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SLUMBER
PARTY MASSACRE
 
PLOT
Russ Thorn, a power-drill toting psycho who went on a murder spree
back in 1969, escapes from a mental institution and heads to a suburban
California town. He sets his sites on a teenage girl named Trish, whose
parents are out of town and is throwing a slumber party bash
for her girlfriends.
REVIEW
Feminists had a field day in the early eighties protesting the depiction
of women in slasher movies... and "The Slumber Party Massacre" is no
exception. From the wonderfully lurid box-art to the final "symbolic
castration", this is a movie that DOES hint at feminist notions of
men's domination over women and their liberation... but to take it all
so seriously and try to read too much into it is just ridiculous. This
was actually written and directed by women, and if it's alright with
them then the rest of us have no cause to bitch.
"The Slumber Party Massacre" isn't much different from any other slasher
of it's ilk... escaped mental patients who torment young girls who are
home alone is nothing new... but this one is done with such a subtle
knowing finesse, poking fun at the conventions of plot with gratuitous
nudity, black humor, purposely dizzy dialogue, gobs of gore, in-jokes,
and more "boo" scenes than you'll be able to keep up with.
But make no mistake, it's got its share of seriousness too, and that's a
good thing too... there are some pretty tense scenes that give it balance.
There’s a particular scene with a young Brinke Stevens (apparently she
was offered a bigger role and had to turn it down) being stalked through
the halls of a high school... she almost gets away, but is given away by
her trail of blood... probably one of my favorite stalking scenes in a
slasher movie. It's not a movie afraid to keep you on your toes either;
where John Carpenter strategically placed his off-the-cuff scares in
"Halloween", "Slumber Party Massacre" runs wild with the concept (some work,
some don't...but that just adds to the funhouse feel of it).
Great work in the production area too...Amy Jones seems to have a firm
hand on the direction and delivered a short-but-sweet movie neatly packed
into eighty-minutes. The script has a dry wit and the characters get
you involved. Overall, a fun flick that doesn't take itself too seriously,
knows it's limitations, and above all, let's you have fun with it.
Two sequels followed this one; the completely off-the-wall sequel which
picks up with one of the survivors of the first movie doing battle with
a driller-killer rock star haunting her dreams... and Part 3 which follows
a conventional slasher whodunit not associated with the first two.
Neither have the sharp humor or the rustic shock-tactics of the first,
but are equally enjoyable.
GORE
Pretty good stuff, and we get a high body count... pleasing enough for
anyone that fancies a sufficient amount of gore in their slashers.
SOUNDTRACK
Very catchy little theme tune that's more memorable than most... I would
have to liken it to a schizophrenic John Carpenter score.
BOTTOM LINE
A lot of people probably wouldn't consider "The Slumber Party Massacre"
a five-star movie (like AnthroFred), but most slasher fans would agree
that it's a damn fine one. It's a movie that should be a classic, but
is just a few steps behind the others...and for that I have to give it
extra credit.
Review
By: The ScareMaker
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