A young woman scarred literally from an attack by a killer seeks revenge. In order to do so she commits all of the major horror sins in order to lure the killer to her.

This short film was written and directed by Shant Hamassian, and perfectly uses a solid blend of comedy and horror. The direction is thrilling and fun, with the opening shot feeling very Tarantino-ish, and some POV shots resembling Carpenter’s Halloween. But what I loved most about Hamassian’s direction is the excellent quick cuts during the killer’s attack, and the score is chilling and really sets the mood. The script contains a great amount of wit and thrills. It plays seriously at some points, but then has instances where it does a fine job of poking fun at slasher films. For instance, the mask of the killer is a jab at the William Shatner from Star Trek mask used for Michael Myers (won’t give it away, but it’s perfect). The only real dialogue is from the male character who arrives at our lead’s house. This role is played by Scott Javore who’s credited as “The Bait”. He’s witnessing the behavior of this girl and his reactions seem to mimic what we as the audience are thinking and feeling. Not only this but comedic timing is on point. The killer is played by Adam Lesar and it’s evident that he did his homework studying the movement of famous slasher killers like Michael Myers and Ghostface, and he nails it. Finally we have our leading lady in Lily Berlina. In her mostly silent role, Berlina plays Janelle with great poise. She does an excellent job of using her facial expressions and body language in place of dialogue. There are moments where you’re laughing at her behavior and then suddenly rooting for her. I do think that even though it is a short film, it should have been slightly longer in order to develop Janelle a tad bit more, but it doesn’t hurt the film that terribly.

Night of the Slasher is a fun short film that Hamassion does a great job of paying tribute to horror and adding a fun touch with his direction and adapting this script to the screen. I’m very curious to see what he can do with a full length film at this point.

–Cody Landman