It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Sometimes the challenge for a documentary filmmaker is to make the subject matter interesting, but in this case it's a piece of cake. The "Slasher" refers to a used car sale specialist who travels to dealerships around the country to run weekend events and move lots of cars. He brings along a DJ and occasionally an additional car salesman, but the film is truly centered around him. He's a bundle of energy, chain smokes, drinks Heineken to excess, visits strip clubs, and yet still manages to elicit some sympathy. He's just another working slob trying to earn enough to make a better life for his family (wife and two daughters) even though he barely spends time with them.The documentary covers about a week, from the pre-sale preparations through the end of the sale and the Slasher's return home. Along the way we also meet customers searching for the perfect used car deal, car salesmen and dealership managers looking to hit their goals, and assorted other folks involved in the weekend sale. The film has a good pace and linear storyline, and it was nice that the filmmakers followed a few of the customers home with their "new" used cars. Highly recommended as a window into the world of used car sale events.

Michael Bennett, the titular character in John Landis' documentary, is a free-lance car salesman who travels the country helping car dealerships boost their sales on particular weekends by, you guessed it, slashing prices.Apparently Bennett's very good at this and he puts on a carnival barker-like show that is in turns funny, hectic, tiring and obnoxious. Watching Bennett do his shtick exhausts the viewer because this chap runs like a fast-paced motor without an off-switch. The problem is Landis films just one weekend in Bennett's life - when the "Slasher" travels to a dealership in Memphis, Tenn., "the bankruptcy capital of the world." In an interview on IFC, Landis said he initially planned to make a documentary about the effects of President Bush's economic policies, but wound up going in a different direction when he met Bennett.Landis lets us peek at some of the inner workings of Bennett and his two friends - a DJ and a "mercenary" salesman. We get to see them work the crowd, as well as hear their asides when interviewing young women for the weekend gig (some of their comments are a bit cruel) and reacting to customers' comments (we see how they manipulate customers).But as engaging as Bennett is - a wound-up beer-guzzling machine who also is a loving husband and father - a little bit of him goes a long way, a very long way. If Landis wanted to capture one weekend in Bennett's life, a documentary short would have sufficed.For a feature, we need to see more, not more of the same thing, which is what we get here. Landis should have spent more time with Bennett's wife, who sees her husband two days a week. We see only a few snippets of Bennett with his family and it would have made for great cinema. Also, seeing whether Bennett changed from city to city, whether his routine varied depending on the economic and geographic conditions of the area, would have made for a better story.And two crucial questions Landis does not even raise, much less answer, are how did Bennett get into this business and why does he do it? Yes, the money's great, but is there something else that draws Bennett to do this, to be away from his family for five days per week, especially when he says he'd like to be home with them? We never find out what attracts Bennett to this job.Although it runs under 90 minutes, "Slasher" seems like it's about 30 minutes too long. Many scenes seem redundant and at the end of the film we don't know much more about Bennett than we did in the first few minutes. It's still worth a look, though.

I just saw this on the Independent Film Channel, and I really liked it in the same way that I enjoyed Glengarry Glenross, although GGGR was much better. Once you got past the main character's obvious superficial charisma (not always appealing charisma, btw) the film made clear the sad, thankless life a salesman leads, and that this guy was their "leader", a highly paid sales consultant, is astonishing. The movie was depressing and highly instructive, and very entertaining. Anyone who likes films with interesting characters, or anyone who has ever been in sales at any level, or even anyone who is in the market for a used car should enjoy this film.

This movie is a naked, in-your-face look at the mysterious world of used car salesmen. I loved the way Landis combined the stark reality of the life of an on-the-road traveling salesman with the desperate humor that guys living on commission seem to possess.Mike Bennet comes off as smart, driven and someone who likes beer too much.If you like Glen Gary, Glen Ross, and Used Cars you'll love this.The film is cut to an amazing blues score, and is crisp and terribly funny and terribly sad.