Kristel’s dad died in a brutal car accident following an argument that the two had. Racked with guilt, Kristel takes some high school friends to a museum, located in an old abandoned mine, in hopes of retrieving the manuscript her father was writing about eighteenth and nineteenth century serial killers. Her dad was particularly interested in Andries Martiens, a man sentenced to death for slaughtering several youths. Martiens died in a massive explosion centuries ago, but it’s rumored his spirit still haunts the mine and is hungry for another Slaughter Night.
Horror films from the Netherrealms may not be as common as the country's beautiful tulips, but with Sl8n8, Holland shows that they know how to make them. While DoodEind, the Dutch film that also featured a performance by Sl8n8's lead Victoria Koblenko, might not have been a very good film, Sl8n8 steps up a notch and delivers a very slick-looking and horrific ride. Dealing with people that find themselves trapped in a mine, the film has a slight Descent-feel to it due to the claustrophobic settings, but that is also pretty much all the two films have in common. Instead, Sl8n8 takes the supernatural road where a mine is haunted by the restless spirit of a serial killer from the past.
A very good thing that Sl8n8 has going for it is that the group of young people that find themselves trapped inside a mine are not the usual group of stereotyphical youngsters that we are so used to seeing in these type of films. There's one real jerk among them, but other than that, it's quite easy to relate to most of the folks. That is normal folks that doesn't have their heads in the air, or say things you wouldn't say in the kind of situation that they're in. No jocks, no nerds, no irritating cheerleader type of girls, no cheap-shot at boobs or anything like that.. awesome, and I would like to give kudos to the filmmakers for understanding that s**t like that is not needed in every freakin´horror film that comes out.
 
Now on to the story. While Sl8n8 might not tell the most original of tales, it's enough to make the film work in an interesting way as well as to deliver some horrific entertainment. Kristel's dad dies in a car accident and later on Kristel takes some friends with her to go pick up her father's manuscript that he left behind in his office. She's offered by the man who runs the place to go on a guided tour in a mine that her father had written about and what happened there, and she accepts. Soon though, Kristel and her friends find themselves trapped down in the mine and things only get worse when they find out that the restless spirit of a serial killer from the past named Andries Martiens is down there with them.
Running around in the tight tunnels down below, a claustrophobic feel soon hangs thick in the air, but that is not the best thing about the film. No, the best thing is when the action sets in and during the last 30-or-so minutes, Sl8n8 becomes quite the gory flick to watch. Now the gore looks really good and so does the whole film, but it is the action elements that makes it work, not the very story itself or the "scares" as they're not that great. Again, it might not be the most original of films, but it does provide some good horror entertainment, decent acting and great looking gore.
It's great to see some good horror coming out of Holland and I sure hope they keep em´ coming. While it might not have a story that'll blow your mind, at least it has characters that won't irritate the hell outta you and in the end, it's quite a good piece of horror cinema that you might wanna take a look at if given the chance.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Slachtnacht
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Frank van Geloven, Edwin Visser
WRITING CREDITS: Frank van Geloven, Edwin Visser
GENRE: Horror, Thriller
CAST: Victoria Koblenko, Martijn Oversteegen, Linda van der Steen
COUNTRY: Belgium, Netherlands
RUNTIME: 90 min
RATING: 7/10
Sl8n8 - Slaughter Night Website/IMDB Click here
Sl8n8 - Slaughter Night Trailer Click here
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