When alot of people think of eighties horror movies they do more often then not think of films like Child's Play , The Shining , Friday The 13th or A Nightmare On Elm Street. Yet they never seem to think of the lesser known horror horror films the ones had a decent eye catching poster to them and that's really it and its one of those films that i'm going to be talking to you all about you today and so then join me as I review the film that started of a franchise that like alot of other eighties slasher films has been poorly remade with the film in question being called simply just "The Slumber Party Massacre" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when a group of friends decide to have a slumber party they find themselves in for the fight of there lives when an escaped convict decides to crash the party. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Look to be fair you don't go into this film expecting to see a good plot you go into it expecting to see alot of very pretty girls get killed and to be fair that this is something that this film does give us in spades. With the films plot being alot more better then what t really had any right to be as by all rights this films plot should have been really bad and yet you an tell that the films writer Rita Mae Brown did put alot of thought and effort into the films plot as it is a plot that is alot more tighter then other films of this kind like for example Nightmare Sisters. However tho that is about the only positive that one can say about this films plot as while yes there is alot of thought and effort put into its plot the plot on the whole still isn't the strongest plot out with the main idea of having the film mainly taking place at this one slumber party feeling like it was just an excuse to get pretty women into skimpy clothes and while that is a great way to sell the film it doesn't add anything to the main plot of the film as the main film could have taken place in any situation and nothing about the films plot would need be changed all that much and while there is an effort to make this films plot be alot more better then other lesser known eighties horror films it's still not the best plot out there with the plot of this fil also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Michelle Michaels as Trish Devereaux , Robin Stille as Valerie Bates and Michael Villella as Russ Thorn. Also starring in this film is Debra Deliso as Kim Clarke , Andree Honore as Jackie Cassidy , Gina Mari as Diane , Jennifer Meyers as Courtney Bates , Joseph Alan Johnson as Neil , David Millbern as Jeff , Jim Reid Boyce as John Raden Minor , Pamela Roylance as Coach Rachel Jana , horror legend Brinke Stevens as Linda Dawn Grant , Rigg Kennedy as David Contant , Jean Vargas as Mary , Howard Purgason as Mr. Devereaux and Anna Patton as Mrs. Annette Devereaux.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. Again much like with the films plot you don't go into a film like this one expecting there to be good acting in it and for the most part that is exactly what we get with all of the actors playing the girls giving us some really decent performances but where the acting does fall flat is in the performances of the films male victims as it does seem like that no one told them that this film was meant to be a serious slasher film and due to that they do give us alot of really over the top performances all of which do lower the films quality of acting. With the best actor in the whole entire film being Michael Villella as Russ Thorn as even tho he doesn't say all that much in the film he does say alot more with his body language with us being able to tell mostly what he's thinking or feeling due to what he's doing on screen, with the man even having these oddly captivating eyes that do make him seem more evil and deranged and yet when he does give us a few lines of dialog near the end of the film he still manages to make it work with those lines feeling something that his character would say and while it does help that he does seem to have a lot of chemistry with all of the films other actors what really does help his performance is the fact that you buy him as this insane killer as the man just looks like someone who might be a killer. With the acting that's in this very film not really being helped by the fact that this films script doesn't really give any f this films actors absolutely anything to work with with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Whist this film might have started out life as a parody of slasher films clearly no one told the writer to adjust the characters to reflect the films now more serious tone. As to put it bluntly all of the films characters are just very one note characters with all of them feeling like the kinds of characters thar you expect to see in the first draft of a script and not the kinds of characters that you would want to be seeing in the films final draft as none of them feel well thought out and none of them have anything interesting about them heck it's hard to even remember alot of this films characters as they do all just blend into one. This is something that would have been OK if this film was made as a slasher parody as it was originally intended to be as then you could argue that the film is poking fun at the character types in eighties slasher films but due to the fact that the producers of the film didn't know that this was meant to be a parody and ordered it to be a straight forward serious slasher film there should have been more work and more thought an effort put into making this films characters stand out as alot of them do feel like they are just there to be victims with the only characters that have some time given to them being sisters Valerie and Courtney Bates and even then those characters don't come across as being likable as when they are together they spend alot of there time just arguing with each other. Yet the film does start something possibly interesting with the character of Diane being a snob and not wanting to invite Valerie due to the fact that she's just moved to town and is better then Diane at everything this is something that should have been given more focus as it make the character of Diane feel more like a human being and it makes the character of Valerie be all the more likable but for one reason or another the film just drops that entire angle.
It could well be agued that this film is like Nightmare Sisters in that both films do have very eye catching posters and have big named horror stars starring in them but outside of that there's nothing to either film. This is by no means a bad thing as while Nightmare Sisters is very much a dark horror comedy this film is very much meant to be a straight forward slasher and as straight up slasher films go yeah this film isn't that good due to the fact that it does have an absurd premise to it but it does have all the markings of being a cult film as the film does know when to go over the top with it's comedy and the film does have moments in it that are so bad and so badly done that you can't help but to fall in love with them. This is something that does in it's own way make both films fun to watch as yes there are other and better horror films out there but sometimes you do just want to watch something that is so bad that you can't help but love them and while both Nightmare Sisters and this film do have a very wacky premise its this film does handle its premise all the more better due to the fact that the killers backstory is being more told to us in the background which does add a reply value to the film with us being told threw things like newspapers and radio not only who the killer is but also what his crimes were in the past which is a subtle way of getting all of that needless exposition out of the way with it being this kind of subtle storytelling that is sadly missing from alot of horror films as alot of them do outright tell you what the killers backstory is and alot of them do show us how he escaped the law in the first place where here in this film that is left to the imagination and that is something that does make it all the more scarier and while Nightmare Sisters didn't have anything like that it is something that would have helped the film out in the long run.
Just to give you an idea of how underrated this franchise is this one film spawned two sequels , a spin off trilogy called Sorority House Massacre and another series of spin off films called Cheerleader Massacre with the first of those films even bringing back Brinke Stevens as Linda Dawn Grant. It really is nuts just how many films prior to the god awful remake that this film has spawned given the fact that the sequel to this film just outright abandons the Russ Thorn character for a Freddy Krueger knock off character ad the third film ditched him for someone else entirely and yet people do still on coming back for more. This is something that does show you that you don't need to be a big well known horror franchise to have a fanbase as sometimes all you need is a film that has the courage to do things its own way and to just have fun with it and thats exactly what you get with this film as while yes there's no denying the fact that this film isn't that good but what can be said about the film is that it is a fun watch with the film having plenty of entertaining scenes in it like the fact that Valerie and Courtney have this argument while the body of Kim just about staying in the fridge that Courtney keeps on opening with both her and Valerie just missing the body each and every time this is not only a really funny scene in its own right but it does also add some tension to the film as well as it becomes only a matter of time before her body discovered an sure enough the sisters do see the body with them both taking the time to scream as loudly as possible before leaving the kitchen. This is a scene that if it was in any other slasher film just wouldn't work as well due to the fact that they would be more bothered with getting to the next kill but here due to the fact that Kim is the last person that Russ kills in the film the makers of this film are therefore allowed to have more fun with it and they do take advantage of that.
As was mentioned several times in this review this film was originally envisioned by its writer Rita Mae Brown to be more like a slasher parody think Scream with a hint of Scooby-Doo. This is something that should have remained as there moments in the film like the films infamous shower scene which was quite literally only added in to the film so that the makers of the film could actually sell the film to theater owners with that being shot in such a way that it wouldn't feel out of place in a parody of slasher films infact it would have fit right in and yet due to the fact that the producers of the film instead saw it more as a serious slasher film it does mean that that scene now does feel out of place as instead of laughing with the film we are now left laughing at the film. With there being plenty of scenes like that in the film like for example there is a scene where a few of characters do all get behind each other and start moving in the same direction much like they would do in Scooby-Doo and this is something that does make you wonder if the makers of this film even bothered to change the original script as alot of of it does feel like something that you would see in a parody film with those moments being something that while they do still work in the film as it is they would have worked so much more better of the film was a parody as then the film would be able to give us the audience a knowing wink and nudge as they would know full well that there making a bad movie but are still willing to have fun with it and while yes this film was pretty much always guaranteed to be nothing more then a cult franchise if the film was a full blown parody it would have stuck out all the more in the slasher boom of the eighties rather then just fade away like it essentially has done.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and sixteen minuets and fifteen seconds. To be fait to this film is kind of the expected running time for a film like this one to have but at the same time tho it would have helped the film quite alot if the film was even just fifteen minuets longer due to the fact that the film does have alot of story and alot of main characters and it can't cover all of that and give the characters the spotlight that the really did need with that shorter amount of running time with the film even having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time n the first place. Yet even so this film does very sadly not use its running time all that wisely due to thew fact that this film doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot this is mainly due to the fact that the film doesn't have that long of a running time in the first place and while the films plot as it is is a fine plot there's nothing about it that makes it standout whereas if the makers of this film did take the time to add things to the plot that did make it feel a bit more well thought out then it is something that could have made the film be alot more interesting but due to the fact that this film isn't that long it really can't do that. This is something that does also effect the films character development as none of this films characters get any kind of character development even Courtney who it could be argued wouldn't need character development in this film due to her being the main character in the films sequel and yet she really did need to get it in this film as she and the films other characters don't get any kind of character development heck we don't even get to find out all that much about any of this films characters outside of Russ Thorn and that's it with it really being more clear that the makers of this film really did care more about the films kills then they did in giving there characters some much needed character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a slasher film that really does mean that I have to actually talk abut the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. To be fair this films kills might very well be the best aspect of the film as the films killer does have a very unique weapon in that he uses a hand drill and while that is something that could be seen as being something that holds the film back due to the fact that the film can't really get alot of creative kills with that weapon the makers of this film do go out of there way to make this tool seem scary by having him use it not only ways that just involve him stabbing someone in the chest. With the films best kill being the death of Russ Thorn himself as we get to see him , Valerie , Courtney and Trish al struggle to take him on by the pool with him coming pretty close to killing all three of them at various points with Valerie only just managing to impale him on a machete threw his chest with the only thing that would made that kill be all the more poetic was if she used his own drill to kill him but you really can't go wrong with a machete kill with the thing that makes the kill be a creepy kill being the fact that our main final girl had to struggle just to be in with a chance of killing him with her only winning not threw skill but through luck with the kill even having some nice looking gore effects that do help to sell you on the attack but again it would have been all the more better if she used his own drill against him as that would have been a very poetic way for him to die with the rest of the films kills being just as good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall out of the two films this film easily trumps the remake due to the fact that this is alot more thought and effort put into this film then there is the remake. Yet at the same time tho it is hard to say that this is a good film as there's just so much going against and while a film like this was never going to be a mainstream hit it is a film that is a really good cult hit film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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