Slice (film)

Slice is a 2018 American horror comedy film, written and directed by Austin Vesely. The film stars Chance Bennett, Zazie Beetz, Chris Parnell, Paul Scheer, and Rae Gray.

It was theatrically released on September 10, 2018, by A24.

Premise
In a small town, when a slew of pizza delivery boys are slain on the job, two daring survivors set out to catch the culprits behind the cryptic crime spree. Somehow, this mystery involves both a werewolf and a pizza restaurant built on a gateway to hell.

Cast

 * Chance Bennett as Dax Lycander, a known werewolf.
 * Zazie Beetz as Astrid, an employee at Perfect Pizza Base.
 * Chris Parnell as Mayor Tracy, the corrupt mayor of Kingfisher.
 * Paul Scheer as Jack, the manager of Perfect Pizza Base.
 * Rae Gray as Sadie Sheridan, a young journalist for The Kingfisher Chronicle.
 * Joe Keery as Jackson, a friend of Sadie's and the photographer for the Kingfisher Chronicle.
 * Marilyn Dodds Frank as Vera Marcus
 * Katherine Cunningham as Heather, an employee at Perfect Pizza Base.
 * Will Brill as Bradley
 * Y'lan Noel as Big Cheese, a drug dealer.
 * Hannibal Buress as Hannibal
 * Kelli Simpkins as Debbie, Vera's right-hand woman.
 * Tim Decker as Mike
 * Lakin Valdez as Joe
 * Rebecca Spence as Cheryl
 * Gary Houston as Lennox
 * Austin Vesely as Sean Hammerschmit, an employee at Perfect Pizza Base.
 * Rudy Galvan as Thomas "Scooter" Martinez, an employee at Perfect Pizza Base.
 * Felicia Fields as Mayoral secretary

Production
In July 2015, it was announced Chance the Rapper had been cast in the film, with Austin Vesely directing from a screenplay he wrote. In October 2016, it was announced A24 would distribute the film. It was later revealed Zazie Beetz, Joe Keery, and Paul Scheer had joined the cast of the film.

Filming
Principal photography began on August 20, 2016, in Chicago.

Marketing
On October 31, 2017, a teaser trailer was released, confirming a 2018 release. On August 6, 2018, a teaser poster parodying the logo of pizza chain Little Caesars was revealed. This was followed by a Domino's Pizza-themed teaser poster released on August 9, as well as a Pizza Hut-themed poster released on August 15. An official trailer for the film was uploaded to YouTube on August 21, 2018.

Release
The film was released on September 10, 2018. It had a video on demand release the next day.

Reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% with an average rating of 5.5/10 based on ten reviews. The film received criticisms from its lack of focus, but was regarded as an entertaining B movie. Richard Roeper gave the film three stars saying "Slice is schlock, but that’s kind of the point...But it has originality, and originality goes a long way." Jamie Righetti of IndieWire gave the film a B+ and called it "a black comedy with horror elements that seems destined to become a stoner classic."