Prime Time: Slay Belles (2018)

I wanted to like Slay Belles, I really did. It had so much to appeal to me, not least of which was the plucky nature of it. This is a film made with very limited resources by people who seem to want to just create something fun. Unfortunately, the fun doesn't really come across that well, and it ends up just being annoying and sloppy.

Three women (Alexi, Dahlia, and Sadie) are heading for a but of urban exploring at a neglected Santa Land venue, to record their antics and put them on the internet, when they cross paths with a dangerous Krampus. It's not looking good for them. On the plus side, however, they also end up crossing paths with Santa Claus. He just doesn't look quite as they imagined him to be.

Directed by Dan Walker, who also co-wrote the movie with Jessica Luhrssen, this is quite the little oddity. There are some fleeting moments of decent gore, and a fairly good Krampus creation, but it's not enough to satisfy those who are seeking a good bit of bloodshed and nastiness. There is humour, I guess, but none of it worked for me, and I cannot imagine many finding things hilarious (although it's all subjective, so who knows). The horror elements are never there for long enough to be effective, sandwiched in between the attempts at comedy, and therefore rendering them completely ineffective.

What you're left with is a film that is happy to be about nothing more than three attractive women in eye-pleasing costumes bickering with someone who doesn't look like Santa, while he proves he actually is Santa. If that sounds like a fun time to you then go for it. It quickly became tiresome for me, and the slim 77-minute runtime dragged.

Kristina Klebe, Susan Slaughter, and Hannah Wagner play the three leads. They're not great, but they do what they're asked to do for the sake of the silly plot. Barry Bostwick is more fun in the role of Santa. Diane Salinger is also fun, playing a bartender named Cherry, and Stephen Ford is amusingly ill-prepared as someone who may be able to help our leads. Richard Moll has a cameo, as does Darren Lynn Bousman, who is also an executive producer.

It seems to me that someone wanted to make a film, and they got just enough people and resources together to get it done, but didn't have enough imagination or wit to create a final product matching whatever was in their head. On the one hand, at least they got their movie made, and fair play to them for that. On the other hand, this is almost painful at times, and I would have much preferred to see something made with an even lower budget by someone with a better vision, approach, and style.

2/10

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