Film Review: Shredder (2001)

Shredder (2001)
Director: Greg Huson
Writers: Greg Huson, Craig Donald Carlson


It's a battle royale of skiers v. snow boarders in this throw back to the slashers of the '80s.

All Cole (Scott Weinger FULL HOUSE) wanted to do was spend some time with his girlfriend Kim (Lindsey McKeon SAVED BY THE BELL: THE NEW CLASS) at the abandoned Rocky Summit ski resort. Instead he has to deal with Kim inviting their friends. Oh, and a killer skier driven to madness by a tragic event whispered about by the locals. It's a bad day to be a horny male on the slopes.

All the tropes of the slasher sub-genre are on display in SHREDDER. The opening prologue where an innocent is killed by the black clad killer. Red herrings galore. The local who warns the youngsters about meddling where they don't belong. On and on; we've seen them all before. The low budget and the inexperienced director detract from what little story there is courtesy of the writers. I swear that some of the characters were teleporting from location to location during the climax due to a lack of coverage. The acting is about what one would expect from this type of film with Juleah Weikel's spirited performance as the plucky heroine being the highlight.

 

Despite all the negatives the film almost works. I don't know why, I can't diagram or explain what works. But the elements work well enough together so that I wasn't bored by yet another stalk and slash film. Some gore F/X look good, others not so much. The comedy (this is a comedy / horror film, right?) doesn't stick the landing and yet I found myself liking the goofballs just a bit.

SHREDDER will be a pass for most viewers but I think there is an audience for this slightly off kilter slasher film.

** 1/2 out of ****