Film Review: Slices of Life
Slices of Life (2010)
Directed by: Anthony G. Sumner
Starring: Deneen Melody, Toya Turner, Kaylee Williams, Galen Schloming, Thurston Hill, Alan Rowe Kelly, Marv Blauvelt, Gene Hodson
Review by Marc Patterson
If you’re at all involved in the “horror scene”, especially in or around Chicago, then there’s almost no possible way you’ve been able to avoid Anthony Sumner and the group of actors and filmmakers that travel in his circle. His newest film Slices of Life has been making the rounds at some of the larger genre fests and as I’m located in the East Coast I’ve not been able to get out and attend those Chicago screenings. I was, however, able to get a hot little copy of this film into my hands.
The first thing that has to be said is that Slices of Life isn’t a large scale big budget Hollywood production meant for the masses. This is nearly a no-budget indie film made by fans of the genre specifically for fans of the genre. That isn’t a statement of superiority, or an excuse for a lower quality product. It’s simply what it is, and it benefits the reader to keep this in perspective when viewing.
Slices of Life is an anthology film that centers on an odd girl, played superbly by Kaylee Williams, who works a front desk at a quirky roadside motel. She suffers from amnesia but is able to piece together bits of her past from these odd necronomicon-looking books containing some rather bizarre stories. Thus our shorts consisting of Work Life, Home Life, and Sex Life, begin…
Part One: Work Life – W.O.R.M
Poor William Robert Moss, not only does he have a horrible name, but he’s a dejected software geek residing from 9-5 in the basement of the Nimrod Corp and he can’t even get a decent Internet date. When he discovers some software that can alter another person’s psyche, it doesn’t take long until Robert hacks the company’s mainframe and is the one in control of his co-workers. However, the virus he’s unleashed has somehow turned his co-workers into bloodthirsty zombies.
Now there’s an interesting spin on Office Space for you if there ever were one. All this one needed was a zombified Lumberg trying to nail Jennifer Aniston and we’d have been all set. Quite honestly, I’m not going to lie… Over the first few minutes I wasn’t a big fan of this segment and thought it was a rather tough act to open the show. The acting was a bit rigid and the office didn’t really feel authentic. I started to get rather concerned, and fast. But as the segment continued it took some rather interesting turns, and by that I’m talking about an internet cyber sex scene that goes all Cronenberg, featuring fleshy computers and a mouse that mutates into a vagina looking orifice. Naked Lunch anyone? It only gets more bizarre from there. Not your standard play on the office zombie. What we end up with is a wholly satisfying piece that would be interesting to watch with a more experienced cast and bigger budget for the filmmakers.
Part Two: Home Life – Amber Alert
Following the zombie segment, part two rolls into a more fright-inducing supernatural ghost story. This segment begins with a startling child abduction before cutting to some moms sitting around, enjoying morning gossip over mimosas. When an Amber alert is announced they casually turn it off. I have to wonder what kind of mother would be so bothered as to turn off an Amber alert announcement, but I suppose that’s not the point.
When the party ends we come to focus on one particular mother, a pregnant woman named Vonda (Toya Turner). Vonda wakes from a nap to see a young girl prancing about the backyard. When she goes out to investigate, crazy supernatural stuff starts to happen. Missing kids, Amber alerts, demonic children, hallucinating pregnant mothers…. wow. Home Life was a bit like Rosemary’s baby meets The Grudge, with a Twilight Zone inspired twist to keep things interesting.
Though Amber Alert was the most suspenseful segment, it also seemed to suffer from the most technical difficulties. The audio was mixed poorly and while Toya gave a decent performance, I didn’t feel that the cast around her delivered to the same level. Small details also plagued this segment, such as the newscaster who sounded more like a high school broadcast student than a professional news anchor delivering a rather important bulletin. While on a micro budget, this sort of criticism could be seen as needless nitpicking; small details like this still have an impact on the larger piece, and any element that might pull you out of the story is subject to such scrutiny. A good premise for a story, but not my favorite.
Part Three: Sex Life – Pink Snapper
The final segment of the film is easily the most messed up and splatter-heavy of any of the segments, and therefore falls into my personal favorite bucket.
The story follows a boyfriend and girlfriend who go on the lam after accidentally killing a cop. Of course the cop was molesting our lovely lead lady (Miss Deneen Melody), so we can’t have that. They end up at this house in the middle of nowhere and discover a girl who has been locked in the basement, apparently the victim of a sex offending sadist, a guy I should mention that our dynamic duo found lying on the side of the road. I want to stop right here though, as I feel that if I go into too many details I’ll end up giving too much away. Simply put, this particular story has more twists than a NY pretzel, and surprisingly – they work very well.
One of the things I liked about the segment was that our so-called protagonists weren’t really ever good people, as is the case in the proceeding segments. This gave their characters a bit more depth. I have a feeling this was also the filmmaker’s favorite segment, as the most attention seems to have been given to the details (again with that pesky word).
In the opening moments with our “protagonists” we have murder, accessory to murder, and breaking and entering. When they rescue said psychopath from the side of the road where he apparently attempted to commit suicide, they take him to the hospital and then proceed to file paperwork on his behalf (fraud). I don’t know if we’re supposed to like these two, but I certainly don’t. They go back to his house, plan to loot it for their escape and steal his car in the process. Not for nothing, but whatever these two have coming to them they totally deserve. I’m not saying they’re a regular Mickey and Mallory, but you know…
For a short that focuses on “sex life”, there is very little graphic sex on display. Not that I’m complaining because we get something entirely far more satisfying in the way of an HG Lewis styled gross-out splatter fest loaded with tons of nasty practical effects. Lots and lots of gross fake blood was used in this segment. Deneen even surprised me a bit once she was doused in the red (you naughty girl!) If you can look past a few plot holes, what you end up with is a wholly entertaining short that by far wins best in show.
The simple bottom line: Sumner is clearly a director who takes pride in presenting new material and he does it well. There’s no formulaic heavy writing in just about any of the pieces, and all said this is an end product that flies in the face of big budget Hollywood flicks and has been getting some positive reception from the crowds it has played to. While I wasn’t about to jump up and give it the same standing ovation it received at the Portage Theater during its premiere, it was refreshing to see a group of filmmakers willing to take some risks and bring something unique to fans. I was also glad to see a few nods to Cronenberg throughout the film, as that’s a director who rarely gets his due amongst the new school of genre filmmakers.
Art house snobs, or those who prefer the more fashionable high-brow, slickly produced films aren’t going to find much here they’ll like, but those who can take pleasure in the low down dirty grime-filled joys of B-cinema should find Slices of Life worthy.
Trailer:
