Drag artists
vs redneck vampires?
Um…
Yas,
QUEENS.
I came
across Slay (2024) during one of those two hour neurodivergent strolls
through every streaming service we own that ended with me watching Big BangTheory for, I dunno, the thousandth time?
Honestly,
I thought it would take more persuasion to get Jay to watch it with me. (Slay,
not Big Bang.) Nope. He
took one look at the poster, read the description, and said, “Oh, that has
to be worth a look!”
He was not
wrong.
Slay follows four drag artists who accidentally
end up at a biker bar after a booking mishap.
It starts with a mulleted guy in a
cut-off denim jacket who hops out of his pickup truck on a dusty road and pulls
a gun on the vampire that attacks him (after he pisses on his own cowboy boots.)
After dispatching Mullet (his name is actually Rufus, which isn’t much better,)
the vampire is promptly run over by a motorhome covered in Pride insignia and
full of bickering Queens. And… yep, that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
The bitchy
banter is TOP NOTCH, with zingers that made me laugh out loud. Trinity the Tuck’s
Mama Sue Flay and Cara Melle’s Olive Wood are savage, their insults ripping
rednecks apart faster than any vampire could. Their performances are almost
good enough to convince me to finally watch RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Almost.
It seems
like a bit of mindless fun with fabulous slapstick and camp horror (and it 100%
is) but Slay also sends a message about accepting others for
who they are – and accepting ourselves for who we are as well. The rednecks,
who you’re certain are just going to be horrible, end up being just as interesting
as the four main characters.
The weary
bartender, Dusty (played by Neil Sandilands,) is one of the best side characters,
eventually embracing the Queen he wanted to be before his daddy beat the glitter
outta him. Robyn Scott’s Sheila is another standout as the hangry regular who
just wanted some chicken wings but ends up popping a titty when her newly turned
self gets staked.
To be
fair, all the side characters are… well, characters. They have
strong personalities and their own development, all while contributing to the
main story. No one ever feels wasted or overused, which can be difficult to manage
in a cast as large as this one.
My only
complaint with the movie is the “We don’t ‘should’ on ourselves” crap. It gave me terrible flashbacks to my year of DBT Hell. *shudder*
Don’t
drink the Kool-Aid, man.
Anyway…
The vampires are actually pretty good for a comedy/horror film. The fangs are
noticeable but not embarrassingly large and even the “master” vampire is no
worse than anything you’d see in Buffy. I think the BEST vampire has
to be the toothless yokel who stays toothless after he’s turned – except
for the fangs.
Except.
For. The. Fangs.
It’s
exactly as hilarious as you think it would be.
The vampire
invasion is set against an internal power struggle between the girls, burgeoning romance, self-discovery, and the realization that we’re more than our
differences.
Did I mention that a
vampire gets killed with a loaf of garlic bread?
A full loaf of garlic bread.
I mean… that’s how I hope
to go.
Slay is camp. It’s cheesy. It’s vicious.
It’s over-the-top and outrageous. And it’s one of the best vampire movies I’ve
seen in a long time. (And you know I’ve seen a lot.)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
