In a career spanning forty-eight years, Denzel Washington has only ever done one film that could be considered horror, Fallen (1998); however, in The Equalizer 3, which has just dropped on Netflix UK, the question is finally asked: What if Washington played a slasher role?

2023’s The Equalizer 3 revolves around Robert McCall (Washington) finding himself in Southern Italy in the coastal town of Altomonte, but he soon discovers that this community is under the control of the ‘Camorra.’

Director Antonine Fuqua has played with this idea of McCall being a slasher type throughout the trilogy, but what separates The Equalizer 3 from the trilogy’s previous outings is that the absurd angle is fully leaned into.

Tropes are set out right from the start. The comparison that struck me was Jason Voorhees, with McCall wanting to be left alone, and the Camorra being the camp counselors who have disturbed his peace.

This set up well from Fuqua, as we spend a lot of time with McCall in this community and start to understand why he becomes so protective of the peace he has carved out for himself.

This enables Fuqua’s ability to have that gorey second half, where, if we are going with the idea of slasher tropes, McCall goes on his ‘spree.’

When Marco (Andrea Dodero), the young brother of Vincent (Andrea Quaranta), the head of Camorra, confronts McCall at the local restaurant, the boogeyman persona is finally revealed. Marco stands outside the restaurant with his muscle, discussing how they will deal with this ‘American.’ Fuqua unleashes the boogeyman persona in the sudden switch-up of pace as McCall crashes a van into one of Marco’s men.

After the crash, McCall appears out of the shadows. This is such great visual directing from Fuqua–McCall transforms from an ordinary person in this fantastic sequence where Marco faces his maker.

Regarding the craft, Marcelo Zarvos’ eerie score, ‘Nine Seconds,’ and Robert Richardson’s cinematography give a gothic feeling and look. McCall is crafted as something else; these criminals have found themselves to be in the unlucky position of disturbing a monster’s peace when he had already given them that warning.

That shines through in McCall’s final kill in dealing with Vincent, who thinks he is safe in this massive house and all his gang around him. McCall just takes that away from him in a heartbeat, which in turn creates this myth around him as a Michael Myers type, where he becomes this embodiment of coldness and darkness.

Vincent, even after what happened to his brother, still had this delusion that he was the dangerous figure. McCall showed him what cold and calculated truly is.

What is so impressive about Washington is his zero-to-one hundred physicality. When he stares at Marco in the restaurant, shivers go down your spine as he refuses to blink. When Marco takes his last breath and McCall chooses to stare, Washington once again flexes his acting muscles, generating a heartless or numb state of being. He allows McCall to connect and disconnect in any given situation, making him a terrifying anti-hero.

The reason why Washington playing a slasher type is so important is that even though he has played the antagonist before (Training Day (2001) or American Gangster (2007)), this is where he goes beyond the traditional acting roles we associate with his caliber. 

There is a hint of it in Gladiator 2 (2024) as Macrinus, the character who would be completely willing to throw human life away, but it still was theatrical. McCall doesn’t have any theatrics, and it’s the first time I have ever been terrified of him. 

As a Slasher villain, Washington taps into a cold and detached persona that, in a career of forty-eight years, is incredible that he was still able to find a place that feels unfamiliar and, most importantly, terrifies audiences.

Review Courtesy of Matthew Allan

Feature Image Credit to Sony Entertainment via IMDb