In Slash/Back, an Alien Invader Tangles With Badass Teen Girls

Summer time in Pangnirtung—“Pang” to the Inuit locals, an island hamlet situated “1,000,000 miles from anyplace,” besides possibly the Arctic Circle—is peak mischief time for the bored teenagers who stay there… till, as we see in sci-fi story Slash/Again, a slimy customer touches down for an invasion trip.

Directed and co-written by Nyla Innuksuk in her characteristic debut, Slash/Again has a well-known story construction, following a bunch of children who need to step up and defend their properties from a sci-fi menace. There’s additionally the well-worn “alien seems in remoted place” angle, which the script acknowledges with an overt reference to John Carpenter’s The Factor. What units Slash/Again aside is its setting—it was shot on location precisely the place it takes place, in a distant pocket of Canada’s Nunavut territory—and the best way it weaves Inuit tradition, together with monster lore, into its storytelling.

Slash/Again establishes proper from its prologue that Inuit tradition emphasizes searching—as essential character Maika (Tasiana Shirley) learns from her father, “so as to survive, we have to be educated and affected person.” This lesson proves essential when Maika, together with pals Jesse (Alexis Wolfe), Leena (Chelsea Prusky), and Uki (Nalajoss Ellsworth), understand that one thing uncommon is going on. A bear lumbers out of the wilderness, transferring in an oddly discombobulated method, oozing black blood, and… capturing tentacles out of its eyes? This freaky phenomenon quickly begins affecting people, and the children—principally left to their very own gadgets by their dad and mom and the opposite adults on the town, who’re one way or the other each overprotective and fully checked-out—observe the story beats you’d count on (together with a pleasant “gathering up all of the weapons we will lay our fingers on” montage) towards the inevitable showdown. Alongside the best way, Maika specifically learns a priceless lesson about embracing her heritage and being pleased with the actually life-saving abilities she has discovered rising up surrounded by Inuit traditions.

As we construct to the large battle, the women are often distracted by their very own drama, like who’s being annoying simply to get consideration, whose little sister is being an excessive amount of of a tagalong, and who’s getting too near another person’s crush. “Can we return to searching a blood-sucking alien?” certainly one of them mutters after one more squabble divides the group. These interactions can gradual the plot down, however they really feel true to life. Then again, whereas the performers are partaking, the performing is uneven all through. You’ll be able to perceive why—the Slash/Again youngsters have been apparently truly solid on location, including much more authenticity to the story—however it’s noticeable sufficient to work in opposition to the film, particularly throughout any scene wherein somebody must be expressing heightened feelings… which is a number of the time.

And, to not pile onto a micro-budget film that was clearly a labor of affection, however the particular results used to carry the aliens to life are fairly restricted, which you will get a way of from the picture above. (Sadly, there’s no Factor-level creature grandiosity right here.) That “labor of affection” half is what’s most essential although—Slash/Again has a number of coronary heart and good intentions behind it, to not point out a uniquely compelling setting, and it’s not possible to not root for its kick-ass younger solid.

Slash/Again arrives November 18 on Shudder.

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