There's much to savor in Allison Moore's Slasher, a comedy about those cheesy horror films in which screaming girls cornered in old empty houses get massacred in various and sundry perverse ways.
The second offering in this year's 33rd annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theater of Louisville, Slasher is indelibly memorable for one hell of a mind-blowing performance by Lusia Strus -- she of the throaty Kathleen Turner-type voice -- as Frances McKinney, a drug-addled feminist firebrand mother of sexy young Sheena, who is tapped to play "the last girl" (last to be killed, thus the star by default) in a cliché-ridden film called, "Bloodbath."
Frances in her pajamas zooms on a motorized scooter around the Austin, Texas, house she shares with student daughters Sheena, 21 (Nicole Rodenburg), who serves up drinks at the local Busters in a tight T-shirt and shorts, and bookworm Hildy, 17 (Katharine Moeller). Popping pills and claiming she suffers from fatigue, Frances is horrified that Sheena is lending herself to the degrading project.
To Sheena it's not exploitation "when they're paying me so much." The nubile Rodenberg nails the part as a sweetly determined foil to her mother.
Obnoxious B-movie director Marc Hunter (sleazily portrayed by Mark Setlock) has returned to make his cheap horror movie in the university town where he did some student films. Frances, stirring from her drug delirium, recalls a connection from that time that sets in motion an over-the-top finale in need of severe trimming.
The bloody torture scenes of the filming, while obviously meant to be derisive, are nevertheless a bit hard to stomach in their graphic depiction involving a meathook, industrial saw, chains, and a bathtub filled with blood. The actors, however, carry them out with athletic, no-holds-barred relish.
Christy McIntosh as the sunnily smarmy Christi Garcia, assistant director of a religious anti-abortion group, makes unlikely though hilarious common cause with Frances to thwart the filmmaker. McIntosh also excels in other juicy cameos, including a bimbo named Bridget billed as Dead Girl Number One in the slimy film.
Also noteworthy is Lucas Papaelias as Jody Joshi, the slacker assistant director hired by Marc as flunky for the film. He does double duty as a masked killer in the flick, and he's a mainstay.
Director Josh Hecht had no easy task propelling the characters through the confining in-the-round space of ATL's Bingham Theater. At times it's impossible to see scenes blocked by actors' backs. And often it's difficult to hear what's being said when characters are planted in place.
