Slapface – Film Review

After the death of his mother, Lucas (August Maturo), a loner who lives in a rundown home with his brother Tom (Mike Manning), regularly seeks solace in the nearby woods. With his only “friends” being a group of female bullies, he keeps to himself most of the time. But, after a strange encounter with an inhuman monster, Lucas begins to withdraw from others. When the two reach a tentative trust, a bizarre friendship is born, and Lucas is swept up in a series of primal adventures

Well slap me in the face and color me surprised because Jeremiah Kipp‘s hilariously badly titled horror feature Slapface is actually quite a good movie. Although it most definitely suffers from some glaring pacing issues and oftentimes disappoints with its buildup, this is an otherwise solid horror film that packs a hefty amount of tension.

Usually, I try my absolute hardest to never judge a movie by its title or poster but in the case of Slapface, I just couldn’t help myself no matter how hard I tried not to. It seemed like it was going to be a wannabe story of some strange creepypasta from 2012 or something. Gratefully though, Kipp’s film is actually quite clever in terms of its execution.

There are also no jumpscares to be found in the film which is a huge breath of fresh air. Everything that’s supposed to be creepy in this movie is, well, actually creepy. Kipp knows all too well that jumpscares are a horrible tactic at scaring an audience because they’re simply not scary. A jumpscare is startling. Something like watching a family fall apart piece by piece as seen in a movie such as Ari Aster’s Hereditary? That’s scary.

Slapface isn’t a scary movie though – far from it. In fact, there were only a few times in the film where I was creeped out even. What the film is loaded with is tons of hugely impressive tension and suspense. Lucas’ life is quite mysterious and we don’t really know a whole lot about him at first.

We understand in the beginning of the movie that Lucas’ mother has died some time ago and he has since been living with his brother and his girlfriend. And for some reason, Lucas and his brother enjoy playing a game with one another called “Slapface” where, you guessed it, they slap each other’s faces.

There are so many bizarre moments in Slapface and thankfully, we want to learn more about what the overall story means. Kipp has crafted a story that, while short, is deeply interesting and full of haunting atmosphere. Director of photography Dominick Sivilli is a true gem and it’s evidenced so clearly by his camera work in this movie. Nearly every frame tells a genuinely chilling story.

This film also boasts some truly impressive performances across the board as well. It was so weird to watch Girl Meets World star August Maturo serve as the lead for this horror film because I’m just so used to seeing him act in more wholesome, light-hearted projects. But in the role of Lucas, Maturo more than proves that he has dramatic chops in him as well.

Mike Manning’s character Tom may be annoying but I have to admit that he did deliver a solid performance here as did Libe Barer and Dan Hedaya. Nearly everybody that was involved with this movie in front of the camera did a fantastic job.

It just would’ve been nice had Kipp taken a bit more time to flesh certain characters out more and perhaps expand upon the world here because if he did, this would’ve been a seriously great horror film. But even though it suffers from some issues, Slapface is still a deeply interesting and haunting horror tale despite what the goofy title may suggest.