THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (1983)

THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROAD (1983) (R) Dir. Mark Rosman
aka HOUSE OF EVIL aka SEVEN SISTERS

91 mins.

 

 

This film is an awesome tribute to the 1955 French film, Diabolique. A group of hot sorority girls, in order to throw a proper graduation party, break their lease and stay in their dorm past the move-out date. The headmistress, harsh and cruel, catches them and forbids their party. In retaliation the girls play a prank on the headmistress, accidentally resulting in her death. Panicking, they hide her dead body in the sorority's unclean pool, and try to save face at their graduation party.

 

 

This leads to a comedy of errors, in which the girls learn that the body is missing, try to maintain composure at the party, and simultaneously vie to find, and dispose of, the errant corpse. As all of this wackiness is unfolding, a killer is pecking off the sorority sisters one by one. Is it the headmistress; did she not die? Is she undead? Though the reveal is heavily foreshadowed in the movie's introduction, it does pay off well, and is well executed; the last scenes are genuinely frightening and stylized, a la Black Christmas and Halloween.

 

 

There's a reason Quentin Tarantino selected this for his first filmfest. It has humor, beautiful (and oft) naked women, witty dialogue, style, and iconic scares. 8/10.