SLAUGHTERHOUSE

 1987/18/79m

A.k.a. Bacon Bits; Pig Farm Massacre

“Buddy’s got an axe to grind… A big axe.”

Director / Writer: Rick Roessler / Cast: Sherry Bendorf, Don Barrett, William Houck, Joe Barton, Eric Schwartz, Jane Higginson, Jeff Grossi, Bill Brinsfield, Lee Robison, Jeff Wright.

Boy Count: 11

Laughter Lines: “Buddy’s a good boy, but he’s got what you’d call ‘basic hygiene problems’.”

This endearing ‘lil slasher from California might be a cheap combo of bits from Friday the 13th and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but there’s a curious charm to it often absent from the late-cycle slasher films of the 1980s.

Lester and Buddy Bacon are father and (retarded) son who run an old style pig slaughterhouse that is due to be auctioned off by the state. But Lester is a proud man who won’t give in without a fight and, at the end of his tether, sets about doing away with the people trying foreclose on him, as well as a few prying deputies, and a group of airhead teenagers who are shooting a horror film at the farm.

Nowhere near as gruesome as its title suggests – the grossest scenes are the footage of how such a place works, shown during the opening credits. A fun little B-flick with a good final girl in Bendorf, and a crucial dose of self awareness and black humour.