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Cursed Objects: From the Jeans in ‘Slaxx’ to the Cursed Dress in ‘In Fabric’
Sometimes fashion can be murder. One of the year’s goriest and wildest horror-comedies comes home on September 7, 2021. Slaxx is a slasher that features a pair of designer jeans as the bloodthirsty killer. While locked inside a trendy clothing store overnight to prepare for a huge event to unveil a new line, the staff fall victim to a homicidal pair of jeans. It marks the latest entry in a weird niche sub-genre dedicated to inanimate cursed objects that spring to life and embark on a murder spree.
Directed by Elza Kaphert, Slaxx stars Romane Denis, Brett Donahue, Sehar Bhojani, Kenny Wong, Tianna Nori, and Hanneke Talbot. Kaphert co-wrote the film alongside Patricia Gomez.
Horror leaves no corner unexplored, infusing fear into anything and everything, including items you’d never even consider as a source of terror. From flesh-hungry beds to homicidal dolls, a subset that’s developed its own corner of horror, films have created killers out of just about everything. Whether played for laughs or straightforward chills, it’s easy to see why this particular sub-category has legs; killer inanimate objects tend to deliver ruthlessly creative on-screen deaths.
In anticipation of Slaxx’s September 7th DVD, VOD & Digital release, we look back at 10 of horror’s most peculiar cursed objects.
Bad Hair
Much like Sion Sono’s Exte, this horror-comedy takes on beauty through hair extensions with a homicidal mind of its own. After a bad experience that left a scar during childhood, Anna (Elle Lorraine) doesn’t put much stock in her appearance. That changes when the television station where she works comes under new ownership, and her job hinges on getting a stylized makeover. The problem is that her new extensions thrive on blood. Bad Hair uses comedy and camp to give social commentary an up-do.
Brainscan
Lonely horror fan Michael (Edward Furlong) immediately sends away for the hot new CD-Rom game “Brainscan” the moment he hears about it. He ignores initial gameplay warnings and submerses himself in the game, allowing the game’s Trickster (T. Ryder Smith) to guide him through acting like a serial killer and slaughtering victims in gruesome ways. The only problem is that these murders seem to occur in the real world, as well. Smith’s performance as the Trickster takes scene-chewing to another level. Even video games can kill.
Ringu
It’s challenging to find a more frightening and deadly cursed object than the VHS tape at the center of the Ringu films. Those who watch it are doomed to die seven days after at the hands of one scary ghost. Even the images on the tape unsettle. Both Ringu and its American remake, The Ring, pull the rug out from under you with one final twist on removing the curse. Hint: Sadako is an unstoppable force of terror.
Oculus
The Lasser Glass isn’t the first haunted or evil mirror in horror; look to 1990’s Mirror Mirror for more killer mirror mayhem. But it is the one featured in the first wide-release horror movie for Mike Flanagan, Oculus, and it’s arguably the most dangerous. The story centers around a pair of siblings tormented by the Lasser Glass mirror brought home by their father during their childhood, toggling between two timelines. The mirror influences those around it to commit unspeakable acts, which causes lasting repercussions for the siblings. The Lasser Glass is one tricky, demented object, and it has continued to appear in Flanagan’s films since its feature introduction.
Rubber
Quentin Dupieux excels at satirical films that revolve around unlikely objects. His 2010 horror film follows a rogue tire named Robert. Robert suddenly springs to life in the Californian desert and discovers a psychokinetic ability. It develops a fondness for making people’s heads explode. Don’t expect an explanation for the madness that ensues, but also don’t expect this movie to take itself seriously, either. It’s purposefully odd.
The Mangler
Tobe Hooper takes on Stephen King’s short story about a killer laundry press. The giant piece of machinery is demonically possessed, growing more greedy and powerful with every drop of blood spilled on it. While the equipment has an insatiable hunger for flesh, it influences victims in other exciting ways, too. Robert Englund is featured as the press’s owner. If neither Christine nor The Mangler quenched your thirst for Stephen King stories about inanimate objects, make it a marathon with The Lawnmower Man and Maximum Overdrive.
Christine
John Carpenter’s Stephen King adaptation saw a nerdy teen undergo a dramatic personality transformation after purchasing and bonding with his new car. There’s more than meets the eye with his Plymouth Fury, Christine. It turns out she’s got one severe jealousy streak, and she’s willing to kill anyone that would get between her and her owner. Christine is one slick killing machine. Literally.
The Lift
Malfunctioning elevators often make for harrowing scenes in cinema. Final Destination 2’s brutal kill instantly comes to mind, for example. Amsterdamned’s Dick Maas turns the concept into a full feature, where a sentient elevator unleashes its fury upon unsuspecting passengers in an office building. It will make you question stepping foot inside an elevator ever again. Maas also wrote and directed The Lift’s 2001 American remake, Down (aka The Shaft), but stick with the original.
Deerskin
If Rubber didn’t already make it clear, Quentin Dupieux excels at character studies through cursed things. In this horror-comedy, a man slowly turns to murder due to an obsession with a designer deerskin jacket. It’s more accessible than the very eccentric Rubber yet still bears Dupieux’s distinct style and tone.
In Fabric
Slaxx isn’t the only cursed clothing to grace the horror genre. Peter Strickland’s peculiar In Fabric follows a cursed dress as it passes from person to person. Each time, the dress causes tragedy for its owner, and often in gruesome ways. Highly stylized, In Fabric is a more artful approach to consumerist satire. In other words, it takes some very unexpected directions and features disturbing scenes behind the dress’s origins. The evil extends beyond a single dress.
See horror’s most violent pair of jeans go on the hunt when Slaxx releases on DVD, VOD & Digital on September 7th.
A luxury team-building trip descends into a bloody fight for survival against a vengeful retreat leader in Corporate Retreat, out today in theaters. It’s the latest entry in a cathartic subgenre of workplace horror that examines every harrowing aspect of job employment.
No job is safe from horror, either, from babysitting to even the most white-collar gigs. But if you work an overnight shift? All bets are off. Vengeful co-workers and bosses aside, the night shift is likely to come armed with witches, creatures, demons, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. Even deadly outbreaks.
Corporate Retreat, along with these five horror movies centered around some of the worst night shifts, will make you glad the weekend has finally arrived.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Passenger director André Øvredal goes full throttle for the scares in this quiet little chiller that sees a father and son coroner team stumped over the bizarre mysteries contained within the body of an unidentified young woman during an unexpected night shift. Well-executed scares, clever twists, and earnest performances by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch give this supernatural haunter serious heft. While the narrative bides its time unveiling the truth behind Jane Doe’s battered body, it’s heavily steeped in witchcraft. In other words, The Autopsy of Jane Doe presents a new take on the subgenre. More importantly, it’s seriously scary.
Cold Storage
COLD STORAGE, StudioCanal 2023
A lethal, mutated fungus breaks free from confinement deep within the bowels of a storage facility. At the frontlines of the madness are Teacake (Stranger Things’ Joe Keery) and Naomi (Barbarian‘s Georgina Campbell), two employees thrust into the middle of the chaos when they investigate an alarm beeping somewhere deep within the building. Director Jonny Campbell (Netflix’s Dracula), working from a script by David Koepp based on his novel, helms the goopy madness with workman efficiency. This lighthearted, goopy horror comedy romp makes the deadly night shift a bit more bearable.
Graveyard Shift
Graveyard Shift follows new hire Hall (David Andrews) tasked by his mean boss Warwick (Stephen Macht) to assist with the insane rat infestation beneath their mill. They find something much most monstrous as the cause. Though the film was panned, it’s a fun creature feature with an always welcome appearance by Brad Dourif as the intensely eccentric exterminator. The film also opts for a happier ending, whereas (spoiler), the story sees both Hall and Warwick getting devoured by the mutated rats, the crew in the upstairs mill none the wiser.
Last Shift
‘Last Shift’
Rookie Officer Jessica Loren (Juliana Harkavy) has been assigned to watch over a closing precinct on its final night of operation…alone. With nearly everything already moved over to the new station, including rerouted 911 calls, it should be a pretty quiet night as she waits for a Hazmat team to arrive to remove biohazardous waste. Instead, it becomes a waking nightmare as she’s forced to deal with unsettling visitors. Last Shift, co-written by Scott Poiley and director Anthony DiBlasi, brings the scares.
Intruder
The overnight stock crew of a local grocery store finds themselves falling victim to an unseen killer in this highly infectious late ‘80s slasher. The deaths are delightfully gruesome and inventive; look for this killer to make excellent use of grocery store items as weapons. Frequent Raimi collaborator Scott Spiegel directed this bloody slasher, which means a lot of overlap with the Evil Dead II. That means putting Sam Raimi in front of the camera for a change, along with Ted Raimi and Evil Dead II’s Dan Hicks. Look for a cameo by Bruce Campbell as well!
Corporate Retreat releases in theaters today; get tickets now.
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