Unapologetically self-aware, this jokey slasher movie references more horror flicks in one reel than all the Scary Movie installments put together. A handful of students on a biology field trip to a remote island are invited by married filmmakers (Sean Kanan, Juliet Landau) to stay at their home and become unwilling actors in the couple’s snuff film. Writer/director Matt Flynn deliberately appropriates memorable, pithy lines and outlandish murder methods from classic shudder shows for this low-budget exercise, which has all the elements demanded of such fare by fanboys, who are sure to eat this one up.

Shelf Talk: Hack! is tailor-made for genre buffs, and you won’t go wrong promoting it as something along the lines of the Scream and Scary Movie franchises. The film telegraphs its intent within minutes but delivers everything fans have come to expect from slice-’em-and-dice-’em epics. Expect some help from the Web, as this movie’s calculated appeal to horror fans will have message boards buzzing.