Director – Peter McKeirnon (Dead Town, The Dog Walker)
Starring – Andrew Butterworth (The Dog Walker, Dead Town), Neil Gallagher (Good Tidings, Coronation Street), and Michael Hagen (Creed, Queer as Folk)
Release Date – 2017
Rating – 3.5/5
I love the stupid side of no budget horror. As most of you may have noticed, I review a lot of movies with some crazy titles. Movies like Death Toilet, The Living Placenta, Slimebox, and so on. I love these wild no budget movies that consistent of more imagination than budget. They are extremely fun to watch and rarely let me down.
A few nights ago I was browsing through social media when I came across the Facebook page for The Quacky Slasher. This is the kind of movie that I need in my life so I reached out to them to see how I could get a copy. Sadly, they no longer had them but I could still check it out on YouTube.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows the deranged Michael Quackers who witnessed some wild ducks savagely eating his father (he had a heart attack and they were actually eating the bread he was feeding them). From that moment on he was locked away…that is until one day he escapes, dons a duck mask, and goes on a murderous rampage. **Spoiler Alert**
I didn’t expect The Quacky Slasher to be the slasher to revitalize my love for slashers. I went into it expecting some cheap laughs and fun puns. What I was given was some funny moments and some cheap slasher inspired kills. I really enjoyed this one and I’m kicking myself for missing the physical release of this one.
The acting in this one is far from perfect but the cast does a solid job bringing the laughs. They really get into their characters which helps the viewer look passed the budget constraints. The characters are hit and miss. Some are absurd and memorable while others are one dimensional and cliched.
The story for this one is short and sweet but really does bring together a lot of the slasher tropes and clichés. I love shorts because they don’t waste time. The Quacky Slasher goes straight into the murdering and then we have a little comical revelation about who the killer is and his backstory, before moving on to the parody ending that pokes fun to classics like Halloween. I really liked what they did here and I loved the humor.
Finally, the kills are nothing that spectacular but a few of the practical effects gags were pretty impressive considering this shorts budget and experience. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before but it was still fun to watch. Overall, The Quacky Slasher will not be for everyone. I know I’ve said that before but this short slasher is not for fans of op horror. It’s for those of us that grew up on Troma, USA Up All Night, and MonsterVision. If you like the goofy side of cinema then I highly recommend spinning this one.
