Slaxx is a very silly movie with a seriously good story to tell.
A delightfully violent allegory about the high cost of fast fashion and corporate greed, Slaxx is everything a movie about killer pants could aspire to be and more. It’s the kind of movie you didn’t know you needed to see until you do, and it’s destined to become an instant cult classic that genre fans praise for generations to come.
In the film, a possessed pair of jeans spring to life and begin killing the staff of a trendy cloth store on the night before they go on sale. The team is mostly teens and twenty-somethings who drink the corporate kool-aid and believe their allegedly fair trade products are superior to other clothing companies. Most would do anything to see the company succeed because, like all good employees, they believe what’s suitable for the brand is good for them.
We enter this surreal world through Libby, an intelligent young sales clerk who’s starting her new job with an overnight shift to prepare for her store’s latest product launch. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that being a low-level employee for a giant corporation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but her goodhearted nature keeps her from fleeing before the bloodshed begins. By then, it’s too late to leave, and Libby must fight through the night to survive the deadly pants attack.
Anyone familiar with working retail will see themselves in Libby’s shoes. Her eagerness to please is met by disdain and disrespect from her coworkers. Except for one employee (played the fantastic Sehar Bhojani), everyone seems to think they could be the next CEO. They are willing to overlook the lack of respect and cruel work conditions to gain the powerful’s favor. If things unfolded differently, Libby might become like them, but bloodthirsty jeans have a way of shifting your perspective on things.
Slaxx is a movie you have to see to believe. It is perhaps the most effective and entertaining slasher film of the last several years, and it all works to drive home an unambiguous and vital message. Writers Patricia Gomez and Elza Kephart, the latter also directs, play the story as straight as possible. The murderous jeans are no laughing matter to anyone involved, and even when things get silly, the story remains grounded. That alone is a feat worthy of praise, and the reason why the events are happening in the place only serves to elevate the material further.
Watching Slaxx will change you. It doesn’t need to be as good as it is to have that effect, but the production quality certainly does not hurt. You will walk away from this film believing in the power of cinema again. It will make you think twice before tossing aside an idea that may seem too weird or too far-fetched. Slaxx will make you take more chances on yourself because it reinforces the notion that anything can be good when it’s made by people who believe in and fully commit to the premise.
