Frank van Geloven

(In French, On Cable TV, September 2021) As far as slashers go, Sl8n8 is slightly better than most. Blending an unusual environment (an abandoned mine with plenty of macabre legends) with a plucky heroine and some fast-paced direction, it remains firmly within the bounds of the familiar formula but executes things semi-competently. Coming from the Netherlands (the title makes more sense once you know that it’s a stylization of Slachtnacht), it offers a slightly different take on the usual. A rather slow start seems paralyzed by indecision whether it’s going to go for psycho slasher or supernatural thriller. In the end, it doesn’t matter very much, as writer-directors Frank van Geloven and Edwin Visser follow the codes of slashers all the way to the heroine remembering something said earlier in the film and using it to slay the villain. Slightly overlong at even just 90 minutes, Sl8n8 nonetheless avoids most of the pitfalls of lesser slashers, but without quite distinguishing itself from the pack. It’s not my kind of film, though.