The Slayers

After leaving a deadly cult, a pair of friends decide to embark on a series of adventures before a predicted asteroid will destroy the planet and decide to go around helping people, eventually bringing them into contact with a group of vampire hunters tracking down a coven hiding out in the area.

This was a rather fun if rather flawed effort. What works really well here is the rather impressive nature of getting the guys involved with the slayers and bringing everything together. With the backstory of how the vampires have come into being and their connection to the area, this one starts off rather nicely before showing how they encounter the slayers out on their mission. The situations they get into at this point, from the scene at the farm encountering the vampire helper, the big confrontation at the reenactment camp, or the massive finale involving the group combating the creatures in the middle of their ceremonial ritual all offer up the fun of their inability to effectively fight them off yet still are adept enough to luck into some quite silly moments. Given the decent gore on display throughout all this and a somewhat enjoyable lighthearted tone that keeps it quite watchable throughout here. There are some issues to be had here. The main drawback on display here is what this one thinks is comedic material but instead is just plain painful to watch. Despite the enthusiasm and chemistry the guys have, most of their antics are just plain aggravating and irritating which supposedly signals this one was intended as a comedy. The hamfisted jokes about their inexperience and unfamiliarity with the modern world, the seemingly innocent take they have with everything the vampires undertake while in their presence or meeting up with others who take them for the mentally stunted and laugh off their stories are all intended to be funny. Instead, they come off as painful, much like the random encounters with other travelers in the area that are not only unfunny but drag this one out by virtue of having unnecessary scenes here. That is another big factor against this one in that it's way too long for its own good featuring some useless and unnecessary sequences that are quite easy to cut out. The opening featuring the guys escaping the cult takes up way too much time with the useless speech about the upcoming doomsday comet before getting to the punchline if it can be called as such, while the generally overlong segments of them going out around the countryside trying out the locals with what's going on. These are just absolutely overbearing and take too long to get the film going which is a big factor to the group getting set up for the final battle that's really overlong and takes a while to get going. Overall, these here hold the film down for the most part.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

A fantastic second outing from John Williams, after last year's 'The Mothertown'. What is immediately obvious is a sharp contrast in the production values. An improved budget, and lessons learnt, have enabled John to build on the first film's highly promising potential, to deliver in spades this time around.

Full of invention and laugh out loud moments (the funniest film I've seen in a long time). Great performances from the two leads, who attack their roles with such gusto that you can't help but immediately warm to their characters. They are ably assisted by a great supporting cast, and though there is a distinct lack of Scottish accents (with the exception of the pub landlord) during the scenes set in Scotland, this doesn't detract from the thoroughly enjoyable yarn.

Add a great soundtrack, a wonderful use of locations and animated sequences and you're left with a little gem of a film.

Catch this film if you can, you won't be disappointed.

Now I know how the audience at the first showing of th The Evil dead felt- this was remarkably well put together; great pace, top Notch acting, laugh out loud naturally flowing comedy and a solid plot. If your sick of watching multi million pound obvious tripe and want to see what hard work, dedication and just a "they will have to take me dead" attitude from a brilliant up and coming writer and director...look no further!

Taking into account the genuine originality and believable characters depth it's so refreshing to have walked out of the cinema with a smile of gratitude and admiration for such a well produced and finely polished film.

Highly recommended.

I think that I did really well to last through15 minutes of this utter rubbish. The acting and script are awful, and everything else is not much better. Painful to watch, it made me embarrassed for the people that made this.

The Slayers is a comedy horror by writer/director/actor John Williams. It follows on from his debut film, The Mothertown.

The film centres around 2 religious cult members who take it on themselves to rebel and enjoy their last 2 weeks on earth after compiling a bucket list.. Throw into the mix a run in with vampires, a camper-van and a few vampire hunters, who work alone, and you have the ingredients for a very enjoyable and genuinely funny, independent movie.

The gore is set to minimum in this outing, and the laughs to maximum. The 2 main characters, Nigel and Job, are superb and work well together. In particular, I enjoyed Darren McAree's portrayal of Nigel, who, for me, was the stand out character/actor within the film. His corny 'Dad jokes' and one liners set against the dim-witted deadpan of Job worked really well.

This is a B-movie in production values only, with a superbly well-written script, original ideas and well thought out storyboard.

The only downside to this film, is that it won't reach the widespread audience it deserves. John Williams should take heed from the likes of Peter Jackson, who started in similar surroundings, and enjoy the rightful praise his work merits. I look forward to watching his next instalment.