The Margot Robbie filmography watch through is back! We are quickly approaching a point where we’ll be caught up on her current filmography. But fear not, we still have a handful of movies to go. This week we have a movie where Margot appears just slightly more than she does in The Big Short. Let’s get to it and jump right into…Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018).
Title: Slaughterhouse Rulez
Director: Crispian Mills
Released: October 31, 2018 (United Kingdom & Sweden)
Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
Watched via: VOD rental
Middle-class teenager Don Wallace (Finn Cole) enrolls into a posh school called Slaughterhouse, against his wishes. As you can probably imagine, Wallace has a difficult time trying to fit in. To make matters worse, the school assigns him to its most disrespected house.
His roommate, Willoughby Blake (Asa Butterfield), does his best to try and show Wallace the ropes. Though, despite Blake’s best efforts, Wallace still learns the hard way that if you don’t come from money, you don’t seem to matter.
In addition to his struggle to find acceptance amongst his peers, there seems to be something off about Slaughterhouse.
Wallace isn’t quite sure how or why the last person who had his bed left Slaughterhouse. Meanwhile, the Headmaster (Michael Sheen) seems to be involved in some shady business dealings.
Is there something sinister brewing at Slaughterhouse?
As I mentioned earlier, Margot Robbie is hardly in this movie at all. She briefly pops up throughout on FaceTime calls as Audrey, the girlfriend of schoolmaster Meredith Houseman (Simon Pegg). Is she good as the long-distance girlfriend who is focused on her work abroad? Sure, I guess. We don’t really see her enough to gauge one-way or the other.
As for the rest of the cast, they do the best they can with what they’re given. That is not a knock on the cast by any means. Unfortunately, it is the writing that lets them down.
While yes, Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018) is entertaining at times, it is also all over the place. We’re given scores of backstory on Slaughterhouse, most of which goes unexplored. It’s also a run of the mill teen horror comedy…that also tries to explore the dangers of fracking…while also attempting to criticize private and/or boarding schools and the system they can foster.
There are a bunch of great ideas here but not a single ounce of focus. As a result, Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018) is a jumbled mess that had potential.
So, what about you? Have you seen Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018)? If so, what did you think of it?
Drop a comment below or reach out to me on Bluesky and let me know your thoughts!
As always, you can follow me on Letterboxd to see what else I’ve been watching lately.
One last thing, we are just weeks away from Livestream for the Cure. May 16th and 17th some of the best in indie podcasting will be live-streaming on Twitch to raise money for a world immune to cancer.
If you’d like and are able to, you can donate early here.