SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE (1986)

SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE (1986) (R) Dir. Carol Frank
74 min.

This Roger Corman-produced gem has nothing to do Slumber Party Massacre, and is instead a hokey, near-remake of Halloween 1 with the twist ending of 2.

 

Robert Hinkle escapes from a mental institution (not as easily as Ricky Caldwell, I might add, but easily enough) and returns to the childhood home where he had killed his family years before. Now the house is a sorority and a group of girls lead by Beth are moving in. Beth begins having inexplicable visions after as she enters the sorority. Meanwhile, the escaped killer approaches.

 

 

Genre aficionados will take no time telling where this plot is headed and everything in it is tired and 100% predictable. However, these faults are almost forgivable for the movie's earnestness and charming cable, made for Lifetime Chanel vibe. Certain shots, scenes, angles and lighting are shamelessly ripped from Halloween; more than I have ever seen in a typical Halloween ripoff. I mean, there are Bruno Mattei-esque moments of thievery here. The music is atrocious, performed by a soloist on a primitive synthesizer (which was becoming the norm of that time) and the movie could have been greatly improved with a more poundingly ominous score. No gore, but plenty of brutal retractable knifings reminiscent of Italian Giallo.

 

Look familiar?

 

When groups of girls have a friend who isn't around, do they get naked and have montages of trying on that girl clothes? Creepy. 4/10

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II (1987)

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II (1987) (R) Dir. Deborah Brock
aka DON'T LET GO
90 mins.

The first Slumber Party Massacre is a feminist gem wrapped in a misogynistic bow. The sarcastic script was filmed so straight and grimly, that most people who watch it can't see beyond the veil. The second outing is no exception, well except for the straight and grimly part. This movie is much smarter than it ought to be.

The males in this movie are portrayed in a hilarious and yet disturbing manner, their seemingly juvenile antics hint (or more so shoot) at a perturbing dominative behavior in males, and, yet, these are the victims in the movie. How audiences do not see the feminist critique underlining this movie is beyond me; maybe it's the copious amounts of nudity.

 

 

Courtney the younger sister of the now hospitalized Valerie from the first film, is having odd nightmares. She keeps seeing this man with knives for fingers... nah, she sees a greasy, pompadoured cat in a leather jacket rocking a sweeeet drill-tipped guitar and singing rockabilly songs. She is, of course, mortified.

 

Courtney and her all-girl band Wednesday Weekend, head up to a condo to party and practice their set for the school dance. Along for the ride are three boys, including Rob Lowe's little brother as Courtney's love interest. As the weekend progresses, so do Courtney's visions, sparking the doubts of her friends and even the police as the product of an overactive imagination. Soon, however, Courtney's delusions start becoming real, and the movie becomes a stalk and slash musical.

 

 

That's right, a musical. The music is fun, and actually really good at points. The killer is a clear critique on the hypermasculinity of rock n' roll, complete with his oversized phallic drill guitar. No where near as good as the first, but the gore is decent, with a couple of scenes that really stand out. The ambiguous ending is interesting; those who are looking for a stronger continuity between this (campy and purposely cheesy) and the first (purposely dark) will have fun scratching their heads in wonder. Flaws? Absolutely, but overall, I really enjoyed it, and wished I had not be so off-put by the boxart as to have not seen it sooner. 6/10