Slumber Party Massacre

James the King

at 5:44 pm

If the title hasn’t already sold you, I doubt I’ll be able to convince you that this film is worth a look.

The plot is a slightly tweaked and thinly veiled rip off of ‘Halloween’, but this movie doesn’t take itself anywhere near as seriously as John Carpenter’s classic shocker, and this is perhaps its saving grace.

Like all good horror movies of the period, ‘The Slumber Party Massacre’ aims to provide us with two things; mild titillation though its utterly shameless use of female nudity and cheap thrills though its corny murder moments. While the latter is hardly on a par with many slashers, it is a bit of fun. Some of the murders are quite inventive, if a little sparing on the gore.

As far as the nudity goes, the premise dictates a fairly abundant use of boobs and thighs. While some may consider this sexist, it is important to note that the director is actually a woman. Stick that in your feminist pipe and choke on it!

Happilly, not only is the film graced with some deliciously and flagrantly gratuitous breast exposure, but the owners of said breasts are uniformly gorgeous. Movies like ‘The Mutilator’ (which contained not just ugly but fully-clothed ugly women) could learn a lot from this masterpiece of schlock!

This is not to everyone’s taste but, if you’ve read this far with a smile on your face, I’m pretty sure it’s the film for you.
Rating: 3 / 5

stuart

at 8:11 pm

With her parents gone for the weekend, Trish Devereaux (Michele Michaels) decides to let loose and invite her friends over after school for a slumber party. The new girl Valerie Bates (Robin Stille) is invited, but she overhears Trish’s friends Diane (Gina Mari) and Jackie (Andree Honore) voice their disinterest in her attending. Trish tries to get her to come and be accepted, but she blows it off and Kimberly Clarke (Debra Deliso) says she can attend instead. Later that night, the girls arrive, but they don’t know Valerie is next door and can see the party. Valerie and her younger sister Courtney (Jennifer Meyers) watch the four girls as they all have fun. After a few weird occurrences around the house are revealed to be the work of two practical jokers, the four girls are eased of tension. While Courtney is trying to convince Val that she should crash the party, a serial killer is on the loose and begins stalking them. Trapped inside the house with no way out, they try to survive the night.

The Good News: This is one of the best slashers ever made. It has everything that slasher fans need in a good movie: great kills, a unique setting, a menacing killer, cheesy lines, a bevy of beautiful woman taking their clothes off, and great atmosphere. It features the entire movie talking place, for the most part, inside a woman’s house, with the kills taking place around the house. There are quite a few good kills: a man gets his eyes drilled out, another is stabbed in the stomach with a power drill, one has a slashed neck, and another is decapitated. There is more, but most of it is off-screen, so the die-hards can only see the after-effects of the kill. More often than not, a person will stumble upon a dead body, and that provides the majority of the film’s scares. I also have to mention that the great Brinke Stevens is in this, and her role is the absolute best example of suspense. She mentions to friends that she has to retrieve a book she left in her gym locker, and upon trying to leave the building, she finds all the doors have been locked. As she tries to open the main door out, she comes across the killer, who waves his drill in her face, scaring her and forcing her to run. The resulting very long chase through the girls’ gym is the best stalk scene this side of Crystal Lake. It is believable as well, since what happens could actually happen to a person if they were chased by a maniac in a building where they knew the location and the maniac didn’t. It is my favorite scene, aside from the ample nudity. I really should mention it first in the bottom line of the review, but I think I left it in the right spot. What’s also great is that the killer is a master at two things most killers never do: he’s great at silently stalking a victim, and he’s great at picking off the person you wouldn’t expect at that time. The deaths are seen coming a mile away, but he then switches his aim and picks someone else off that wasn’t who the audience thought was the target of the attack. That was a great twist. Also, there is one scene that I simply have to mention here, as it is a personal favorite, and I know many of my friends really hate this scene, but I love it: Trish and another girl are upstairs in her room, and they escape the killer and move a large cabinet in front of the door, preventing him from entering. After waiting for several moments with no apparent evidence that he’s there, they let down their guard. We then switch to her window on the other side of the room, and we see him entering through the window, with the girls completely oblivious to his presence. He gets right up on them before he creaks the floor, alerting them to the fact that he’s literally breathing on their necks, forcing them to run. I love it, but because the killer can be seen stalking the woman when every single person in the world would’ve noticed it, my friends hate the scene. I think it’s a genius scene.

The Bad News: First of all, it’s far too short. It barely lasts over an hour, and with the end credits it reaches an hour and fifteen minutes. I think it could’ve been expanded a little more, with maybe more emphasis on what they are doing at the slumber party. They are there for what seems like a long time, but nothing happens and most of it is split between the party and Val and her sister arguing whether Val should go or not. They needed to bump that up some more, and maybe get some gore in the film. It is bloody, and I like it, but maybe some more flowing red stuff would make it a scarier film.

The Final Verdict: With a bit more running time, this could be one of the best slashers to come from this time period. As it stands, this is still something most single red-blooded males will want to see, with the blood and nudity, and all 80’s slasher fans will definitely like this one. Get it if you can (it shouldn’t be too expensive.)

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, and mild language
Rating: 4 / 5

Mr. S. Barlow

at 10:27 pm

Take this for what it is. It’s cheesy, questionable acting, rips off Halloween something chronic! But, it’s bloody, quite funny, rather nasty, quite short, makes you jump, fast paced, and really good.

It would be great for a teen party, or for someone of my age to remember renting it in the 80’s when my parents were out, and not sleeping for two weeks!

So, it’s good value, scary entertainment. Enjoy!
Rating: 4 / 5