Slaughter Studios starts as an actor named Justin is shot & killed on the set of his latest film, was it an accident or something more sinister? Either way Slaughter Studios has remained unused & empty ever since... Jump forward 20 years & aspiring low budget horror filmmaker Steve (Peter Stanovich) is going to break into Slaughter Studios & use the unused but still intact stages for his latest project. To help him he has assembled a crew of friends, production assistant Madigan (Amy Shelton-White), Gary (Matthew J.Roseman) the cameraman, Ollie (Anand Chulani) the sound-man, & his cast of actors, Kevin (Nicolas Reed), Chad (Darren Reiher), goth babe Trisha (Eva Frajko), Rebecca (Laura Oatis), Darlene (Serra Ellison), Candace (Lorissa McComas) & Portia (Tara Killian). Together they break into the abandoned Slaugher Studios & get to work, however it appears that they are not alone as a killer stalks the corridors of the once busy studio...<br /><br />Edited & directed by Brian Katkin I really liked Slaughter Studios. On paper the script by Dan Acre & John Huckert looks pretty lousy, a horror comedy about a bunch of annoying teenagers being killed by a mysterious killer but in fact Slaughter Studios turned out to be a really likable & decent film. I hated Ollie but I found the rest of the character's very likable & were quite funny with some nice witty dialogue. The whole film-within-a-film, Blair Witch Project (1999) anyone?, has been done before but Slaughter Studios incorporates it really well & the whole self referential jokes & mickey taking is done with a certain affection for the genre. There are a few good laughs here including a pretty funny farting in a tent gag! I really liked the ending as well, I definitely wasn't expecting it & was both a clever & satisfying way to round the film off. Slaughter Studios never takes itself seriously, it moves along at a fair pace & is never boring or dull & makes for good entertainment. Don't get me wrong as it's far from a masterpiece but believe me you could do a hell of a lot worse than Slaughter Studios when you compare it to the straight-to-video crap that litter video shop shelves these days.<br /><br />Director Katkin does an impressive job, the lighting is excellent with bright neon greens, blues & reds along side the dark shadowy corners. The film looks great throughout & only the cheap looking digital video used to shoot it on gives it's low budget away. There is plenty of nudity, some lesbianism including a funny exchange of dialogue with the director convincing Portia that going nude & participating in acts if lesbianism would make her a better actress! The gore isn't so plentiful, a pick-axe in someones stomach, someones throat is cut with some film & someone has a pitchfork stuck through them & there's a decapitated head.<br /><br />With a supposed budget of about $50,000 the filmmakers have worked absolute miracles. Slaughter Studios went straight-to-video but looks really good from start to finish & they obviously made that $50,000 go a long way. The acting varies, Chulani is absolutely awful. Frajko as the goth bird Trisha is a bit of a babe & really easy on the eyes.<br /><br />Slaughter Studios surprised me, a lot. I thought it was a highly entertaining & funny spoof comedy horror slasher. As a horror film fan you have to be able to take a chance on a film you've never heard of that will in all likelihood turn out to be complete & utter crap, most low budget straight-to-video horror films fall into this category. But once in a while you are rewarded with a bit of an unexpected gem & Slaughter Studios was just such an occasion for me, definitely worth a watch.