Afraid that the dreams are aggravated by stress and depression and fearful that her newfound success may be slipping away, Kay's family and friends plan a vacation for her to a small island off the coast of Georgia.

As the couples' plane prepares to land, their pilot, Marsh, informs them that he's just received notification that an Atlantic hurricane has shifted course towards the island.

The couples discover that, against expectations, the island is deserted and mainly populated by derelict buildings and the ruins of a once-thriving resort town.

During the night, Eric tells Brooke that Kay was given a black kitten for Christmas as a young girl but that it was found frozen to death in the family freezer two days later.

[3] The core events of the film which occur on the island have been noted by critics for their dubious nature, as they can alternately be interpreted in three ways: The events which take place are entirely part of a dream or premonition; a monstrous creature in fact exists on the island and is responsible for each of the murders; or the characters of Kay or Marsh are responsible for the killings.

Cardone was working at a liquor store in Los Angeles while attempting to break into the film business, and pitched the idea for The Slayer to producer William R.

[2] The International Picture Company, an independent film studio based in Atlanta, agreed to help produce the project on a budget of approximately $750,000.

Cardone manages to present this overly familiar material with considerable flair, considering his low budget, and the film does have a genuinely surreal, nightmarish quality.

Films which contained extreme or excessive violence, gore or sex had to be edited to fit the 18 classification or banned outright.

[13] The film received a 14-second cut version by the BBFC when it was picked up by the now defunct Vipco (Video Instant Picture Company) for VHS distribution and released on March 1, 1992.

[14] On August 13, 2001, Vipco released the film complete and uncut on both VHS and DVD, from their "Vaults of Horror" collection.

[17][18] Although the company was popular, it was also criticized for stating that their DVD releases were digitally remastered, when in fact they were simply VHS transfer prints, which unfortunately led The Slayer to remain in its cropped 4:3 aspect ratio.

[13] Vipco's company dissolved in 2007[13] and distribution rights were later held by the defunct Cornerstone Media for a brief time under their subsidiary Beyond Terror, releasing the film on DVD on February 15, 2010.