Slasher films are a double-edged sword (or machete, or hatchet). They are easily horror's most marketable genre, able to draw in a demographic not normally into horror. Whereas some people are turned off to the more subtle nuances of horror, these very people will flock in droves to the R-rated splatter of the slasher film. How else can you explain Jason Voorhees' eleven film appearances (F13 Part 5 notwithstanding)? People eat it up with genuine relish, all the way from the heyday in the Eighties to the (thankfully dead) Nineties revival. From bloody beauties like The Prowler to steaming piles of suck like Valentine, hundreds of nubile teenage bodies have been mutilated, gallons of blood have been spilled, and millions of dollars have been earned on slasher films. Unfortunately, the formulaic nature of slashers is its biggest downfall: there has been little deviation from the form established in Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace, made all the way back in 1964. However, new films succeed by tightening the formula: giving more twisted M.O.'s to the killers, and more visually gratifying deaths to the victims.

Therein lies the problem with Short Cut Road (SCR from here on out). In today’s eye-candy stimuli laden slasher films, how can an SOV micro budget feature stand up? Sadly, not that well.

It’s a disappointment, through and through. Given the recent rash of high quality indie films of late, I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tread any ground not already heavily traveled by countless other movies ahead of it. The purpose of independent film is to express ideas that Hollywood won’t touch, or explore facets of film that one simply cannot do within corporate restraints. When your plot is almost a direct rip-off of I Know What You Did Last Summer (not a compliment), and your movie is so rife with the cliches that have plagued the genre for years, yet you lack the "polish" of Hollywood glitz, all of the flaws stand in relief. The characters are ripped straight from Slasher 101: The suds-sucking asshole, the sheepish virgin, the infinitely horny fuck-bunnies, the depraved killers seeking revenge for the suffering they endured at the hands of our "heroes," the inept junior cop...the list goes on and on. They are mere blade-fodder, their characters fleshed out just enough to make you hate them and anxiously await the awful murder you hope they’ll get. Sadly, you have to suffer through a painfully slow middle (with lame gags which make them even MORE unlikable) before the killing starts again, with almost no visceral payoff. Kills are run-of-the-mill, with just some stabbings (except for one particularly nasty throat gouging) befalling our goonish group. We’re even subject to the heinously overused "the killer’s wearing a mask so I think it’s my boyfriend being silly" bit...yeesh. Only the killers are likable in the movie, with their revenge scheme being very well founded (they were RUN OVER by the drunken kids the year prior, yet the kids were too drunk to notice???) and their physical scars are conceptually gruesome...but using those drugstore "gag teeth" you wore in high school to be Austin Powers for Halloween isn’t the best way to convey hideous deformities. The final sequence in the killers’ home is pretty intense however, with plenty of torture and gore to be had, all capping off with one of those bleak endings I love so much (no happy endings in horror, dammit!), but it’s too little too late.

Presentation is nothing to write home about either: the nearly constant dark shots look like they’re being watched through a rusty screen door, and the lighting is almost painfully bad. Colors are muted and dry, and the overall effect is extremely unpleasant. Audio is muffled, which is especially obnoxious given the whole "rock concert" vibe the film was trying to convey. When you can’t hear the music that’s talked about on the back cover, you get a little cheesed off. Extras include audio commentary, a blooper reel, trailers for other (superior) Sub Rosa releases, and the peculiar "Journey Into Perversion." JIP is a peculiar video documentary featuring everyone’s favorite Spanish pervert, Jess Franco with Carina Palmer cavorting around Munich, filming erotic scenes, and just plain hanging out, all set to a sometimes beautiful, sometimes odd score. An interesting watch, but I question its place on the disc with SCR.

Despite some critical promises of originality and quality, SCR falls flat in almost every department. It ends up looking more like a poorly done Hollywood film than a true independent, which almost negates the point of its existence. Only the truly slasher-starved should check this one out.