What’s the scariest creature the world has ever known? If you said the sloth, you’re not alone. Some may find these furry bundles of lethargy charming, but a closer look reveals a devious predator lurking amidst the trees just waiting to attack us with those long, blood-soaked claws. Matthew Goodhue’s Slotherhouse pits this tree-hanging menace with another fearsome fiend: the ambitious sorority girl.
Animal lover Emily (Lisa Ambalavanar) has set her sights on the Presidential Suite of her lavish sorority house as she begins her senior year of college. Unfortunately, this means she’ll have to take down incumbent mean girl Brianna (Sydney Craven) and her team of frightened minions. Hoping to boost her social media cred, Emily adopts a three–toed sloth she names Alpha from a sketchy animal poacher and unwittingly unleashes a blood bath as the tiny assassin slices her way through the Sigma Lambda Theta sisters.
This hilarious film skewers Greek life and campus culture with loving swipes at legendary slasher franchises. And while the premise may seem like a joke, it’s a delightful horror comedy that introduces the world to a new apex predator. Recently, Bloody Disgusting sat down with director Matthew Goodhue to chat about the inspiration for Alpha, the dangerous power of mean girls, and other innocent-looking creatures that may be lurking in the shadows. Read the full conversation below and grab tickets for tonight’s screening before it’s too late.
Bloody Disgusting: Where did the idea for a slasher film starring a killer sloth come from and what inspired you to tell this delightful story?
Matthew Goodhue: The creators of Slotherhouse, Cady Lanigan and Bradley Fowler, have been working on the world of this movie for seven years. Brad is a wonderful writer, and wanted to make something that stood out. He pitched Slotherhouse to Cady – and she was in from the start. The two of them did a ton of research on sloths, their popularity in the zeitgeist, who were the people obsessing over this amazing animal, all in hopes of finding the shape that this movie should take. The script shifted from a gorier, R-rated concept to where we landed – what we hope is a gateway horror film for a younger crowd, but one that horror fans can also get a kick out of. I came in later in the process, after the script was written. I never thought I’d make a movie called Slotherhouse featuring an animatronic sloth, but after reading the script, it was too strange and challenging of a concept to pass up. I was drawn into the practical effect approach that Cady and Brad wanted to pursue, and was really excited to try to make something more light-hearted and playful than what I’ve made before. The goal was really to make a fun, energetic, poppy 90-minute film that should be watched with a crowd.
BD: Why did you choose to set the film in a sorority house?
MG: This is all Cady and Brad’s doing. I loved the idea of the sorority house because of the nod to other horror films (Black Christmas, The House on Sorority Row, Terror Train, among others). It also gave us a contained space where we could place our ensemble cast – a perfect recipe for horror. We also looked at movies like Mean Girls, Happy Death Day, Tragedy Girls – not all sorority films, but they’re about the dynamics of a group of people and all the tension and comedy that stems from that.
BD: I love #SlothRush. How much was this film inspired by Rush Tiktok?
MG: This is something that was new to me. I wasn’t a part of any fraternity, didn’t really know anyone in a sorority. But, I was seeing some of those Rush videos on the internet – and they’re really intense! People seem to be really dedicated and devoted to the rush experience, and we wanted to highlight the attraction of that, the intoxicating feeling of meeting all these new people that you’re instantly supposed to be friends with. It also showcases the chaos that is the internet- how quickly something can go viral, how quickly your popularity and followers can go up if you capture people’s attention.
BD: I’d love to hear about the creature design for Alpha. Was it all practical effects?
MG: From the start, we wanted to pursue practical effects. Personally, I don’t think I would’ve wanted to make this movie if we went with a full CG design. Especially when we’re trying to create a unique character that we hope audiences fall in love with – we knew we needed Alpha to be as real and tangible as possible. We worked with the wonderful folks at Creature Effects (Mark Rappaport, Tony Carillo, Jackson Pike) and carefully crafted Alpha’s appearance and mechanics – we knew she had to be cute, and we wanted to keep her proportions as true to a real sloth as possible. We were very, very lucky to have the talented puppeteer Greg Ballora on board to establish Alpha’s character through movement. Alpha was operated by 4-5 puppeteers at a time, using rods to control Alpha’s arms, legs, belly and back. We also had two puppeteers on RC control, who would move Alpha’s head up and down, left and right, wiggle her nose and move her mouth.
We went to a sanctuary in Los Angeles where we met a few sloths, which was really informative in terms of seeing how they move around. A big takeaway from that trip was that sloths don’t really move around at all! Lots of lounging and taking it easy, which sounds like the perfect life. So, we knew we wanted Alpha’s movements to be realistic, but we also knew we wanted to play with the irony of a killer sloth, and took some liberties which I hope make the character more entertaining and lovable.
BD: I love that aside from Tyler (Andrew Horton) and Oliver (Stefan Kapicic), this story is told entirely by women. Why did you choose to make Alpha a female sloth?
MG: I don’t know what this says about me, but the first time I read the screenplay, I imagined Alpha as a male. I think part of it is I was comparing Alpha to the horror villains I knew inspired the character – Chucky, Jason, Michael Myers. From what I remember, Alpha’s sex wasn’t explicitly stated in the script. It wasn’t until we were in pre-production in Serbia when our DP and producer, Mark David, suggested that Alpha be female. We all looked at each other and said, “Shit, that makes so much sense and makes this character so much more complicated and exciting.” It plays into the sorority world so much better, it makes the tiara moment really intense and weird. Alpha wants to be the queen of the house, just as some of our human characters do.
BD: Who do you view as the more powerful villain, Alpha or Brianna?
MG: This may be controversial, but I don’t see Alpha as a villain. I think Alpha was put in a horrible situation, and as animals do, she adapted to her new environment in order to survive. Brianna, on the other hand, is so cruel and manipulative! She’s a real selfish character, which is a trait humans have, not animals. I think the cruelty of words and how we treat others can be incredibly damaging. Maybe not as damaging as a sorority sister rampage, – but still damaging.
BD: Social media weaves through the fabric of this story. What do you think Slotherhouse is saying about online culture?
MG: A lot of us put so much weight on our social media presence. It’s almost more important than the real world in front of us. I wanted to show how a character neglects the world around her, all in hopes of prospering in her digital world. It doesn’t matter who you hurt in real life, as long as your follower count continues to grow. Of course, our movie pushes this to the extreme, but I see it on a daily basis, with people having almost different personalities online as they do in real life. For me, I want to distance myself from the digital world as much as I can, and figure out how to be more present in this life. Social media is super important and allows us to do wonderful things – but, I think we should put a bit more effort in the face-to-face relationships, because those are what really matter.
BD: I loved the scene in which Alpha attacks during a thunderstorm. How did you approach balancing the horrific elements of the story with the film’s comedic tone? Were you worried that one would overshadow the other?
MG: That was a very early scene that Cady and Brad actually storyboarded before I came onto the project. And how the scene was captured is pretty damn close to those original storyboards. When it came to the comedy versus horror element, we always knew that this was a comedy first. The movie is called Slotherhouse – and the premise is so silly. In order to try to make the horror stand out, we just took the story seriously. Our actors played everything as if it was life and death. I think they really elevated the film with their performances, and grounded an otherwise ludicrous concept in a world that I hope is relatable to people.
BD: Another attack scene shows that a sloth’s slow movements can actually build tension in a horror film. Do you view Alpha’s limited speed as a feature, a bug, or both?
MG: I think Alpha’s speed shows how intelligent she is, more than anything. She can move quick, if she wants to. But, she chooses her moments of slowness with thoughtfulness. She’s not only building tension for the audience, but for the character who is about to reach their demise. That’s pretty dark stuff! But again, Alpha only retaliates against people that hurt or endanger her. While it’s disturbing how much pleasure Alpha may get from toying with her victims, she’s almost doing the same thing that Brianna does – except in a much more horrific, murderous way.
BD: I love the moment when we abandon any semblance of realism and watch a killer sloth drive a car. How much did you consider actual sloth behavior when bringing Alpha to life?
MG: We took Alpha’s movements very seriously, and wanted to keep things as natural as possible. Of course, I don’t think anyone has seen a sloth drive a car, so we knew we could take some liberties with how Alpha navigates certain actions. But, throughout all the wild stuff that happens, the biggest thing with Alpha was trying to instill life in her, to make her feel as real as possible in the world she finds herself in. She’s a puppet, but the characters don’t know that. They’re reacting to a living, breathing creature. Even in those ridiculous scenes, we wanted Alpha’s presence to be felt and grounded – as much as we could!
BD: How did you design and film the final act’s fight scenes?
MG: Those scenes were tough! We were in that dark hallway for many, many days. With a puppet, you can only film chunks at a time. There isn’t a huge amount of movement you can capture in one take, because you have 4-5 puppeteers who are trying to stay out of your shot. So, with that scene, we really had to break the moments down, beat by beat, and think about what shots we really need to tell the story. For a lot of it, I had no idea how it would go – reading about a sloth having a sword fight sounds fun, but how in the world do you pull it off? I was very lucky to be able to lean on our puppeteers and stunt coordinator to amplify those sequences, and really push the boundaries as to what we could pull off with Alpha.
BD: What do you think Alpha truly wants?
MG: I think Alpha wants to go home, where she’s comfortable and confident. If those poachers just left her alone, I’m sure she’d be eating some flowers right now, chilling in a tree, not having many cares in the world.
BD: I loved Tiff Stevenson’s hilarious performance as Ms. Mayflower. How did you approach developing this character?
MG: Tiff is hilarious and comes from a stand-up comedy background. We knew we wanted someone with stand-up or improvisation experience, as we wanted Ms. Mayflower to be a loose, free- flowing character. Tiff was a blast to work with – she came to set super prepared, but also constantly gave new, exciting ideas in each scene. The script is the blueprint, and you really need your actors to bring the characters and scenes to life. I think Tiff injected a ton of heart and even some tragedy into Ms. Mayflower, as comedic as the performance is.
BD: I noticed several references to classic horror films like Halloween, Child’s Play, The Shining, Black Christmas, and even Fatal Attraction. My personal favorite is the nod to Halloween: H20. Were these intentional references and did you have any particular films or filmmakers in mind when creating the look of Slotherhouse?
MG: At some point, I think a lot of references are subconscious. All the movies you mentioned are films I’ve seen many, many times, and while some may not have felt intentional, the moment you call something out, it’s like, “Oh, yeah. Completely. I completely ripped that off!” But, that’s what’s awesome about movies. I love seeing a film and being able to see the influence of other films and filmmakers within it. For Slotherhouse, I watched a lot of animal attack movies – Cujo, Crawl, Jaws. These films are a lot scarier than Slotherhouse, but I wanted to get a sense of how to capture attacks, and terrifying moments, with practical effects. I love Joe Dante movies, and he was a big influence in approaching this. He captures these really cinematic, adventurous experiences that are just so fun to watch on the big screen. He’s a true lover of films, and you can feel that in his movies. That’s something I hope to be able to emulate in my projects.
BD: Do you think sloths really have tricked us all? Are there more creatures like Alpha out there and do you think she’ll return?
MG: Oh man. If they have, we’re all screwed. It’s very possible. We as humans definitely think we’re the top of the food chain, and it’s only a matter of time before we get a reality check. If it isn’t sloths, maybe it’ll be panda bears. Maybe koalas. I hear people love axolotl these days – maybe they’re coming for us next.
BD: Is there anything you’d like to say about Slotherhouse that I haven’t asked?
MG: It’s hard to get independent movies made, and very hard to get them into theaters. So, if you can, please check this movie out in a theater, with friends. It was our goal from the start to make a movie that played well with a crowd. So, if you can, make it on out to the theater!
Slotherhouse slashes its way into theaters nationwide tonight! Get tickets now!
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