The Carnal Morgue is a brand-new line of indie movies devoted to “twisted tales of macabre erotica” and we were sent a DVD of their first title, Slaughter Disc. The case featured a goth girl vamping it up in a corset and stage blood; not only was this our first indie film review, but it was smut, too! We just couldn’t keep this to ourselves so joining us for a screening were the hauntress HorrorVenus and SF filmmaker Ms. Becka Star.
Shot on high-quality video, the movie chronicles the downfall of college student Mike, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Neil from The Young Ones, and who starts out with an already-depraved taste for clown porn. (why is everybody so eeked out by clown porn? I HATE clowns but yet there’s something really cute about the big polka-dotted ties falling between bare breasts…but I digress…) Seeking out more extreme videos, he runs across Andromeda Strange in a skin mag, and her appearance on his TV screen is where the movie comes alive. Played by porn star Caroline Pierce, Andromeda is a low-budget Elvira getting down with a skull dildo, akin to the underground cult-tape starlet of the comic Dogwitch. (And because this is Chateau Bizarre, we of course took note of the fashions: Alchemy Gothic, Lip Service, and a bondage getup that we’re pretty sure is Madame LeGoth all made appearances.) And when she’s not busy getting down, she’s playing with blades or killing her co-stars. And Mike just gets more obsessed, losing his job, his girlfriend, and his – gasp! – sanity in the process.
We are treated to Andromeda hosting both root menus (and things get really self-referential when Mike first pops in the DVD and Steel Web Studios – the real-life production company who made Slaughter Disc – is given the credits to Andromeda’s “fictional” movie. Ahhh, indie film!) Her lair consists of a chair shaped like a pair of puffy red lips, a prop tombstone, and a skull candleabra – none of which is helped by the unfortunate industrial-gray carpet or bland bedding. We also get a striptease where someone thought 70’s disco effects would be a great enhancement. (Uh, no.) These little flaws aside, Ms. Strange is lovely and a lot of fun to watch sashaying around her boudoir, especially when practicing cannibalism and happily eating the brains of the guy she’s just boinked. Not to mention, she looks damn cute when she’s pissed at Mike for turning off his TV.
This is being marketed as a horror movie with erotic scenes, but the flat dialogue and one-dimensional characters, intercut with long, close-up shots of oral sex and phallic toys, make this feel just the opposite – this is a lot more like porn drenched in corn syrup, with slow guitars replacing the standard chikkawakas. (and for plausibility’s sake, who on earth would bury a body in full view of a busy highway, while clad in screaming punk tartan?) But that doesn’t mean this wicked little brew of improvised gore and amply pierced pink parts is necessarily a bad thing – if naked goth chicks rolling around in haunt-prop bedrooms blows your hair back, you’ll get what you’ve come for. It’s better viewed as a campy b-movie late-night romp, not diehard horror. And for the squeamish: despite the warnings of “too horrific and explicit for theaters,” there really isn’t anything in here that’s worse than your average Marilyn Manson video.
Overall, our focus group felt that this was an earnest attempt and had potential, and could really benefit from better storyboarding and more attention to what what the haunt industry refers to as “boo spots” – we were all expecting to see Andromeda’s face appear in the reflection of a mirrored medicine cabinet, or blood to come pouring out of a showerhead. Probably the most important comment we have to offer is: “naked male costars who are less doughy, please.” Because it’s not sexy to see beautiful goth women crawling all over clean-cut Ken doll fratboys. Please find men that match!
Slaughter Disc is available at The Carnal Morgue and a second feature is currently underway: Mail Order Bride.
