SLASHERCISE Review: Feel the Burn—and Then the Blade

By Seth Metoyer, MoreHorrorMovies.com - If you grew up during the 198os, you probably remember encountering a very specific kind of late-night television fever dream.

You would flip through the channels looking for some gloriously cheesy horror movie on USA Up All Night, only to stumble across women in brightly colored leotards bending, stretching and sweating to generic pop music. Neon leg warmers glowed against black studio floors. Synthesizers pulsed. Everyone smiled with the unsettling enthusiasm of someone trapped inside a fitness cult.

Those were the days.

Written and directed by Ama Lea, Slashercise resurrects that peculiar corner of VHS-era culture and drenches it in stage blood. The result plays like an aerobics tape discovered in the back room of a condemned video store; a tape that someone probably should have left buried.

The film follows Meathead, a masked killer stalking fitness clubs across Los Angeles and turning workout sessions into elaborate crime scenes. As instructors begin dropping faster than exhausted gym members after leg day, a group of fitness fanatics must fight back before Meathead adds them to his body count. That kind of makes Slashercise sound like a conventional slasher movie, but the actual film takes a much stranger route.

For a substantial portion of the runtime, Slashercise operates as a genuine retro workout video led by Vanessa Decker (horror.vixen on Instagram). At first, I struggled to understand where the movie intended to take me. The exercise sequences continue long enough to feel like a separate production attached to the narrative feature. Then the film shifts gears and introduces its loose slasher plot, connecting the two halves in a deliberately peculiar fashion.

Once I understood the concept, everything clicked. The workout section actually works as a workout video. Viewers can follow along, sweat through the routine and presumably exercise a few demons in the process.

I should probably try it myself, though the bone spurs in my hips and left knee may require a gentler approach. It's hard out there these days being an ’80s kid in 2026. Anyone still several decades away from this particular chapter of the human experience should trust me: it becomes a brutal ride.

Decker carries the film with the natural charisma of someone completely comfortable commanding both a camera and an exercise class. She sells the movements, the jokes and the absurdity without stepping outside the strange little universe the film creates. She could probably convince Laurie Strode to finish one more set of crunches.

Then we have Meathead (hilarious name btw).

Meathead represents everything terrible about gym culture compressed into one ridiculous slasher villain. He is arrogant, obnoxious and hilariously committed to his own mythology. Watching him receive his inevitable punishment brings a particular kind of satisfaction. Every gym has had some variation of this guy wandering around, occupying three machines while offering unsolicited advice. Slashercise simply gives him a mask and follows the concept to its bloodiest conclusion.

The production wears its low budget like a sweatband. Ama Lea fills the screen with neon lighting, synth music, slick practical gore and an atmosphere inspired by the horror aisle of an old neighborhood video store. The movie realizes the visual grammar of 1980s fitness tapes: exaggerated enthusiasm, artificial smiles, relentless repetition and bodies presented like products under fluorescent light.

The supporting cast and cameos strengthen the film’s connection to horror culture. Sarah Nicklin remains someone I enjoy seeing in anything, and the ensemble includes familiar genre faces such as Sarah French, Kelli Maroney, Felissa Rose, Tiffany Shepis, Lisa Wilcox, Diana Prince and John Bloom—better known to horror fans as Joe Bob Briggs.

Joe Bob appears as a gym janitor, and he fits the role with alarming ease. Perhaps he missed his calling. Cinema gained an essential drive-in critic, though some alternate universe probably contains the cleanest and most sarcastically maintained fitness club in Los Angeles.

The cameos also create a bridge between the VHS culture Slashercise celebrates and the modern horror community that continues keeping that culture alive. This movie belongs to the same spiritual bloodline as the low-budget films once shown on USA Up All Night or TNT’s MonsterVision: odd, playful movies that understood entertainment could thrive without prestige, solemnity or restraint.

Slashercise never aims for an intricate mystery or a deeply layered mythology. The plot provides enough c0nnective tissue to move between workouts, murders, jokes and cameos. The film succeeds through personality, atmosphere and commitment to its absurd premise.

The unusual structure may initially confuse viewers expecting Meathead to start carving through the cast within the opening minutes. Once the film reveals its actual rhythm, the lengthy exercise material becomes part of the joke, part of the experiment and part of the experience. This is a slasher movie you can literally work out to. Feel the evil burn.

Ultimately, Slashercise delivers a fun slice of horror comedy that viewers can actively exercise along with or leave running in the background during a gathering. It feels like something discovered after midnight in 1988, sandwiched between an aerobics infomercial and a heavily edited slasher movie hosted by someone making jokes from a trailer park.

Grab the leg warmers. Stretch carefully. Keep an eye on the mirrors. Meathead may already be standing behind you.

Slashercise premiered exclusively on BloodStream on July 1, 2026, and will expand to additional platforms beginning October 1, 2026.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFkN0IwvHfg

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Follow Seth Metoyer on Instagram at @sethmetoyer and follow More Horror at @morehorror for more horror news, reviews, interviews and independent film coverage.