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The Survivors (2016)

survposterI really like where director Steve Rudzinski’s head is with “The Survivors.” I love the idea of a movie about the survivors of slashers and serial killers teaming up to bring down random slashers around the country. The war of good and evil materializes in to a wicked concept where the slashers have the tables turned on them, resulting in the slashers forming their own cabal where they murder people in various towns around the world. Director Rudzinski pokes fun at the horror genre and team movies in general, offering some fun and funny satire of horror icons above and beyond.

The primary antagonist is a hysterical Norman Bates stand in, while former leader of the slasher team, Frank, is a Krueger clone stuck in hell’s waiting room. One of the funniest bits is when director Rudzinski, who also plays Frank (and does a killer Krueger laugh!), features a montage of Frank’s various convoluted plans. This involves turning an unborn child evil, and possessing a young man to perform horrendous murders as an allegory for his homosexuality. After a young girl is saved by the Survivors, a trio of silly psychos team up to find the secret slasher group in hopes of obtaining back up to fight the Survivors.

Meanwhile Frank is working hard to get back up to Earth to continue his reign of terror, as the Survivors form a team of past characters from Rudzinski’s movies. “The Survivors” isn’t pitch perfect though with some sub-par performances here and there, and choppy editing, but considering the budget, director Rudzinski does a bang up job. “The Survivors” is creative, and pays great homage to horror tropes and cliches. I hope we can see this transformed in to a bigger budgeted horror comedy someday as Rudzinski could turn this in to a cult classic with the right studio behind him.