[Fantasia 2020 Review] Slaxx and The Corporatehood of the Carnivorous Pants

All the world needs is a nice pair of jeans. You know the ones. They hug you in just the right places and complement your booty. They don’t care if you’ve gained or lost those extra five pounds. They just want you to look damn good. You just want them to fit perfectly. You want them to accentuate your body. And, of course, you want them to be fair trade, sweatshop free and 120% organic. 

Ethically sourced, natch.

You might buy them from a place similar to Candian Cotton Clothiers (CCC) a hip and trendy store whose outward-facing slogan is “Making a better tomorrow...today.” And today is Aqua 65! That’s right, every aquamarine item is 65% off, couldn’t you just gag? Meanwhile, the employees are just so happy to work there and sell you your pair of dream pants. Their creed is, of course, “Be to Be! Belong! Believe! Be Love! Be...come!”

I’d rethink that last one...

CCC is open and modern; its uncluttered and attractive design reminiscent of Apple by way of Ikea...except you can wear it. All of its sales associates wear the current season of CCC clothes because who would be caught dead in last month’s collection? I mean that’s like three seasons ago. Into this magical wonderland of a store where the employees must purchase and wear the latest CCC clothing enters Libby (Romane Denis), a bright-eyed and idealistic young woman hypnotized by the ethical standards the clothing store represents. Oh, and that 50% discount is nice, too. 

It’s her first day on the job and what a day to start working. CCC is about to launch their newest line of jeans called Super Shapers! Jeans that automatically adapt to your body size! It’s being hyped as the first gender inclusive jeans that, no matter your weight fluctuations, will make you look good! It’s all hands on deck as we meet Craig (Brett Donahue), the overeager store manager who's desperate for a Regional Manager position. He talks in corporate jargon masquerading as wokeness, telling Jemma (Hanneke Talbot), for example, “I register your feminine issues and respect them” while describing the section where sales floor associate Lord (Kenny Wong) works as an “ecosystem.”  

As Libby tries to get a handle on her first day, she has to deal with fraternizing coworkers like her perennially annoyed trainer Hunter (Jessica B. Hill) who’s having an affair with jailbait Camilo (Jonathan Emond) and the apathetic Shruti (Sehar Bhojani) who secretly listens to Bollywood while exerting a pop-punk rock ethos. Oh and a pair of killer pants. You see this debut shipment of Super Shapers has a problem. A vendetta. 

And it’s hungry for blood. 

Slaxx, written by Patricia Gomez and Elza Kephart (who also directed it), is a super-sharp satire of consumerism, performative corporate wokeness and colonial capitalism. I worry that it might walk that fine line between giving a voice to a marginalized and used community and using them as set dressing. But with satire this vicious I think it falls on the right side of the “ecosystem,” to borrow a word from Craig. It’s a zippy little film that uses a lot of visual storytelling to explore its themes. For example, while the outward facing store is like a nirvana of beauty and minimalism, the employee area is a mix of concrete walls and maze-like halls, with nary a spec of color or individuality; a perfect representation for the hollowness companies like CCC sell as product. The kind that have built their brand on the backs of workers across the world from them. 

It also has a brief dance number. 

While the critique starts from the opening minutes, it really shifts into gear when YouTuber sensation Peyton Jules (Erica Anderson channeling Scream Queens’ Chanels) shows up for the exclusive premiere and the store goes into lockdown. Patricia Gomez and Elza Kephart’s script spares no expense for influencer culture as Slaxx tears into Peyton’s fakeness just as searingly as it does the hollowness of “woke capitalism.”

The practical effects and the blood sprays are just as fantastic as the accompanying humor and Slaxx is at its best when it combines the two, such as when Craig comes across the mangled and disemboweled body of one of his workers. While surveying the aftermath of intestines pouring out of a body that’s been stuffed into a cupboard, he monotones, “Wow, this is horrible. Truly horrible. I know she was battling serious body issues but it’s just so sad she couldn’t reach out for help. So tragic. So sad.”

Craig then tells Libby the store takes care of its own…as he wheels the body out with the rest of the trash. 

Even though Libby and Shruti are likable protagonists and are played with loving aplomb by Romane Denis and Sehar Bhojani, Slaxx is a movie where you might find yourself rooting for the carnivorous pair of jeans. Once the backstory of the possessed jeans comes to light, I was actively rooting for the Super Shapers to take over the world, Little Shop of Horrors-style. Because, in the immortal words of Sigourney Weaver in her famous rebuke to Aliens’ Burke: “I don’t know which species is worse. You don’t see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.” 

I do know which species is worse. And they aren’t made out of denim.