Shudder is every horror movie lover’s dream: hundreds of films ranging from classics such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) to hard-to-get your hands on cult films such as The Baby (1972) and A Tale of Two Sisters (2003). Many movies that were lost in the crevices of forgotten horror are now available on Shudder. Similar to other streaming services, Shudder has original content as well. Slaxx (2020), a horror film about a pair of possessed jeans terrorizing a group of coworkers to punish their unethical practices, is a must-see for slasher enthusiasts. The film has the perfect mix of gore and downright hilarious and eccentric humor.
Slaxx is directed by Elza Kephart, a Canadian filmmaker with a deep love for horror. Kephart’s first feature film was the 2003 movie Graveyard Alive, in which she wrote, directed, and produced. Her other credits don’t stray from the horror genre, as she is a master of her craft. Slaxx did pretty well among critics and viewers, currently having a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, relatively unheard of for a slasher film. Not only does Slaxx touch on familiar slasher film tropes, but it also explores the topic of prominent corporations, fast fashion, and how people working in giant firms will do just about anything to get to the top.
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Slaxx begins off in a cotton field with a Bollywood track as the opening music, seemingly referencing the Indian workers growing crops for huge corporations. The corporation in question: the trendy clothing store Canadian Cotton Clothier, the overly cheerful store with overly peppy and over-worked employees.
The film then cuts to Libby McClean (Romane Denis), a young girl who is just beyond thrilled to have just gotten a job at CCC. After meeting her rather unenthusiastic coworkers, Shruti (Sehar Bhojani), Jemma (Hanneke Talbot), and Hunter (Jessica B. Hill), she meets overly enthusiastic store manager Craig (Brett Donahue). After this, she meets her idol, Company founder Harold Landsgrove (Stephen Bogaert), during a speech promoting their new line of jeans called Super Shapers designer jeans, jeans that fit any body type. It seems like nothing possibly could go wrong, right? The seemingly happy beginning quickly turns into a bloodbath when Jemma tries to steal a pair of overpriced jeans. When trying to take off the jeans to use the bathroom, they refuse to come off. Instead, they tighten so much that they cut Jemma right in half.
With the film’s opening scene showing Indian workers in a cotton field, Slaxx makes its first of many comments on consumerism, globalism, and how giant corporations treat their workers. With fast fashion corporations such as American Apparel going bankrupt in 2015, Slaxx does what horror films do best: have important social commentary without being too straightforward.
As Libby finds Jemma dead, instead of calling the cops, Craig says they have to hide the body not to scare other employees because it’s a “team effort.” After all, CCC is a company that takes good care of its own. The once curious and excited new employee now realizes the raw and sad truth behind CCC. As more people die, Craig keeps trying to hide the truth: a metaphor for how this corporation, along with many others, lies about just anything (in this instance, their clothes being ethically sourced and organic) to get to the top.
There are many ways to interpret the real message of this film and what the jeans are a symbol for. The jean’s meaning could go one of two ways: they are a metaphor for consumerism, or the jeans themself are a reincarnation of overworked laborers marking their revenge. Either way, the jeans are just a part of the film’s overall message: huge corporations exploit and abuse workers.
The jeans begin to kill employees one after another, dropping like flies. Just like these laborers’ well-being and health were sacrificed for jeans, those same jeans are sacrificing the CCC’s employee’s lives. Along with an over-the-top social influencer named Peyton Jewels and horrible corporate bosses, the jeans become a symbol for taking a stand against unjust working conditions. The wide-eyed and pure young girl Libby symbolizes the innocent newcomers to the workforce, unwillingly joining something genuinely despicable.
A significant scene in the film is between Shruti and the jeans when she escapes their reign. After massacring numerous people, the jeans attempt to go to their next victim, Shruti. As the jeans approach her, Shruti is shown singing along to the Bollywood song “Humara India”, the same song that was played in the opening scene. Instead of decapitating her like the others, the jeans begin to dance along. Indeed, the jeans are a reincarnation of those same Indian workers, explicitly referring to the workers at the beginning of the film in the cotton field.
Slaxx makes its message loud and clear in the last 20 minutes. Shruti speaks Hindi to talk to one of the jeans, who is revealed to be the soul of a little girl who was once a child laborer. The young girl died from the cotton machine, an extraordinarily gory and jarring scene where the machine completely murders her to shreds. The film then cuts back to Shruti speaking to the jeans. When asked what she wants, the jeans simply say justice. Slaxx is on its way to becoming a cult classic: it’s funny, satirical, extremely violent, and features critical social commentary.
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