Gothic Slayers

I felt like I was taken back in time to laugh out loud again! This movie was funny, quirky and the main characters are likable. I thoroughly enjoyed Gothic Slayers and I know I can have my grandsons (ages 10 and 12) watch it with me without having to worry about inappropriate content. They love "spooky" movies and spooky video games and this movie doesn't rely on graphic gore. This movie will undoubtedly make them laugh and scare them, but not in a way that would generate nightmares.

I especially liked the feel of being back in the early days of video games before everyone carried cellphones. I loved the message of doing what makes you happy with the people who mean the most instead of living to conform to the world's expectations.

Gothic Slayers is a knowingly goofy horror-comedy that leans fully into its absurd premise-and it works. The film doesn't try to be anything it's not, and that self-awareness is what makes it so fun. The buddy dynamic between the leads is the heart of it all, reminiscent of Dude, Where's My Car?, with the same kind of endearing idiocy and offbeat charm.

The comedy lands hard-there were genuine laugh-out-loud moments throughout, especially during the duo's ridiculous misadventures and banter. It feels like a cult classic in the making, with a retro video game vibe and a storyline that's equal parts nonsense and delight.

If you're in the mood for something silly, self-aware, and surprisingly sharp in its humor, Gothic Slayers delivers a fun, dumb, and oddly lovable ride.

Working in a local minigolf resort, a pair of slacker friends slowly begin to discover a series of disappearances around town are connected to a deadly cult targeting their friends and neighbors for their purposes and must use their unique skillset to stop their plans and save the town.

This was a fairly fun and goofy feature with a lot to like. One of the main aspects to be had here is the wild setup that manages to focus on the wild series of events that take place when the story starts to unfold. The way that this one starts to bring up the idea of the cult and its purpose comes along rather nicely with the starting point of their lives at the minigolf club where their lackluster motivations and reactions to everything set this up rather nicely so that the disappearance of their friend feels that much more impactful. That means the way the guys discover the outcome of the cult coming to life and spreading throughout the town forcing them to stop their plans which is quite fun involving how the different objects required to stop them and spoil their plans come about. This allows for a really fun pace where their slow-on-the-uptake mentality brings about some intriguing scenes that go about fighting off the various forces trying to put a stop to their mission while the comedic nature of everything is handled quite well so it plays quite nicely. It has the problem of highlighting the fact that this one doesn't do much to make the impact of scares that impactful though. The whole plan of the cult is never once presented as a threatening ordeal with the series of encounters stealing victims, trying to prevent them from getting wind of their plans, or carrying out tactics designed to stop them once that has occurred never once played up for anything other than laughs even though it's implied the fate of the world is at hand. There's no stakes of threat to anything here with the film's degeneration into laughs than anything which causes this to lack that kind of feel which also brings about the secondary issue in the immensely obvious series of cliches present which come about due to the style of presentation featured here involving the slacker friends who are stuck in dead-end jobs where one wants to advance in life. At the same time, the other doesn't until they get called to save the world. This causes the film to get dragged out during this part where it feels quite familiar and is what brings this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.

Not a horror comedy but more like a straight comedy with some light horror inspired themes. This movie doesn't take itself too seriously and that's a big strength. It's really well shot and acted (except for the cult dad character). It can be childish but that's a theme of the movie with the two main characters being in their 20s but having failed to truly grow up. A few jokes don't land but most do and I really laughed out loud at some bits. It's clear the people who made it had a lot of fun and that came through. Don't get the low rating! It's not groundbreaking but it's a solid, silly, fun time.

When I stumbled upon this 2025 horror comedy titled "Gothic Slayers", I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it. Sure, I virtually didn't know what I was getting myself into, as I had never heard about the movie. But the synopsis for the movie sounded interesting enough.

The storyline in the movie, as written by Dylan Eshbaugh and Ben Getz, whom both also had the leading roles, just wasn't all that great. Isn't that usually the thing when a movie is written and starred by the same person or persons? I really wanted to like this movie, but the script was just too bland and generally devoid of funny situations, making it rather boring to sit through.

The acting performances in "Gothic Slayers" were certainly fair, despite the fact that the script was somewhat limiting the performers. The only familiar faces on the cast list, for me at least, was actor Jayson Bernard.

The movie doesn't really use a lot of special effects, but what effects were utilized were certainly fair.

My rating of director Caleb Harris's 2025 movie "Gothic Slayers" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.