Slaxx

"How many more pairs of jeans are there?"

"175..."

"What if more of them......are alive??"

Slaxx is a film with the most ridiculous premise of the year so far but if you just go with the flow you'll have fun and maybe even leave with a new outlook about the comfy clothes you're watching in. Or else you'll throw the remote at the TV and curse my name for recommending this film. 

Launch day is almost here and the employees of CCC are at fever pitch. The product is a pair of jeans that comes embedded with super shaper technology where once they're on they'll mould to any body type. Everyone wants them. The CEO knows it and demand is going to be through the roof. Insta-fluencers (ugh) will be arriving soon but first it's Libby's (a likable Romane Denis) turn to introduce herself as the newest CCC employee. She lives for the company's clothing and working for them is her dream. A dream that fast becomes a nightmare when she releases the jeans have a life of their own and are starting to rip her co-workers apart.

Yep. Killer jeans. 2018's In Fabric had a dress that brought it's owners bad luck but killer jeans is a new one on me. Before you dismiss the film outright you'll be surprised to hear it's actually a pretty decent satire on consumerism and big business as well as a gorefest. It's as blunt as a 304A bus to the chops but it gets it's message across clearly. Money is king. Success is key. People don't matter a bit in business. They're just, literally, meat for the grinder.  CCC ( clearly modelled on Gap) claims all it's products are ethically made, from renewable sources, by employees who are always treated right. As Slaxx moves on we have confirmed what the dogs on the streets already know about big businesses; everything they say and do is built on lies. Lies that are about to backfire massively, and bloodily.

It's a slasher movie with denim instead of hockey masks and even though all the tropes of the genre are present and it hits every beat you'd expect it has fun doing so. It's characters are sketched in just enough that you'll know who shall bite the dust first and last, who you want to live and who you want to die screaming. Chief among them are bossman Craig (Brett Donahue), a company yesman who'll have your skin crawling, an instagram queen who's comeuppance will make you howl, especially if the whole influencer thing gets on your goat, and Shruthi (Sehar Bhojani), the company veteran who's initially a bit of a wagon to Libby and who's ancestry holds a clue to solving the whole bloody mess. A mess that for once feels, not quite justified, but understandable. A mess that's also lovingly carried out with nicely gooey, gory practical effects. There's no CGI blood here and it gives the whole film a bit of oomph that's missing from a lot of latter day horrors.

Once again, yes, Slaxx is a film about killer jeans but it's also a film that condemns capitalism and consumerism. It condemns the audience too. We try not to think about where our clothes come from and who makes them but here you'll get not so much a knowing wink but a kick in the arse instead. Writer/director Elza Kephart's blunt points kick their way through all the silliness.

Slaxx is streaming on Shudder now.