Having started SXSW with a family-friendly horror film (of sorts) that didn’t quite hit the mark, it’s invigorating to end the Austin-based festival with another family-friendly effort that not only remembers to have fun, but also refrains from handholding its younger viewers through some serious subject matter. That’s what Nyla Innuksuk, in her feature directorial debut, accomplishes with Slash/Back, a delightful throwback to ’80s gateway horror that errs on the side of sweetness in lieu of outright scares. Though in this case, that’s a boon instead of a detriment.
In the sleepy Canadian hamlet of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Maika (Tasiana Shirley) and her ragtag group of friends just want to go to the party of Thomassie (Rory Anawak), the coolest guy in the settlement. A wrench is thrown in their plan when Maika’s little sister Aju (Frankie Vincent-Wolfe) sneaks out to tag along, but an even bigger wrench is thrown when aliens set up camp in the hills and prepare to make Pang their new home. Unfortunately for the aliens, these teenagers have been underestimated their whole lives and are prepared to clap slash back to protect their home.
Many comparisons have been made to Attack the Block (review), the 2011 breakout hit that saw a British street gang try to save the world from an alien invasion, but outside of the general premise, the comparisons can end there. Slash/Back breaks new ground in its look at Indigenous culture, and while the focus of the film is on the girls’ day-to-day lives and the eventual battle against the aliens, Innuksuk has other things on her mind. There are moments in which the girls process the shame in their Indigeneity that allow the film to be more than “just” a slice of popcorn entertainment (“I hate how every home has stupid Inuit art. They all look the same. How many pictures of fish can we make? And we only make them to sell them to rich people who feel sorry for us,” one of the girls laments).
Those are merely underlying themes in Slash/Back, however, because we’ve got aliens to kill. That being said, those expecting wall-to-wall alien shenanigans will be disappointed. While the film lacks the budget and scale to stage set pieces on par with Attack the Block, it earns plenty of goodwill on the charms of its cast alone. Working with a cast of first-time actors, Innuksuk has pulled lively, genuine performances from her actresses that help ground the film despite all the extraterrestrial goings-on of the plot. You will be rooting for the girls of Pang.
The aliens themselves are modified versions of the thing from The Thing, using protruding tentacles to infect their hosts. Unlike the titular beast in John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece, these aliens struggle to blend in once they’ve taken over their hosts. Infected polar bears lumber along the Arctic tundra as if they’ve been shot in the leg, but the human victims are much more unsettling. Once infected, the humans still lumber like the polar bears but they have the added quality of a sagging face that looks like a loose mask. It’s creepy stuff that adds some menace to their presence.
This is all to say nothing of Guy Godfree’s gorgeous cinematography. The Arctic isn’t an area of the world that is shown on film often, much less used as an actual filming location. This helps lend the film an air of authenticity that you wouldn’t get in a standard studio film. From drone shots that traverse the Arctic waters to the landscape shots of the hills, Slash/Back is a beautiful film showing an oft-ignored part of the globe. Adding to the visuals is the fact that the film takes place on the longest day of the year (a full 24 hours) in Pang, making this another solid entry into the daylight horror sub-genre.
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a children’s horror movie that didn’t bother to handhold its younger viewers, so Slash/Back is a refreshing in that regard. Make no mistake, there’s plenty here for adults to enjoy too, but this feels like the type of film that you’d see released in the ’80s, a time when movies weren’t afraid to actually scare its younger viewers. Just swap out the practical effects for some iffy CGI (understandable, given the budget) and you’ve got an idea of what Slash/Back has to offer.
Slash/Back uses an Indigenous lens to craft a charming and exciting gateway horror film that never loses sight of the characters at its center. It’s limited by a small budget, but does that really matter when you’ve got a cast this charming and a film that exudes personality as much as this one?
Slash/Back had its world premiere at SXSW and is currently seeking distribution.
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