tense moments in Slasher, much of the play seems to fall flat. It isn't clear what Slasher wants to be. Slasher touches on radical feminists, slasher movies, the male ego, low budget filmmaking, and radical religious groups, but the barbs are all simplistic or have been done better elsewhere. If it is trying to be a dark comedy, with the exception of one very radical shift in tone near the end, there isn't much darkness to be found here. If it is trying to be simply a comedy with slasher movies as a backdrop, it doesn't sustain enough humor throughout its length to truly make it amusing. And for a play set in the world of horror, there is precious little suspense about what is going to happen.

For the most part, the actors are appealing, if appearing to suffer from preview night jitters. As Frances, the crazed feminist mother, Lusia Strus (from the movie 50 First Dates) is truly unhinged, having lots of fun with her role as she pops pills, drives an electric scooter like its a NASCAR, and yelling at everyone in sight. As director Marc Hunter, Mark Setlock does an expert job of playing a delusional director who sees this movie as his last shot at salvaging a forgetable career. Ample support is given by Christy McIntosh as a roving band of characters, bringing a wacky spin to everyone from the head of a radical religous group to several characters within the Slasher movie itself. Also amusing are Lucas Papaelias (School of Rock), who suggests a sweeter Aniston Kutcher in his part as the clueless horror fanboy/ assistant director, and Katharine Moeller as Sheena's sister Hildy. The only real problem in last night's performance was Nicole Rodenburg as the lead character, Sheena McKinney. While Rodenburg brings a lot of energy to the part, the performance itself doesn't have much focus. It isn't clear at any point who Sheena really is or why we should care. She simply seems to be someone that things happen to. Its not clear how much of this is actually Rodenburg's fault and how much lies on the page. Perhaps it was just a major case of nerves, as it appeared on several occasions that her Texas accent faded in and out, and that she was trying more to remember lines than act them out in some spots.

It is perhaps unfair to judge a play from a preview performance. The rhythms and familiarity that help a play gel over time are not there, and the inexperience of actors with a work can sometimes make the work and/or their performances seem weaker than they might otherwise be. Most of the audience last night seemed to genuinely love the performance and the play, and certainly there was enough there to suggest that Slasher will be much more entertaining by the end of its run. But overall, I couldn't help but wish there was something more there than what I watched.