Quebec, Canada
2019 71 mins OV English
To celebrate their graduation, the teenagers from Valley Hills High School have organized an ’80s-themed party in an old water park. Under the scrutiny of creepy janitor Conrad (Chip Chiupka), school president Alice (Madeline Harvey) flirts with coked-up park owner Paul Wilkinson (Nick Walker). His foxy wife Priscilla (Brittany Drisdelle) fails at keeping things under control as Josh (Nicolas Fontaine), a brooding punk rocker, clashes with park employee Tommy (Paul Zinno). And things grow gruesome when it turns out that a mysterious maniac has inserted giant razor blades into the water slides. The Wet Valley water park thus becomes the backdrop for a bloodbath (literally), and everyone is a suspect...
After making a splash right here at Fantasia with his debut feature, the slasher film DISCOPATH which world-premiered at the festival in 2013, Renaud Gauthier is back with another bloody-as-hell horror movie. In addition to being heavily influenced by grindhouse cinema, including the local productions that were affectionately referred to as Canuxploitation, the Quebec writer-director was inspired by whodunit-style murder mysteries when it came time to craft this thriller that keeps the audience guessing about the identity of the killer until the end. In AQUASLASH, extreme gore (courtesy of the Blood Brothers, who previously worked on TURBO KID and LES AFFAMÉS, among others) is juxtaposed with ’80s rock songs (including hits from Honeymoon Suite and Corey Hart) to create something that is both vintage and original. Produced by Pierre-Alexandre Bouchard from La Guérilla, who also gave us GAME OF DEATH (Fantasia 2017), Gauthier’s second feature promises to do for water parks what JAWS did for beaches: scare you away from the water! – Kevin Laforest
