A subgenre of horror cinema, the slasher usually features a psychopathic killer, masked as Leatherface (Chainsaw Massacre) or disfigured as Freddy Krueger (The claws of the night), who mostly attacks a group of carefree young people. Like those found at Camp Zéro-G in Novicetwelfth book by Stéphane Dompierre (One small step for man, Cheating on Martine).
“It looks to me like a nice gang of drug addicts who are going to yell until the wee hours while strumming their guitars, that. Tabouère, there are even two blacks! They brought their bongos there, that’s for sure. It’s going to be beautiful in time. Since when does it go in the woods, this world? “says Gilles, caricature of the white man on the right, to his wife Yolaine, formidable little lady, when he sees the 11 campers, youtubers and influencers for the most part, registered at the disconnection camp managed by Gabrielle and her older brother Mathieu.
“It’s fine, all that, no cell phone and taking steps, but it seems that I don’t understand a basic matter, sorry if I didn’t follow, but… how are we going to film ourselves taking steps? Are you the ones going to film? asks one of them. You will notice very early on that the novelist takes great pleasure in underlining the abyssal stupidity of his characters, narcissistic, superficial and uneducated, who do not conceive of life outside of social networks.
In the slasher classic, the assassin squirts the blood of his victims until there is only one left — the survivor girl — which brings him down (momentarily, it goes without saying, since he will inevitably return to the suite or suites). It would be surprising if The Brute, an aspiring ax killer, were the subject of a sequel since the individual hiding behind a ridiculous goatee mask bought at Dollarama does not come close to a Jason Voorhees (Vfriday the 13th) nor a Michael Myers (Halloween). “She raises her weapon high and waits for her prey, ready to surprise it, skin it, chop it into small pieces, reduce it to mush. She is waiting. And wait. »
In fact, The Brute is unlucky. Rather than scattering corpses in its path, it crashes on the corpses it finds on its way, the campers having the gift of dying in preposterous circumstances as in the laughable frankness Final destination. Again, you can easily guess the happiness of the author to twist the codes of slasher to transform Novice into a caustic black comedy with a social flavor.
Mercilessly mocking the shortcomings of our technology-addicted society, Stéphane Dompierre spares no one: all generations, all origins, all sexual orientations, all political allegiances go through it. While he multiplies the hilarious dialogues and the comical situations, without neglecting to create an atmosphere to give goosebumps, the novelist weaves a family drama with serious consequences for the survivors.