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A different kind of slasher is stalking the woods today, courtesy of the neighborhood misanthrope and his cute neighbor’s active imaginations.

The horror-comedy label is a hard one to live up to, as the balance is generally off in one direction or the other, leaving the viewer out in the cold as far as how they’re supposed to react to the film.  Happily this isn’t the case with Red Velvet, as director Bruce Dickson manages a tongue in cheek, darkly comic feeling throughout, as the characters feel like they are behaving not as people in the ‘real world’, but more as people in a film would, to move the plot along and not get bogged down with the logic that might kick in and derail things if you encountered them yourself.

We are introduced to Aaron (Henry Thomas), a writer having a hard time concentrating due to the neighbors’ knock-down drag-out argument nearby.  He seems to have a very specific interest in Linda (Kelli Garner), spying on her through his peephole as she leaves with laundry.  He hops in his car and cruises the neighborhood, then just so happens to pop up in the Laundromat where she’s doing her wash. Their first interactions are vaguely hostile, as Aaron comes off visibly irritated that she would even be talking to him, recognizing him from the apartment complex and saying hello.  I found this puzzling at first, but on closer inspection it’s rather cleverly manipulative of him.  We’ve established that she’s living with the type of guy who argues with her all the time, and may or may not actually knock her around physically, so of course she’s not going to react as others might to slightly hostile interactions.  Linda rises to the challenge, engaging Aaron in further conversation, until he finally asks her to lunch while their laundry does the various cycles. 

Aaron is a horror writer, and jumps on the idea that Linda was meant to go to a birthday party in the mountains but stayed home because of her jerky boyfriend.  The two of them begin to concoct a horror story set around this event, beginning with the look of their killer, who Linda insists will be wearing a pink tool belt, just because she wants to add her own flourish to the story.  The look of the killer is interesting to say the least, as he’s wearing the very same sort of painter’s coveralls that Aaron is wearing ‘because it’s laundry day’, and sports a camera on his head to snap a picture of his victims in their death throes.  A voice modulator and speakers complete the look, which resembles a bunny at first glance, which I didn’t find to be all that menacing, but I’ve never seen Night Of The Lepus.  Aaron’s story is amusing in that it continually changes in plot and setting as Linda interjects details about her friends and sister on the fly, but for the most part it plays out in typical slasher film fashion of the killer isolating his victims and spouting off a one-liner before dispatching them.

I would especially give the writer props for the ‘death by gator’ scene, which was completely unexpected.

The film looks great; the set pieces are lit like a Giallo, lots of day-glo colors bathing the action and some interestingly over the top scenes of violence, people sawed in half, etc., it’s never dull, even when it’s just the two leads verbally sparring over details about who should die first.  The film never really surprises you with where it’s going as far as Aaron’s true motivations are concerned, but it’s an interesting ride, and their interactions are fun, even if you want to scream at her to get the hell out of there at every turn.  It’s a bit hard to watch Linda’s interactions with Aaron and not wonder how she doesn’t pick up on his inherent creepiness, but it’s all in the service of the story, now isn’t it?

The DVD release of Red Velvet is an Amazon exclusive, utilizing their ‘on demand’ DVD-R burning system.  The special features included on the disc include a director’s commentary, interviews & behind the scenes bits with both the actors and make-up effects folks, as well as a music video from Johnny Mac and the Cadillacs, a still gallery slideshow and the original trailer for the film.

The film is a nice change of pace for the horror fan, darkly comic at times and paying nice homage to both Giallo films and the splattery horror of the 80’s.  The performances are good; particularly the two leads, whose interactions are at first frustrating, but quickly become believable as we learn more about Linda’s character.

This is well worth a look; I’d suggest checking it out.

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