"Slapface" dreary with purpose but too heavy-handed

Slapface (2022)

Sometimes, feature-length films based on short films just feel stretched without reason. Case in point: writer-director Jeremiah Kipp’s domestic horror indie “Slapface." Based on the filmmaker’s 2017 eight-minute short of the same name, this expansion, while only 85 minutes, does attempt to justify its filler but never quite pulls it off. And as horror allegories for grief and bullying go, it’s a little more “Mercy Black”—a marginally better version of “Slender Man”—than it is “A Monster Calls” and “Come Play.” Although it's ambitious enough to be about more than what it's about on the moody surface, "Slapface" is still clunky when it tries to be alternately frightening, uncomfortable, and gut-wrenching.

After losing both of their parents in a car accident, brothers Lucas (August Maturo) and Tom (Mike Manning) are barely hanging on in their rundown house. Tom is the older sibling, so he tries taking on the parental role, working the bare minimum and drinking the rest of the time (or he just drinks on the job). Meanwhile, teenager Lucas keeps getting into trouble, as he hangs around bullying twin sisters and his secret girlfriend. But when Lucas wanders into an abandoned asylum on the edge of town, he ends up making an unexpected friend in “The Virago Witch” (played by Lukas Hassel), a legend who has claimed the lives of children in the past. Lucas has finally found a friend—the worst this witch does is embrace the boy, pick him up, and give him piggyback rides—but she might not be the best influence. 

The title of the movie comes from an abusive game of “slapface” that Lucas and Tom regularly play together, taking turns giving and receiving slaps to the face. Writer-director Jeremiah Kipp threads this ritual into the narrative that feels disconnected from the witchy plot proper but does figure into how Kipp’s brotherly characters cope with their loss. It’s self-flagellation, replacing grief with physical pain. “Slapface” certainly wants to address serious issues through horror-movie trappings, and to support those who actually suffer domestic bullying, the film even ends with an anti-bullying statement before the credits roll. Unfortunately, those ideas don’t quite coalesce as meaningfully with the monster horror as they should.

August Maturo can’t always sell some flat dialogue, and while Mike Manning looks like a gorgeous model living in a podunk town, they both do what they have to do and find a believable fraternal bond wrought with pain and toxicity. Libe Barer gives the brightest performance as Anna, a somewhat worldly young woman whom Tom picks up in a bar and lets her stay over for a few days. That this character is a self-proclaimed Wiccan feels like a missed opportunity, as does her entire trajectory. Veteran actor Dan Hedaya is a sight for sore eyes, even if he fills a fleeting role as the local sheriff.

Though the "Virago" monster is mainly kept in the shadows, what can be seen in terms of make-up prosthetics for the fiendish hag is impressively creepy. The scares are familiar, mostly coming from quick movements made by the witch, but sometimes effective. On-location shooting in the New York woods also adds some nice foreboding even in the daylight. It’s just about everything else, from the writing to some of the performances, that feels unevenly handled. Dreary with some purpose and admirably not fun, "Slapface" is, forgive the distasteful pun, too heavy-handed for its own good.

Grade: C

Dread is releasing “Slapface” (85 min.) to stream on Shudder on February 3, 2022.