‘Slotherhouse’ Movie Review: Killer Sloth + Sorority = Absurd Fun
Photo from Bloody Disgusting
From Jeremy Kibler
Just when you think you’ve seen every possible kind of slasher come down the pike, there’s Slotherhouse, the most high-concept of high-concept movies that delivers precisely what it promises. It is, indeed, about a sloth clawing its way through a sorority house. Beyond being a buzzed-about trailer or just merely an outrageous concept, the whole movie is actually as much absurd fun as it sounds. It’s not going to live up to a gore-loving horror fan’s dream, but Slotherhouse—hah, that title will get you every time—is just about as cheerfully dumb and amusing as you want it to be with a lot of homemade charm. Also, a new movie villain emerges in Alpha the Sloth and may give M3gan a run for her money.
After an unexpectedly clever Panama-set opening involving our wild sloth, an alligator, and poachers, Slotherhouse plays like an earnest sorority comedy as much as Happy Death Day does before the time-loop killer shows up. We meet sweet, gets-along-with-everyone Emily Young (Lisa Ambalavanar). Like her late mother, she’s a Sigma Lambda Theta sister. Unlike her late mother, she’s not the sorority president — well, not yet. In the running for re-election is ruthlessly bitchy president Brianna (Sydney Craven). When Emily happens to meet an (illegal) owner of exotic animals, she’s convinced that a cuddly sloth as a sorority mascot is just what she needs to gain even more popularity and snag the tiara from Brianna for president. Dubbed “Alpha,” the sloth is quite an extraordinary animal (to the point of blowing a whistle during dodgeball, making its own social media account and driving a sports car). Once other sisters start going missing, Emily will be the last to realize they’re all at the hands of, as one of the sisters says, “a cute Chucky.” You almost feel bad for Alpha, having to live with these cruel, pretty young women.
Director Matthew Goodhue and writer Bradley Fowler never pretend that their movie is a meditation on grief or anything less than ridiculous. Goodhue does whittle down the majority of his furry killer’s body count to a montage, but there’s still some tame macabre fun to be had. Roofies in a sister’s beer? Check! Zip up a sister in her sleeping bag and roll her off the roof? Check! Like the raising of a killer’s knife-wielding hand in a lot of slasher flicks, Alpha very slowly comes down with her claw for the first strike. For posterity, Alpha even starts posting her kills on her Instagram stand-in with the hashtag #LastSelfies.
The cast wisely plays the material with a straight face, never winking that they know they’re in a comedy, but Slotherhouse never takes itself seriously. A character even gets to say the title of the movie, and everyone hates them for it. A “last words” speech by the house mother Ms. Mayflower (stand-up comedian Tiff Stevenson) is hilariously sad and just needs to be seen.
Lisa Ambalavanar is likable and sympathetic as Emily, who learns there’s always a price when we go against our moral compass (that price being a killer sloth). Don’t worry IAPF (International Anti-Poaching Foundation) crowd: there is also a voice of reason against plucking a wild animal from its natural habitat in Emma’s true best friend Madison (Olivia Rouyre). Emily’s other best friend, the girl-crazy Zenny (Bianca Beckles-Rose), could have easily become obnoxious, but she becomes an endearing scene-stealer. Most importantly of all, Alpha is exactly what she should be: a practical puppet and not some CG atrocity.
You’re either going to just go with it or not. Slotherhouse isn’t a great movie, at least not in the traditional sense, but it’s more fun than a PG-13 Killer Sloth movie ever needed to be.
Rating: 3/5
Slotherhouse hits theaters on August 30, 2023.
