Intensity	Stupidity:Nudity Ratio 3:2	Budget Low Budget

It really doesn't do much good to give a plot synopsis for this movie. It moves much too fast and changes too much to adequately describe. After the introduction featuring a chainsaw wielding prom queen killer, we meet our heroine, Jenna (Jessica Kinney) and her fiance, Alex (Ross Kelly). Jenna is hesitant to get married and won't talk about the reason why. She finally relents but before she can say her vows, most of the wedding party is killed. In most movies this would be enough to fill the entire movie, but not here. Director Carlos Scott and writers John Howard, Robert Medrano and Scott Phillips are just getting warmed up. Seems that Jenna was raised by an incestuous family and is already promised to one of them (could be a cousin or brother or uncle, this is one messed up family tree). The family has a long history of hunting down anyone who tries to flee the homestead. Just about the time that Jenna comes clean about her background, the two decide that it is time to start fighting back. Soon inbred rednecks are dropping like flies.

The pace of Wedding Slashers is fast. Don't get up to make a cup of coffee without hitting the pause button or you will be seriously lost when you return. You will also miss some great dialog. Plot points are made and the story moves right along, but the director and writer still left time for some dumb jokes and visual gags.

Visually the director got the most out of the crappy equipment he had to use. Often the scenes are not lit well (though he uses that to his advantage when Alex fights against a much larger opponent), but this was an equipment limitation not sloppiness on the part of the director. Despite the budget limitations this still is a great movie to watch. The lack of money was not used as an excuse for laziness or poor filmmaking.

The tone of Wedding Slashers is a lot like Army of Darkness in that it references tons of other movies but treats them with respect. The first scenes are of a car in Lover's Lane and an attack by a masked killer with a chainsaw. The inbred rednecks are kind of a nod to H. P. Lovecraft's Appalachian characters (though his are more implied). There are no elements of the supernatural here, everyone dies pretty easily. Unlike Jason's movies, an axe through the head is enough to put someone down for the count.

Addendum: It had been a while since I originally viewed this movie and on firing it up again, I got say that I enjoyed it just as much this time. Jessica Kinney could have played Jenna a lot more edge but this may have been directorial. During a couple of the murders Jenna covers her ears and sings nursery rhymes in an attempt to escape the reality of what is going on around her, so the director may have opted for a very flat aspect for her character. Still there is one scene where she shines. As she confesses the whole story to Alex, one of his friends overhears. His buddy's response is to throw Jenna back to her family to stop the killing (not an unreasonable option, though I have seen enough B movies to know that appeasing lunatics just doesn't work). Alex kills his friend while defending Jenna and as they make they look for a way out, they run into another wedding guest who has managed to kill one of the family. Jenna beams with pride as she blurts out "Alex killed him" as Alex modestly skips over the bit about murdering his friend. This is a pivotal scene. For starters Alex is willing to kill for her and choose her over his friends. Also she sees one of her brothers dead and realizes that fighting back is an option. At this point she sees that there may be a way out and from this point forward she starts fighting back.

There are some movies that I am dying to see on Blu-Ray (Young Frankenstein is at the top of that list) and others that I would not bother to get on Blu-Ray. Wedding Slashers would look no different on Hi-Def. The detail just is not there. I mentioned before the crap equipment the filmmakers used. It is really a shame because there are moments of really nice visuals in the film. The establishing shot at the gas station, a couple of shots of Jenna in the church and the scene where Alex takes on Sock Monkey are all lit well but the effect is lost due to the low resolution digital equipment used. Most of the shots are framed well and there is a sense of depth in nearly every scene.

Maria Ford plays a bride in the opening flashback sequence. One of the family is trying to run away with her, but they are tracked down, Maria is killed and the boy is brought back to the fold. I did not recognize Maria at first, but to be fair, she didn't take her clothes off in this movie. After all Maria has played a stripper multiple times, as a PI in "Angel of Destruction" she beat the crap out of a bunch of thugs wearing only a thong, and in "Unnamable II" she did not even put on any clothes until the third act. Maria's bride is happy to the point of being frantic, but then she doesn't know about the family. This contrasts nicely with Jenna's emotional shut down because she does know about the family. Maria is a great B movie actress and much like my other favorite actresses, she doesn't hold back anything. Her character here is infectiously exuberant during the early going and properly scared when it all goes pear shaped.

To me this is a great example of a B movie. Wedding Slashers has a great script, surprisingly effective cinematography and good editing. All of these take time and talent which are often not counted in the cost of the movie.

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