Plots(1)
Have you ever stuffed an entire sandwich into your mouth? Have you ever poured a bottle of alcohol over your head? Furthermore, have you ever been stalked by an unending evil in the claustrophobic confines of a righteously depressing haunted condo? In slow motion? No? Then welcome to Sledgehammer! Heralding the revolutionary roar of shot on video (SOV) horror at the dawn of the 1980s, Sledgehammer is the gore-soaked saga of seven party animals, their trip to a haunted house, and their ensuing battle with an ultra-creepy, flannel-wearing, sledgehammer-wielding behemoth. In other words, it's everything you want out of a SOV slasher...complete with Bill Murray impersonations! Helmed by writer-director David A. Prior (Killer Workout, Deadly Prey) and starring Ted Prior, David's iconic trash-superstar sibling, Sledgehammer is SOV nirvana, a paradoxical wonderland of outrageous hilarity, cool sweatpants, and genuinely unsettling chills. Appropriately staking its claim as the very first SOV horror film produced implicitly for the home video market, Sledgehammer joins Boardinghouse, Black Devil Doll From Hell, and Video Violence 2 as a bona fide cornerstone in grungy, homemade horror. The synths are thick. The sex is weird. The food fight is superb. So what are you waiting for? Get PRIOR-itized! NOW! (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (1)
Sledgehammer is a merciless exercise in patience that will make even the biggest fans of the Prior brothers cry. A line from the parody series Darkplace – “We tried to keep the slow motion away from the dialogue as much as possible, but anything without dialogue was considered for slow motion” – becomes a monstrous reality here. Sledgehammer could have been a relatively entertaining medium-length slasher flick, but the master decided that it would be a full-length feature. Despite that, it’s nice to see that even bunglers like Mr. Prior can gradually learn their craft to some extent and learn from their mistakes, though not in any kind of impressive way.
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