Festivals - Gerardmer 2021 : Slaxx in the program of the shifted night

By Mulder, 22 january 2021

"Slaxx is above all a movie about killer pants! This totally crazy idea came to Patricia Gomez Zlatar and me in a flash. Before we even knew it would be a criticism of the fast fashion industry, we wanted to see killer pants!" - Elza Kephart

Launched as part of Fantasia's Frontiers co-production market in 2017, Slaxx is the newest and most eccentric film by Fantasia festival regular Elza Kephart (Graveyard alive, Fantasia 2003). Satisfying the kind of trendy store where sections are described as "ecosystems", Kephart and co-screenwriter Patricia Gomez Zlatar introduce one of the most original film creatures of recent years. These wild Super Shapers have been created with special effects that give them as much personality as they do appetite, and they spurt enough blood to require the cleaning of each row.

Slaxx is a Canadian horror comedy directed by Elza Kephart, who co-wrote the film with Patricia Gomez. The film is produced by Gomez with Anne-Marie Gélinas, and stars Romane Denis as a cashier in a clothing store who, along with her colleagues, is terrorized by possessed jeans.

Slaxx tells the story of a pair of jeans brought back to life to punish the practical unscrupulous of a fashionable clothing company. Shipped to the company's flagship store, Slaxx carries out a carnage of the staff, locked in the night to set up the new collection. As the number of bodies increases, staff resignations and the struggle for survival begins. It is up to the idealist employee Libby to discover the reason for Slaxx's bloodlust before his evil is released into the world.

Synopsis :
At Canadian Cotton Clothiers, where the motivational slogan is "Create a better tomorrow today", the staff prepares for the Monday rush. The store's stock of organic, GMO-free, fair trade and ethical clothing is about to be augmented by the highly anticipated new line of Super Shaper jeans, made of heat-activated denim that fits any size and body shape. In addition, the influential Peyton Jules (Erica Anderson) will make a midnight visit. As if the tension wasn't high enough, a pair of Super Shapers turns out to be endowed with a mind that only thinks about jumping, biting, choking and otherwise attacking the poor members of the Clothiers team. New employee Libby (Romane Denis, Charlotte has fun) is the first to discover that these jeans have some bite, but will she manage to warn her colleagues of the danger tonight so they can see this better tomorrow?

Slaxx
Directed by Elza Kephart
Produced by Patricia Gomez, Anne-Marie Gélinas
Written by Patricia Gomez, Elza Kephart
Starring Romane Denis, Brett Donahue, Sehar Bhojani, Stephen Bogaert
Music by Blitz//Berlin
Cinematography: Andrew Appelle
Edited by Andrew Appelle, Steven Kostanski
Production company : EMA Films
Distributed by The Horror Collective (Canada)
Release date: September 11 2020 (Canada)
Running time: 77 minutes

(Source: press release)