Slaughterhouse
It’s another day of death and taxes, the inevitabilities of the small, sad circle of life at Bacon and Son’s Hog Slaughtering, owned by Lester Bacon who had hoped his children would carry on the business but it was not to be; Buddy was never quite right, closer to animals he would eventually be obliged to kill than any person and nobody knowing quite what became of his younger brother whose arrival killed their mother, but now with the industry changing and Lester’s refusal to bring in automation the bank is calling.
Given thirty days to vacate the premises by property attorneys Harold Murdock and Tom Sandford who have made every attempt to negotiate a sale of the land to at least give Lester something to walk away with, the old man is stubborn, wallowing in his pious misery, his possessive righteous belief that the farm cannot be taken away transferring to Buddy who takes exception to a group of teenagers who trespass into the slaughterhouse to make a horror video.
An almost overlooked film of 1987 shot primarily just outside of San Diego in the suburbs of San Ysidro and Lakeside, Slaughterhouse was a low-budget black comedy slasher horror directed by Rick Roessler, far from a masterpiece or even particularly noteworthy, aiming low in the obvious setup and bloody execution but surprising in the balance given to the characters, the twenty-something “teenagers” not overly obnoxious, the lawyers genuinely sympathetic to their clients and the plight of Bacon Senior (Hobgoblins’ Don Barrett) in a shrinking economy and changing industry believable.
The killing precipitated by the troubled non-verbal son he has tried to raise alone, the father finding himself in an already impossible situation where pride and perceived betrayal by the community he once fed have isolated him, Slaughterhouse is also surprising in that the majority of the cast can actually act even if for much of the time Roessler’s script asks them to do little than go through the motions, arguing with the police over parking tickets before partying in a condemned building.
Leaning heavily and undeniably on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in premise and in the dark and dank primary location, decorated with decaying carcasses and bodies hung from chains, like the more recent Slaughterhouse Killer it asks the question, raised to kill obviously intelligent and communal animals without conscience or qualm, where does the distinction lie between animal and human, and brought up almost in isolation with no heed paid to his special needs, how can Buddy (Joe B Barton) be expected to recognise such abstract boundaries?
The “Pig Out” at the local VFW outpost and the anticipated storm arriving on the same night heralded by repeated radio announcements, it is little surprise that the finale takes place in the rain without power, though Sheriff Fred Bourden (William Houck) wisely calls for backup before he goes in while his daughter Liz (Sherry Leigh, who recently reprised the role for a belated sequel currently in post-production) makes a fine final girl, smart and sharp as a blade, at least up to a certain point.
Slaughterhouse is streaming on the Arrow platform now
