''Slashed'' is a low budget independent horror film, financed and directed by

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

and written by Jed Shepherd.Slashed (Part 1)
ash-official.com, May 24, 2010 The film was shot in 2002, purely on a video camcorder when Ash were on tour in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

supporting

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...

- who subsequently appeared in the movie as detectives, along with various other musicians who the band ran into on their tour, including Dave Grohl, Moby and

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for ...

. The film was never completed, and therefore never released in its intended full entirety, with short clips and pictures surfacing onto the Internet sporadically, until February 27, 2010 it was announced on Ash's website that work had begun on putting the footage to use, and on May 24, 2010 the first - a music video for

A-Z Series A-Z or A to Z may refer to: * English alphabet The alphabet for Modern English is a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. The word ''alphabet'' is a compound of the first two letters ...

single "

Binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...

" was released onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, a second video is soon to follow.

Cast

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Uni ...

as FBI Agent Sherbet Bones *

Jonny Buckland Jonathan Mark Buckland (born 11 September 1977) is an English-born Welsh musician and songwriter best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Raised in Pantymwyn, he began to play guitar from an early age, being ...

as FBI Agent Datsun Ford * Dave Grohl as Hysterical Dave Grohl * Moby as Himself *

Tim Wheeler Timothy James Arthur Wheeler (born 4 January 1977) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician for the alternative rock band Ash. He has written nearly all of Ash's notable works, such as " Oh Yeah", "Shining Light", " Girl from Mars" ...

as Himself * Mark Hamilton as Himself * Rick McMurray as Himself *

Charlotte Hatherley Charlotte Franklin Hatherley (born 20 June 1979) is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist and soundtrack composer. She initially came to prominence as guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Ash. Since leaving Ash in 2006, sh ...

as Herself *

as Himself *Tav as Himself *

Matt Sharp Matthew Kelly Sharp (born September 22, 1969) is an American songwriter and musician. Until 1998, he was the bassist for the alternative rock band Weezer, which he cofounded in 1992. He appears on their first two albums, the '' Blue Album'' (199 ...

as God *

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994) ...

as Himself * Chris Carrabba as Himself * Ben Kweller as Himself *Christi Shingara as girl walking with Ben Kweller #1 *Lindsey Shingara as girl walking with Ben Kweller #2 *Amy Lordan as Angel #1 *Katie Hutchinson as Angel #2 The movie features a predominantly musician based cast, with cameos from members of

The Hives The Hives are a Swedish rock band that rose to prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the album '' Veni Vidi Vicious'', containing the single "Hate to Say I Told You So". ...

and The Vines.

Release

The narrative is presented as a tour diary for the Northern Irish rock band

, but soon reveals itself to be a gorefest. The film features many famous musicians and actors, some playing themselves while others playing specially written characters. The initial idea was given to Shepherd to write a short 'slasher' film for use on the DVD side of the 2002 single release 'Envy'. The film was anticipated by the tabloid and music press but had never officially been released. Due to be released in 2004, to much press hype, Slashed did not appear for reasons unknown. In July 2007, Ash bassist Mark Hamilton let it be known that it was to be uploaded to YouTube as "I'm sure some people would want to see Chris Martin getting murdered". Initially thought to have been a hoax, a few clips have surfaced over the years to quell the disbelievers. Photos of the filming have also been on Ash and

websites for years and the long gestation period has not quenched the fans desires to see their favourite artists covered in blood and guts. On May 24, 2010, the first of two Slashed based music videos were released onto the Internet. This six-minute teaser includes scenes featuring Ash, Coldplay, Matt Sharp, Ben Kweller and Charlotte Hatherley.Chris and Jonny's slasher flick appearance unearthed!
Coldplay.com, May 27, 2010 On June 17, 2012 at the 20th Birthday gig for Ash named #ASH20, promoted by Piper/Shepherd, various unseen scenes were shown to people who bought VIP tickets. Approx 100 people watched mostly Coldplay based scenes, in between narration by Ash's Mark Hamilton and writer Jed Shepherd. There have been internet rumours that based on this screening, there may be an official release at a later date.

Cinematic and literary allusions

In the film, the supernatural killer is Martha, a young woman murdered on her honeymoon. She comes back from the grave to exact revenge upon a world who destroyed her perfect life. This emulates the narrative of many Japanese Horror which were a big influence on the writer and director. They were also influenced by the films of

Troma Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, primarily of the horror comedy genre. Many of them pl ...

and many of the sequences employ graphic scenes of gore, nudity and buckets of blood in line with this ethic.

References

External links

*
The rocky horror picture show
- ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

(subscription needed)
Scary Movie!
- ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''
X-clusive: Ash Meet Star Wars Creator
- Xfm (last 3 paragraphs are about ''Slashed'')
Moby's desert horror
- ''

''
SLASHED: Dave Grohl in Horror Film! HACKED TO BITS! video
- ''

''
24/7: Ash in tour horror
- '' Sunday Mirror'' (subscription needed)
HOT MUSIC: Bloody Hell! Ash get video nasty
- ''

The People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ...

'' (subscription needed) {{Ash (band) American slasher films American independent films Unreleased American films