Chiller’s Slasher
Season 1, Episode 4: “As Water is Corrupted Unless It Moves”
Directed by Craig David Wallace
Written by Aaron Martin

* For a review of the previous episode, “Life as Fire Eateth and Burneth Wood” – click here
* For a review of the next episode, “Ill-Gotten Gains” – click here
After the revelations of the last episode, Slasher moves forward with all our new knowledge of the past: what Brenda did as a young woman, how that has begun to affect her granddaughter Sarah Bennett (Katie McGrath).
Dylan (Brandon Jay McLaren) tries to comfort his wife in the aftermath. But there’s nothing much to do other than grieve. Then Cam Henry (Steve Byers) shows up with information about Trent McBride (Jefferson Brown).
We cut quick to Trent in the woods. And now he’s in the cross-hairs, as he tries to do a bit of hunting. Someone, likely The Executioner, fires off rounds and has Trent running through the woods. Until he topples into a covered trap. Then the Executioner has a bigger surprise – in go a load of snakes and it becomes a nasty pit where Trent finds death.

 

Henry and the police are searching for poor Mr. McBride. Eventually, they come across the pit and discover his grisly death. With each subsequent murder, The Executioner’s methods get nastier. We’re clued in on more of the Seven Deadly Sins. This supposed murder takes the form of the punishment for Sloth. Yet Trent appears, by all accounts, quite active and certainly not lazy. The plot thickens.
So without having to resolve their previous problems due to Brenda’s murder, Dylan now gets Sarah to do an interview for him. She goes on record about everything. Great bit of editing in this sequence, as we watch the deaths of Justin and Brenda over again while Sarah narrates. Even further, Tom Winston (Patrick Garrow) reads her interview in the paper where she gives the label “coward” to anyone who has ever taken the life of another. This prompts Winston to go a bit off the handle. What sort of repercussions will rear their head due to this? She’ll no longer have his bit of confidence, no more of his unofficial detective work.
Tom calls from jail to talk. He still has advice, no matter how angry or rejected. She asks if he might talk with Dylan for the paper some time. He requests a lock of her hair in return for doing so.

“I know you think he can‘t hurt you, but the last thing you wanna do is make that a challenge for him.”

 

 

The discussion of possible suspects goes on, in typical slasher fashion. Robin Turner (Christopher Jacot) casts doubt on everyone, from Captain Iain Vaughn (Dean McDermott) to Cam, even Dylan. But the possibilities keep on running. Robin also suggests Tom could be the “brains” of a copycat murderer on the outside. The whole thing goes further to suggest that it’s possible Alan Henry (Rob Stewart), Tom’s religious council, could be a part of it all. Certainly he was spared on the night of the original murders, as well as the fact he’s “religious council” for Mr. Winston. Hmm.
Vaughn is checking into the background of Trent McBride. June Henry (Jessica Sipos) is questioned, apparently she has/had a connection with the deceased at one point or another. They were paramedics together. It’s obvious his death hits her hard, both in the way she acts while being questioned, and how she seems after, while alone.
We see her later the bar, hammered drunk. She runs into Sarah and Robin, who try to keep her from driving home. June ends up in the water, skinny dipping, so Sarah tries calling Cam. Meanwhile, Dylan is at dinner with her boss Alison Sutherland (Mayko Nguyen) as they meet with former criminal justice lawyer and current journalist Lisa-Ann Follows (Enuka Okuma). For Follows, it’s all fame and glamour, not so much a throbbing need to help some people in a small town. Sarah’s got her own troubles, though, as drunk June rails against her “slut of a mom” and makes it clear there are still lingering prejudices about Sarah and her family. Might be some trouble with Dylan, too. He seems starstruck, and willing to go a little too deep for his job in conjunction with his personal life.
The next day June apologises to Sarah, as well as reveals she and Trent did have an intimate relationship. Moreover, June tells us a story about Trent encountering a now missing girl – Ariel Peterson. They go to the police with all this, honourable. It causes a lot of mess, though.
At the same time, Dylan goes to see Winston looking for “valuable insight” – a.k.a pieces of fame. Then Dylan gives over the hair he stole out of Sarah’s brush. Nasty. Turns out that Tom received a ton of mail from Dylan before. “How much does Sarah know about you?” asks Winston. The slasher plots are ever intricate, as many characters become prime suspect territory.
Father Henry meets with Tom once again. “Sometimes I forget you‘re a Christian,” says Alan. They talk of God, as Tom reads from the good book. More and more their conversations are captured in a sinister light. Then Tom hands over the hair he received; ah, so there is some kind of plan for it. He’s asking Alan to do something. What that is, we’ll see soon enough.Out in the street, Heather Peterson (Erin Karpluk) rants and raves for everyone to see. Truly going mental. It certainly doesn’t help her case that she babbles about the Bible. Surprisingly enough, June Henry embraces Heather, as she weeps in the road.
Sarah further discovers more truths later. She finds out June was in fact with Trent the night they saw Ariel. Which firmly puts her in the way of The Executioner’s new murders. This does nothing to help Cam and his state of mind. Are they too late? Has June already been taken for the sin of Sloth?
Everyone goes looking for her. When Vaughn June down, she’s stabbed, hung from a wall. Or at least a mannequin is, anyways. June is actually at church, on her knees. Praying. The perfect place to be found. By The Executioner, that is.
June soon finds herself in an impressively devious situation. She’s placed out in a field, naked, full of honey, and nearby are rats, other little creatures. An I.V. runs into her, likely keeping her stationary. Will she get chewed to pieces? I’d bet on it.

 

 

 

 

Next episode is titled “Ill-Gotten Gains”, so the fallout from this one ought to be massive. More Seven Deadly Sins await. I’m loving this Chiller series. It’s gotten better and is picking up steam at the halfway point. Stay tuned with me, fellow fans and horror lovers!