Slapface (2021) User Reviews

A good story but a bad movie

[nehpetstephen · 4/10 · 3 March 2022]

This horror allegory has a unique premise that unfolds in a fresh, realistic way, but the execution is very poor.

The premise is that the boy protagonist has a monster who helps him to deal with his struggles--an animalistic, witchlike ogre who behaves something like a trained attack dog, willing to play along with her companion but always ready to viciously attack. The boy faces numerous struggles--grief, puberty, poverty, bullying--and the impulsive violence manifested by his monster represents the only method he knows for confronting those problems. This is a horror of stunted emotional development. The screenplay, acting, and on-location filming present this premise in a way that is refreshingly free from cliches. There seems to be an autobiographical core breathing life into this film.

Nevertheless, I found it extremely tedious. For a movie that's less than 90 minutes, it seems like quite a slog. Something about the editing and pacing of the film is disorienting in an unintentional way: one scene ends, the next begins, the tone and setting abruptly shifts, and it isn't quite clear how much time has passed in between. Cause and effect become ambiguous, the flow is extremely choppy, and none of that clunkiness seems to contribute anything to the film. The end result is that my husband and I were consistently confused about how the movie's themes were progressing and how the events of the scenes related to each other.

The filmmakers have potential and this film certainly has something meaningful to say, yet I wouldn't recommend trying to sit through it.

Could be more, but ok

[PedroPires90 · 6/10 · 15 February 2022]

Ambiguous, it lacks something but, overall, a positive experience.

I like the atmosphere created, I like thar it tries to encapuslate so many necessary themes - grief, isolation, sadness, memories, bullying, relationships, family - and I like that is a very dark film unafraid to shock and do the most unexpected things.

Even if I like some grey areas, I think Slapface exaggerates a bit on that, being a bit frustrating at times. This - and the fact that the horror moments aren't really terrifying- doesn't let the film be much more than it is, but it's a strong and meaningful piece of art.

Important topic with a bleak delivery

[FilmsCanChangeTheWorld · 5/10 · 6 February 2022]

Slapface holds a powerful social message - one worth exploring, however the execution was marred a little by slow pacing. I applaud the director (Jeremiah Kipp) for tackling the topic of bullying using a supernatural spin. For a first time feature film it got its point across and I hope to see a variety of work come out of this director in the future.

Having said that, I did find myself favouring the message more than the delivery of this film. Some horror elements were present but because the focus was a little heavy on the metaphor aspect, for me the sense of real fear struggled to hit the mark, still, it did deliver on an uneasy oppressive tension throughout.

General film observation - I'm seeing a consistent trend in the last five years or so with first-time feature film directors from the current crop of talented up-and-coming filmmakers. Slow burn horrors such as The Babadook, The VVitch, Relic, Separation, etc, and now Slapface, all use these narrative devices - they take a serious social issue, personify that issue into a non-speaking boogey man who delivers menace, create an oppressive and bleak tone, slow pacing, minimal dialogue, create characters that are designed to represent an aspect of the chosen social issue causing them to be somewhat flat, and use these elements to create the allegory. It's a decent enough structure but we're getting a few too many of these atmospheric slow-moving quiet narratives now, and they're starting to feel homogeneous.

I get it; they're cheap, relatively easy for first time filmmakers to write and get made, and have something worthwhile to say; however they are so slow and so depressing. Call me old-fashioned but horror used to be fun and campy but most importantly scary, and still have something of significance to say. This current generation of horror seems to be interpreting horror now not as something to make an audience feel fear in the exhilarating sense, but the heavy, overly serious, oppressive, existential dread of being alive - a reflection of the times and all that jazz I guess.

But I wish we would foster a culture of horror filmmakers by teaching them to create really compelling characters, dialogue that leaves you hungry for the next line, high energy moments that keeps the pacing balanced, and moments that resonate in the memory. Alien, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, to name a few - these films were the days of interesting characters, memorable scenes, monsters that actually spoke (or growled lol) and had their own personalities that took their characters far beyond simple symbolism. These slow burns are getting harder to watch and I hope this trend peters out soon.

Boring and rather pointless...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 26 March 2022]

Well, first of all it was somewhat of an odd title for the movie. Sure, it made sense in a way, given the contents of the movie, but it just was a lousy movie title. I grabbed the movie, and was about to put it away, given the title alone, but I opted to sit down and watch it on the account of it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen.

And this was a horror movie, at least in the sense that the movie was insanely slow paced and pointless. The storyline told in "Slapface", as written by writer and director Jeremiah Kipp, was one that was lacking a proper structure. The movie felt somewhat chaotic and random. And the fact that the narrative was sleep-inducingly slow didn't exactly help to sweeten the deal.

The acting performances in "Slapface" were actually good, especially from young lead actor August Maturo, because he really carried the movie quite well.

The monster in the movie was sort of a lukewarm experience. Sure, the violent aspect of the being was entertaining enough, and the fact that it befriended a kid was fun as well, but the overall was just bland. I mean, a hag-like crone in tattered robes and shrouded in perpetual shadows throughout the entire movie just didn't cut it for me. When I watch a horror movie with a creature in it, I want to see the creature in its entire being sooner or later in the narrative. But in "Slapface" the monster was always shrouded in shadowy gloom and thus you never really get a proper look a the make-up, design, effects, etc. A fail on that account.

As for "Slapface" being a horror movie, well... Sure, if you are a pre-teen and a newcomer to the horror genre in general, then I could see how "Slapface" would be a horror movie. But for a life-long horror aficionado, then this was a mere walk in the park.

In terms of entertainment, then writer and director Jeremiah Kipp just dropped the ball early on in the ordeal and never recovered his course. This movie was weak, yet I managed to endure the ordeal to the very end. If you enjoy horror movies, skip on "Slapface" and find something else worth your time, money and effort.

My rating of the 2021 horror movie "Slapface" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Monster Witch

[marklgaines · 3/10 · 5 February 2022]

The plot was going good until the police station catastrophe. It is easy to see that there was no way that boy could have done that kind of damage. The director/writer should have at least revealed the "why or who" .Like the movie "Hitcher". Where the main character portrays separately.

Shockingly amateurish!

[thao · 2/10 · 5 February 2022]

The idea for the plot is good but the execution is shockingly amateurish. It fails on most levels. The actor who plays the older brother is really bad and most of the other actors just phone it in. The film becomes preachy and predictable and it even ends with a preachy text telling us how to interpret it and why this film is noble. I kid you not!

I lay most of the blame on the director/writer. There is no consistency in anything here and the plot set ups are lazy and too obvious to blend naturally into the story.

The young brother was however quite good and I liked the hands of the monster.

Starts off great but ultimately becomes a slough

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 4 February 2022]

Tired of being constantly bullied, a young boy living with his orphaned brother while trying to stay out of trouble ends up encountering a real-life witch in the area and ends up befriending it, forcing him to come to a deadly realization where his loyalties lie when it starts on a bloody rampage.

On the whole, this was a highly enjoyable and chilling effort. One of the finer points to this one is the incredibly strong setup that serves as a reason to generate the central relationship at hand. While cliched, the setup involving the bullied youth who decides to seek solace in areas outside of the accepted norms in the community which causes everyone to worry about him while he ends up developing a macabre friendship with the creature is handled quite well. This goes into the reasons why he's being bullied and how that leads him into contact with the witch as well as the clues that he's been hiding the relationship with the creature from those around him that everyone suspects is the human girl that's hanging around him that gives this part of the film a lot to like. As well, once the witch becomes a prominent part of the film there's some fun to be had with the creatures' stalking and attacks. The first encounter inside the house where it appears in the mirror behind him while attempting to prank the others outside is a genuinely unnerving moment, much like the later ambush on the girlfriend at the house. There's a genuine tension to the way it constantly alerts her to its presence without saying anything and the final payoff is quite satisfying being one of the only jump-scares in the film. Other encounters, including the ambush on the girls in the woods or the hospital appearance, offer up some dark and thrilling action that's a nice setup for the finale where the final confrontation is as emotionally disturbing as it is brutal. These manage to provide this with some enjoyable aspects. That said, there are some minor drawbacks here that hold this down. Among the main flaws here is the fact that the central relationships that it spends so much time honing aren't always the most interesting or enjoyable to see play out. The main relationship we're supposed to be following in the brother meeting up with the new girl from the bar is inherently uninteresting and doesn't make either of them out to be interesting with the constant abuse and fighting that makes them out to be far more dysfunctional than warranted. Likewise, the central triangle with the kids is equally uninteresting, managing to come across with far more curiosity than anything regarding how they're even friends in the first place and making for a highly aggravating experience here. The other issue at play, which is somewhat informed by the previous drawback, is that it takes way too long for the witch to actually do something interesting in here. It spends way too much time here standing around watching him interact with his brother, the crummy lifestyle they lead, or the interactions with the bullies tormenting him before it springs into action to attack those around him. As well, the constant bickering and fighting between the brother and his girlfriend in their relationship just amounts to even more time here that ends up pushing back the rampage until so late in the film that it's quite hard to really care what happens since we're spending all this time on factors that some of the impact is lost. These are really all that hold this one down though.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, intense themes of bullying, child abuse and violence.against-animals.

Some missteps sent it down the wrong path

[Howling_at_the_Moon_Reviews · 5/10 · 9 June 2022]

I was leaning towards a 6 originally because I thought it was slightly above average, but unfortunately the ending was quite unfulfilling. Nevertheless I found this film generally entertaining with a few iffy choices.

The acting all around was fine. Everyone did their job and no one was negatively distracting. The only person who positively stood out was the little boy. I thought he did a great job.

Story was fine I suppose, nothing wildly original. Maybe I'm stupid, but the connection between the slap face and the monster made no sense to me, it was barley explained to begin with and is also generally just a bad title lol.

Also I found the relationship written between the older brother and the girl wildly poorly written. They had just met, then she basically lives there and then they fight like a seasoned couple. It was very confusing and weird and took me out of the story. There were a few intricacies and inconsistencies like that, that gave this an amateurish feel.

Another thing that took me out of the story was the monster. It literally looked like someone bought a mask of the witch from Snow White from party city and threw some dirt on it. It looked silly and was hard to take seriously, which was unfortunate.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did because it did have some cool creep factor, however it was not boring or a waste of time. I would recommend... but not vehemently.

Great!

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 4 February 2022]

After the death of their mother, Lucas (August Maturo, The Nun and the son of Cory and Topanga on Girl Meets World) and Tom (Mike Manning) are each dealing in their own ways. Lucas begins to hide in the woods with a group of tough girls but mostly isolating himself, while Tom keeps getting in enough trouble that Sheriff Thurston (Dan Heyada, one of the best character actors ever) has to keep bailing him out.

The brothers also have a very abusive game that they play called slapface, which is basically continually slapping one another back and forth, the pain being used to get Tom past the pain he feels for having to discipline his brother when he can't control himself.

Lucas does meet someone else that means something to him. And no, it's not Moriah (Mirabelle Lee), one of the bullying young women -- Donna and Rose are the others, twins played by Bianca and Chiara D'Ambrosio that are the kind of cruel women that terrified me as a child and fascinate me as an adult -- that he has a crush on. There's a witch in the woods named Virago (Lukas Hassel, Vandyke from Blacklist, wearing some incredible makeup) and she means no harm to him. But to anyone that hurts him? As for Tom, he's also met a girl named Anna (Lieb Barer) who is falling for him but concerned with just how much he abuses his brother.

Originally a short film, Slapface doesn't battle the issues that often come with go with an expanded running time. It's tense, it's horrific and it doesn't even need the supernatural element to make that happen.

Director and writer Jeremiah Kipp has really put something astounding together with this movie, a film that's frightening when it deals with humans and then goes even further by giving Lucas a force that only he can see, one that only wants his happiness, which comes at the cost of anyone who does him a slight.

Utterly atrocious

[daveleck-90592 · 1/10 · 6 February 2022]

I mean, my god. WTF? Every person is this disaster is detestable. Stupid story, awful acting, miserable characters who do nothing but whine, act deplorable and make you wish the witch thing would promptly kill them all. Good lord, this blows.

Big Thoughts With a Little Budget

[Tri-State_Skater · 8/10 · 27 March 2021]

It's one of those movies that makes you think. We're constantly wondering if the murderer is a human from the film or the monster. There's definitely metaphors there. I really liked it, and while you can definitely tell it's low budget, it does a lot with a little.

Ambiguity

[midnightmosesuk · 6/10 · 8 December 2022]

Ambiguous endings. I don't mind films with ambiguous endings but sometimes they just don't work and leave me feeling deeply disatisfied. Spoilers ahead.

In Slapface the young protagonist appears to befriend a witch. This witch becomes very protective of the young lad to the extent of killing anyone or anything that appears to threaten him. The film presents us with three options:

1. The witch is real.

2. The witch is imaginary and the boy is responsible for the violence.

3. The witch has been summoned into reality by the boys grief at the loss of his parents.

If the witch is real why did it disappear after the boy apparently killed it?

If the witch is imaginary, how did a young boy kill an entire police station of armed officers?

If the witch was summoned by the loss of the mother, why was it so hostile to his brother? Surely it'd recognize it's all a part of the same pain?

I wanted to settle on a meaning for this film but, because all of the endings were implausible, I just couldn't. There should be plausible conclusions for us to focus on.

Slap in my face

[abigail_rasmusson · 3/10 · 22 February 2022]

The actors weren't all that great. The storyline was very sloppy. The "witch" wasn't an IT factor. It was just not a solid film..very sloppy from the jump. Found tiktok more entertaining than the beginning of this film.

It's NOT about bullies.

[hugofitch1 · 3/10 · 8 March 2022]

Clearly, the film's makers realized in post that the two cranky, fat twins, ostensibly the "bullies", got off scot free while the little black girl and the older brother's girlfriend did not fare so well, and so they added a bit of text explaining that they don't condone bullying and then some boilerplate about the horrors of bullying that we've all seen before in the silly, hypersensitive, woke culture that America has become.

The girls and the bullying , such as it was (I suspect that young actor had quite a hard on when the twins were pinning him to the ground), were ancillary to the story and could hardly be taken seriously. For some reason, a number of reviewers seem to think their behavior was what the movie was about. It wasn't. Also, when did Dan Hedaya get the worst plastic surgery this side of Renee Zellweger, and when did his already-atrocious acting become exponentially worse? His was about as bad as the older brother's performance.

There was a lot going wrong with this film, and the ending didn't help matters. Pretty bad flick.

could be better

[yamahapic · 4/10 · 7 February 2022]

The movie seems very interesting at start but then the story starts to become boring..some artists seems poor in acting..it had potential and could be a uch better movie.

This is a new horror film worth skipping

[kevin_robbins · 2/10 · 7 March 2022]

Slapface (2021) is a movie I recently watched on Shudder after Edward Delgado's glowing review. The storyline follows an older brother raising his younger brother after tragically losing his parents. The younger brother is a bit of an outcast and researches an old building on a dare and finds a spirit that resides in the woods. The spirit starts a killing spree killing anyone who is remotely mean to the kid until what's left of the family comes at risk and the boy will have to try and find a way to intervene.

This movie is directed by Jeremiah Kipp (Black Wake) and stars August Maturo (The Nun), Mike Manning (Teen Wolf), Libe Barer (I See You), Mirabelle Lee (The Blacklist), Bianca D'Ambrosio (Call Jane) and Dan Hedaya (The Usual Suspects).

This is one of those movies with a lot of potential but comes up way short. The characters are actually pretty good as are the circumstances for a horror worthwhile movie. Unfortunately despite the good setup the kill scenes are lacking causing all the horror scenes to fall flat. The little boy's girlfriend/relationship was also annoying making the poor horror execution even more frustrating.

Overall this is a new horror film worth skipping. I would score this a 2/10.

It's the stupid movie I ever seen

[ymjrzzt · 31 July 2022]

Don't watch this stupid movie. If you want to make your self silly or annoying so do it it's no word can dis. There is no description for this ridiculous movie that has no dialogue, no meaning, and nothing of the low level. A waste of time and money. There is no compelling ending.

mild indie horror

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 3 October 2022]

Orphan Lucas lives with his older brother Tom. He is always forced to play a "game" with Tom called Slapface. He has a crush on Moriah, but she is unwilling to admit to her feelings to her two mean friends. The girls dare him to explore a creepy abandoned building. Inside, he encounters a scary hooded figure.

This is an interesting little horror with some flaws. The monster is actually not that bad. He's pretty simple. It's a ragged old coat with a basic monster mask. They could show more of the killings. The movie is missing the brutal action. Also, the kid never feels to be in danger. I like the concept although the name Slapface does sound a bit silly. This is fine for a mild indie horror.

Slow

[redrumvelvet · 4/10 · 21 February 2022]

Very slow. I found myself not caring about any of the characters. Even the little boy. The monster or whatever was somewhat interesting. Until the boy leaves the building and there is a dog barking. A husky comes and the boy is scared, so kid starts running. Dog death happens off screen but horrible sounds. I have a strict no animals die policy. Had to turn it off so I don't know if they show it.

I saw a monster today

[nogodnomasters · 7/10 · 31 December 2022]

On the outskirts of Fishkill, Tom (Mike Manning) is raising his brother Lucas (August Maturo) following the death of their mother, a tragedy Lucas is having a hard time getting over. Their father had passed earlier and wasn't the best of fathers. Lucas is having his run-ins with the law. His brother disciplines him by playing "slap face" where they exchange slaps. Lucas always comes out on the short end. He is also being bullied at school by evil twin girls. He is goaded to go into the abandoned Wakefield House, home of the legendary Virago Witch (Lukas Hassel). Here he meets and befriends the monster who becomes his protectorate, most times against his will as people get hurt.

I liked this film. When it ends you have the choice of two different stories to believe. Acting was solid.

Guide: F-word. Implied sex. No nudity.

Poorly acted

[jamosmonk · 3/10 · 5 February 2022]

The lack of a good script did not help this film. With the exception of the character Anna, the acting was terrible and not believeable. The filming itself was decent though.

Better than Malignant

[gsurveil1 · 9/10 · 7 February 2022]

I rarely leave a review I'll just give in to the simpler stars rating, but this one I couldn't help it considering the mediocre reviews. Tune out all the critics and watch this little gem with it's flaws included. This was very interesting and worth the watch. The lead actor was good, this kid has a future. Many compelling and clever elements given the fact that it has budgetary constraints. It's called independent film. We've lost the ability to discern low budget and independent film. Good camera angles and use of lighting or lack there of. No CGI or over the top gore. Yes it has a message as all films do now, but you aren't aware until the credits roll. Not heavy handed forced agenda at all. This was good!

I watched this all the way through to the end. Huge mistake.

[carlos-pires · 1/10 · 22 February 2022]

What a terrible waste of time.

Guys: just please don't do a movie based off the 1st thing that goes through your mind, which in fact has been done a million times over better than you can possible do.

Props to kid in the main role, who does a great job.

Everything else is utter crap, specially the TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTING AND UTTERLY, UNBELIEVABLY CHILDISH ENDING. Made me cringe and rue the day I decided to watch this crap.

The quality is OK, but...

[gimailito · 4/10 · 10 September 2022]

Very good quality, technically speaking but, the film itself is a little chaotic. You never know what it is exactly happening until the end, in a bad way. I mean, the big brother he goes to wokr, but where does he work? He is a charpentier? A police man? I did not get it clear.

The actors are good but, the slap thing and other stuff they talk about is just plain stupid. I do not think anyone could do that with his brother or a "friend" unless you are a true "ahole" and you like it.

So, in the end it is not specially boring but, it is just a little chaotic. At least the big bro was kind of cute.

An Ok Idea

[gab-67599 · 5/10 · 4 February 2022]

This was one of those movies that I am sure looked great on paper. Solid B - is what I would give it. The actors were not great or believable at all. I love how the kid see a monster and is like hey, let's take a bath together and watch the sun set. This movie was just dumb thing after another so all the logic in this movie was mute at best. Because no one in this movie used their common sense it made it extremely frustrating to watch! I can respect that at the end it had a message, but why not do it based off a true story of an abuse survivor instead. That would have been a better movie then a B - horror flick. As always be your own judge but I would not recommend this movie to ANY of my friends. Ijs.