The Cutprice Guignol

I think we can all agree that things have been getting a little too pleasant around here, a little too positive. And I, for one, find myself called to wade ankle-deep through a slurry of fictional giblets and gore at least three times a month, so it’s some damn good timing that the trailer for the new season of something truly nasty just dropped.

As you know if you’ve been around the Guignol for a few years, I’m a big fan of the anthology horror show Slasher – I’ve reviewed the last couple of seasons, and have been waiting with baited breath (and slight nausea) for the next offering from the show’s creators, Hell Motel. While its status as an actual sixth season of Slasher is a bit unclear – with most of the marketing referring to it as a new show from the creators of Slasher – with the returning cast and creators, it feels like a spiritual sequel if not a literal one. I’ll be reviewing it episode-by-episode when it kicks off next month. But, in the meantime, let’s take a look at the trailer and get a handle on what we’re checking in for!

Slasher isn’t ever going to be a hard sell for me, because I’m a huge fan of campy horror nonsense at the best of times and this iteration is one of my favourites, but this premise scratches a few personal horror itches (non-transmissible, I promise) right off the bat: I love an isolated setting, a grim and gruesome backstory ripe for a campfire retelling, and the show’s trademark Quivering Finger of Accusation (QFoA), all of which are on display here. The podcast and social media elements of this season could go either way for me – handled right, it’s great way to structure the story, have a sly dig at the industry, and create a compelling reason for the characters to stick around, but handled wrong, it slips into cringey zeitgeist territory fast. There are plenty of modern examples of great tech horrors, but for every Host or Influencer, we’ve got a trudgingly out-of-touch Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you know?

It’s so good to see some of my personal favourite cast members like Paula Brancati and Christopher Jacot feature so heavily in this trailer – Erick Mccormack looks to be, once again, camping it up in a sinister turn, and, for some very welcome reason, drag icon Icesis Couture.

I have to say that I found this trailer pretty intriguing with regards to how referential it is – while Slasher has always acted as a love letter to the slasher genre in its myriad forms, this trailer is packed with explicit references to horror movies and stories in a way I don’t think we’ve seen before. Finding the balance between reference, homage, and criticism of the genre isn’t easy, but, across a longer-form story like this one, I think the show could have some really interesting stuff to say about horror’s occasionally-questionable connection to true crime and the allure of the grotesque – because if any creators know about gross, it’s these ones.

But enough about me (for once) – what did you think of this trailer? Will you be tuning in for this sort-of-Slasher-sort-of-not season of Motel Hell? How likely would you be to eat that charred face if you got served it with your entree, honestly? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this article and want to see more stuff like it, catch up on the rest of my writing on Slasher here! I’d also love it if you would check out my horrible short story collection, and, if you’d like to support my work, please consider joining me on Patreon!

(header image via Fangoria)