Is Slaughter of the Innocents Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Synapse Films / June 11, 2019

Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff, The Silence of the Lambs, Netflix’s Daredevil) stars as FBI Agent Stephen Broderick, a man who has attained legendary status within the Bureau for his crime-solving abilities. There is only one other person whose abilities rival his own… his young computer genius son, Jesse (played by Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus).

Working together, they are an unbeatable team but they may have just met their match in a deranged religious fanatic who preys upon children. Eager to close the case, the police irresponsibly push for the execution of the wrong man, leaving the real serial killer at large. Jesse and his father piece together clues from past murders and recent events, leading to a desperate race against time as Agent Broderick finds his very own son in the hands of the deranged psychopath! Time is running out, and Broderick is the only one who can stop the slaughter of the innocents!

Tyler’s Take (3 / 5)

Here’s the deal: If you’re looking for an airtight plot that spends ample time on character development and pacing while providing a sense of realism in costuming, this may not be the movie for you. But I have to admit, I kind of liked Slaughter of the Innocents. The 1993 made-for-HBO movie starring Scott Glenn (The Hunt for Red October, Silence of the Lambs, Backdraft) and some other people is a good bit of guilty pleasure.

The story revolves around FBI agent Stephen (Glenn) and his son, Jesse (Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus), who is apparently Sherlock Holmes, Rain Main, and the girl from Poltergeist all wrapped into one. If you are having a hard time imagining that, just watch the first ten minutes and you’ll see the connection.

First, let’s talk script. There’s a serial killer who has returned after a five-year absence to claim his rightful place as the next Noah, leading his flock of animals and dead children (the “innocents”) on an ark towards the promised land. You don’t really find the rest of that out until the end when everyone is actually on an ark with a bunch of taxidermy-inspired animals and human carcasses filled with candles, but it’s basically the killer’s motivation.

Throughout the movie, Stephen and Jesse are following clues to locate the killer, who has kidnapped another child in the process. SPOILER ALERT: Ultimately, they do find him and save the missing child just as the ark is barreling down a train track that inexplicably leads into a ravine, crashing into a million pieces below. Said killer is also on board for the crash, fulfilling his wish to meet God, just not the way he planned. Oh, there’s also a Nazi. When you figure out what that was all about, please let me know.

Here’s the “twist”: Jesse is brilliant. Like, ridiculously, inhumanly brilliant. And the dad knows it. It’s why Stephen lets Jesse have access to the FBI database from his home computer. That way, Jesse can peruse national security files while sipping his soda and eating his chicken nuggies. The best part: THE FBI DIRECTORS KNOW THIS and they let it happen. No big deal, 11-year olds can be trusted with that. Cool. Encouraging all of this is Mother-of-the-Year frontrunner, Susan Broderick (played by the late Darlanne Fluegel), who not only lets her son fly around with dad to bloody crime scenes of murdered children on the weekends, but who—when asked by Jesse if he could go away with his friend for the weekend—didn’t even bother checking with the other parent to see if he was telling the truth, or in fact if he was purchasing a solo plane ticket with daddy’s credit card so that he could continue the hunt on his own for the guy who disemboweled the girl at the crime scene. (Spoiler: It’s the latter.)

Plot issues aside, there is some pretty decent acting. Scott Glenn is fantastic in this, doing his best Al Pacino throughout the film. Jesse isn’t terrible either, but it seemed as if he lacked direction as to how to react to certain moments, especially the gory stuff. It was always the same lip-curled-up reaction, weather he was walking in on his naked parents lying in bed and hovering like some creeper, or admiring the hanging hand ornaments on the Ark of the Covenant. Again, this appeared to be more a fault of the director than anything else. Zitto Kazann strikes an eerie balance between creepy and chaotic as the serial killer, which plays nicely off of the innocence exuded by Jesse. The rest of the cast falls somewhere between the lifeless corpses on the ark, and Stephen’s partner, Roxanne (played by Sheila Tousey), who I haven’t even mentioned yet because her role is ultimately forgettable. There are, however, some surprising cameos by then up-and-coming actors such as Aaron Eckhart and Kevin Sorbo.

Now it’s time to talk about the real star of the film: Special Effects Makeup Creator Gabe Bartalos. As Bartalos mentions in the Blu-ray extras featurette, the aforementioned corpses were all modeled on real children. Cameron-Glickenhaus smartly aims the lighting and camera shots to set the somber mood necessary for the audience to know that the murderer was not to be trifled with. These staging decisions can be seen in the opening scene, where a mother comes home to find her daughter killed, gutted, and blood splattered all over the living room. During the climactic ark scene, Cameron-Glickenhaus tastefully has Jesse use a flash camera as he comes across the decompositions. Each flash allows a brief look at the artwork, which sets an appropriate mood without being over-the-top gory or corny. Bravo, Mr. Bartalos and Mr. Cameron-Glickenhaus. Bravo!

Blu-ray Extras:

This disc is loaded with extras, including the typical interviews with the director, lead actors, and production staff. There are also some deleted scenes, a screen test with Jesse, audio commentary, and trailers. The coolest extra, however, is camcorder footage of director Cameron-Glickenhaus talking to the audience at the Dylan Dog Film Festival at the time of the release. In this short five-minute segment, for example, we learn that the location where the serial killer lives in the movie is where real serial killer and religious fanatic Marie Ogdon killed people, stuffed them, and put them around a table so that they would be ready for the second coming. You have to love the creativity in that! We also find out that some of the extras are real FBI agents that were called away during shooting to go to Waco, Texas to deal with the real religious cult activities that were happening down there. Now that’s a true case of art imitating life.

Overall, a solid made-for-cable movie that has some excellent special effects, some decent acting, and a story that’s just interesting enough to keep you watching until the end. if you’re looking to burn 104 minutes and enjoy a somewhat disturbing serial killer trope featuring a child prodigy Sherlock Holmes, then this might be the movie for you.

Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?

Tyler says: Hidden Treasure!

Tyler's Take:	(3.0 / 5)
Blu-ray Extras:	(3.5 / 5)
Average:	(3.3 / 5)

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with director James Glickenhaus
• Archival Interviews with James Glickenhaus, Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus and Scott Glenn
• All-New 2019 Featurettes with Make-Up Effects designer Gabe Bartalos, and Director of Photography Mark Irwin
• U.S. and International Theatrical Trailers
• Archival Electronic Press Kit Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Alternate Assault Sequence