Slayers
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Slayers
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Slayers is a horror/comedy about a vampire hunter (Thomas Jane) who crosses paths with a team of social media influencers. It's not particularly scary or deep, but it's spot-on in its depiction of social media, and it's likable overall, though full of mature content. Violence includes vampire attacks, lots of blood/blood spatters, dead bodies, fighting, and stabbing, etc. Crossbows and guns are used. Language is extremely strong and nearly constant, with countless uses of "f--k," "motherf----r," "c--ksucker," "s--t," "p---y," "a--hole," and more. There's also sex-related dialogue and brief, sex-related images in a montage. Teens are briefly shown drinking, the main character drinks beer throughout and smokes, a younger character vapes, and there's other background drinking and smoking. Social media platforms are referenced throughout.
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What's the Story?
In SLAYERS, Elliot Jones (Thomas Jane) became a vampire hunter after losing his teen daughter to a bloodsucker. Now he's on the trail of Steven Rektor (Adam Ambruso), a powerful, centuries-old vampire illuminati. Elliot gets his big chance when Rektor and his wife, Beverly (Malin Akerman), invite an immensely popular group of social media influencers known as the Stream Team, to their spacious compound. Elliot tries to warn the streamers -- who include Jack (Jack Donnelly); Jack's fiancee, Liz (Lydia Hearst); Jack's gamer sister, Flynn (Kara Hayward); and party girl Jules (Abigail Breslin) -- about a potential trap. And, indeed, something fishy is going on involving a new vaccine that promises to make humans immune to all disease. With the others falling under the influence of Rektor's wealth and glamour, Flynn is the only one who believes Elliot. So it's up to the two of them to try to save humanity.
Is It Any Good?
Though it's fairly shallow and exceedingly busy, this fun horror-comedy uses an old-style movie hero to cheerfully skewer social media and all its foibles, with vampires thrown in for good measure. Slayers starts off at full-speed with tons of images and graphics flying at viewers while explaining the history of vampires and vampire hunters. Fortunately, it's accompanied by the snarling, seen-it-all voice of Jane's Elliot Jones, who's in the same mold as Kurt Russell's Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China. Elliot cuts through the chaos and establishes himself as our rock, an anchor we can trust.
The younger cast members are just as well-played, hyper-focused on image and branding but still coming across as humans with human concerns. Hayward's Flynn only winds up siding with Elliot because of her natural pessimism (she has a built-in pouty sneer), whereas the others are too easily blinded by money and fame. The handling of social media here feels dead-on, too, which isn't always easy to do. (Other influencers, commenting on the vampire chaos, are seen getting distracted by their own advertising.) The vampire stuff isn't terribly fresh or scary, but the movie's real concerns, i.e. digital disengagement, hit home vividly.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Slayers' violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
What does the movie have to say about social media? Are popular influencers idolized? Are they ridiculed? How?
Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?
How does the movie depict drinking, smoking, and vaping? Are they glamorized? Are there consequences? Why is that important?
What's interesting about vampires? Why do we still tell stories about them after so long?
Movie Details
- In theaters: October 21, 2022
- On DVD or streaming: October 21, 2022
- Cast: Thomas Jane, Kara Hayward, Abigail Breslin
- Director: K. Asher Levin
- Studio: The Avenue
- Genre: Horror
- Run time: 88 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: bloody violence, and language throughout
- Last updated: January 24, 2023
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