Sing it with me everyone: “Oh, Canada, thank you for all the the fantastic television!” Pretty sure that’s not how their national anthem goes, but it’s the thought that counts. Canada is not only the giant cinematic backlot of the world, but it also produces some (read: A LOT of) great shows and movies that it shares with the rest of us. One of those shows premiered on Chiller (and Super Network in Canada) in 2016. Slasher is an eight-episode series revolving around the story of a young woman haunted by the death of her parents at the hands of masked killer.
Slasher TV Series Teaser Trailer
Slasher is the first show produced by Chiller, and they did not hold back. Creator Aaron Martin combines a serial murder mystery with a classic slasher style story into something interesting and complete. Slasher’s a self-contained mini-series with NO “cliffhanger” ending or expectations for a “sequel” season. Instead, Martin’s plan is more akin to American Horror Story, and aims at making Slasher an anthology-style series.
Slasher begins with the brutal murder of two people on Halloween night at the hands of a man in an old-school executioner costume. “The Executioner” wastes little time getting his killing on, which includes a pregnant woman as one of the victims. The opening scene culminates with a twisted and horrific gut-punch before the title sequence rolls. This show is not for the feint of heart. From the opening scene and on, episodes feature one twisted kill after another. The opening scene is brutal and sets the vicious tone of the show throughout. The moment is also crucial to the story and is revisited and expanded upon through flashbacks.
The main focus of Slasher is Sarah Bennett (Katie McGrath, Morgana from BBC’s Merlin) who is one of the survivors of that brutal attack in the intro. Sarah’s parents were the victims, and it’s now 20 years later. Sarah is returning to the place where The Executioner murdered her parents. Sarah is hoping to conquer the demons that have plagued her throughout life. Instead, a new series of murders begins at the hands of a killer wearing the same executioner costume. As with any good mystery, there are a host of suspects introduced to keep viewers guessing.
Of all the slasher shows out today, like Scream Queens or Scream on MTV, Slasher is by far the most R-rated of them all. It’s the adult in this room, and the gore, sex, and themes are consistent proof of it. Slasher is also the one of the three with the least humor as it’s played like a horror thriller instead of horror-comedy. Whatever humor Slasher lacks it makes up for with thought-provoking themes, layers and degrees of evil, and a healthy mix of mystery and murderous mayhem.
Season one of Slasher aired on Chiller and Super Channel and is (as of this writing) available for streaming on Netflix.
