Ax 'Em (1992)

 

Director: Michael Mfume

Screenplay: Michael Mfume

Cast: Michael Mfume as Michael; Sandra Pulley as Kea; Joe Clair as Tony; Racquel Price as Kendra; Tracy Wiggs as Rock; Maria Copper as Nikki; Kelci Jeter as Tonya; Greg Jones as Shawn; Kristine Louisa as Erika; Fredrick Montgomery as Kevin; Thomas Hunt as Brian; D-Taylor Murphy as Breakfast

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) #212

 

Your mother's so dumb, she studied for a blood test!

Ax 'Em is an infamous film in the slasher genre, in terms of negative reviews. It is, however, for more interesting to talk of in mind to that it is a film made by a young African-American filmmaker. It does feel uncomfortable how this is held as one of the worst films ever made, even if an unfortunate coincidence. And I feel it is worth bringing up as, brutally, the history of genre film making and micro-budget filmmaking is very much a white cis-heterosexual male territory, not spoken with the mind of a political correctness, but the sense that even the lurid world of genre filmmaking would have benefitted if we can find all these films made anyone who picked up a camera.  Ax'Em's history is curious too as, originally called The Weekend It Lives, this was released in 1992 as it is dated but disappeared, reappearing in the 2000s under its better known title¹. And again, a film from an African American filmmaker, his only directorial work as well as being  a lead cast member, with a mostly black cast is distinct for a slasher film from this period, especially multi-ethnic casts in the sub-genre really did not appear in the original eighties boom.

It does modify one of my own thoughts I have always had as a result. It was originally that, yes, we require far more diversity in filmmaking, but that I was originally concerned that the films still had to be good, or the point would be lost if all the films were bad or bland. Let us modify this to that they have to be at least interesting, as whilst ultimately Ax 'Em is a mess, and some readers will never be to appreciate it for all the problems in structure and production it has, it is at least an interesting film for me to sit through, rather than a turgid but ultimately better made production. Yes, I will be the person willing to defend the film, which could stem from a contradictory attitude, maybe as much because my experiences with micro-budget films has made me more sympathetic, even more pleased, with them despite technical faults few would be able to get past. As much of it is that, knowing the bottom of cinema in quality does delve deep into the equator of a cinematic Earth, a Nine Circles of Cinematic Hell for Virgil to guide a film critic through, I have seen worse than this, and my own ambivalent attitude to slashers also plays a bias.

The irony is that, like so many slashers, it was far more rewarding then me when it was not following the genre's plot tropes, everything which has likely contributed the film's negative legacy. It takes 38 minutes of a 70 minute film to become a conventional slasher, but those original 38 minutes are more rewarding. Starting at Morgan State University in Baltimore, where the film was made,, the prologue is completely alien to the film I was expecting. Consisting of footage of dancing groups (including children) over the opening credits, then a comedian on the campus, it is more home movie footage than a film, which in honestly is more interesting for me for that reason than if it had started as an actual genre film. It also includes part of a lesson learnt by his extended skit outside in front of the crowd, and later on with the lead characters, that insulting each others' mothers is a great form of male bonding.

Past the initial set up, of a group of university students going to a relative's cabin in the woods, Ax 'Em is with a lot of tangents and a lot of long scenes of conversation. This film is split in two halves, what was meant to be the slasher film, which is the weakest aspect both in technical quality and content, and material which most viewers will think is padding but I found entertaining. Many long and humoured conversations at the dining table, including of one of the women being annoyed by her boyfriend's wandering eye. That couple also has the most idiosyncratic and odd scene of dialogue in the woods, from taking off earrings because they are heavy, the line "You're so fine, I'd kiss your Daddy's ass", and talk of possums with mumps. For fans of no or micro-budget cinema, most of our pleasures beyond when a film manages to get everything done perfectly, that it attracts even mainstream attention for quality, is their eccentricities like this which are unpredictable and charming, such as having a character in the film, never picked up upon for me until the end credits, called Breakfast.

Production wise, with dissolves from scenes like a TV production, Ax 'Em does show many huge technical hiccups, even in mind that I am aware how hard this film would have been to even make on any budget, and the experience was still a success just to end up with a final product. One, happening twice, I have rarely heard is being able to audibly catch the crew behind the camera, from hearing "cut" after two male drunks, slurring like loons, run off from an unknown killer they were talking about, to the words "camera ready?" for a scene of people fleeing towards the camera in the woods, with someone tripping over in comic effect. As mentioned already but worth repeating, I have long adaptive to these films struggling with limitations, factors which make films like this no longer fazing me, even if this is a huge detriment for many to try to struggle through, used to high production quality even for b-movies with lower budgets. The one thing which caught me off guard, whilst implemented with abruptness, was the score, which is unexpectedly ambitious. Not only is there hip hop, but both choral music and esoteric chanting which is unconventional to say the least.

Truthfully my disinterest in Ax 'Em is when it turns into the slasher film it was expected to be, becoming far less interesting when it becomes what most would have wanted. It struggles and clearly had to improvise, which would not appeal to hardcore slasher fans, but does not appeal to someone like me, who loves films like Halloween (1978) but prefers when slashers get weird or contradict their clichés. It amused me the killer is like Tor Johnson in a flannel shirt and waving a machete, but the only time when this film is interesting as a slasher is when it is almost evoking an Eddie Murphy routine about films like The Amityville Horror (1979), where white people would still live in a haunted house even when ghosts would tell them to get out². In this case, a young black man says his white male friend is insane to wander inside a spooky abandoned house looking for a phone. Considering said friend gets a phone to the face, the idea of white people being dumb enough to get into horror scenarios is proven and turns into one of the best parts of the film.

As a film, Ax 'Em's failure is when it is trying to be what it was meant to, with the combination of being not a great slasher and not being a real fan of the genre at all with exceptions. By accident, the film emphasises what are the reasons I do not fully get on with slashers, when they are focused on the tropes of people being chased and stabbed rather than the tangents and padding to link them up. I realise now the padding, and the attempts at drama, are far more entertaining for me, which may seem odd to say but emphasises as much I have very idiosyncratic tastes.

 

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1) As talked of HERE.

2) One recorded example of this routine of Murphy's is found in the TV special Eddie Murphy: Delirious (1983). The irony is not lost that, when it came to his seminal horror film Get Out (2017), Jordan Peele chose the title in direct reference to this routine and what it referred to in meaning.