Slaughterhouse was inspired by the golden age of British classic
horror in the 1970's, with a smattering of George Romero thrown in,
and a little of Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs. Underlying this is a
strong prescence of the Spaghetti Westerns that I grew up on. While
the original plan called for a former soldier to be besieged by rural
hoodlums, these locals moprhed into Christian fundamentalists - but
really the bad guys are non-specific. There was a story about
Christian fundamentalists in Essex that became one of the main
influences in the development of the bad guys - whose medievalist
philosophy calls for the destruction of intruders and mass murder in
the name of Christ.
An original inspiration from Slaughterhouse came from the moody
landscape of the English West Country itself. The endless marsh of
the Somerset Levels, and the areas's secret significance in English
history all played a part. Although its not shown in the film, the
story takes place in the remote hamlet of Athelney, which is the name
of the village where King Alfred hid out from the Danish invaders.
Its one of the key locations in English history.
The idea had always been to consciously get away from the depressing,
class-obsessed stuff that often comes out of the British Isles. We
didn't want to make something "realistic." We wanted something
visceral, something exciting. Entertainment, not comment was
Slaugtherhouse's mantra - though I think you'll find a little of both.
The script calls for one man to resist the siege of nameless
fundamentalists - and save his community from evil in the process. In
doing so he learns a terrible secret about himself.
