The Slumber Party Massacre

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Runtime: A lean, mean 76 minutes

Directed by: Amy Holden Jones

Starring: Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra De Liso, Andree Honore

From: Santa Fe Productions

While I won't be participating in the “Hoop-tober” lists that will be on Letterboxd until Halloween, I am glad that those lists are a thing and I always enjoy seeing what people pick to watch, along with the reviews themselves. What I do is pick out horror films at random with no rules to guide me and I put together a list once I am finished. All that I know as of now is that I'll watch flicks from various decades and at least one of them will be from the late Tobe Hooper.

For awhile now I've known of this movie and how it stands out as more than just a slasher that was written by one woman (Rita Mae Brown) and directed by another (Amy Holden Jones). The plot is exactly what you expect from this sort of thing: a crazed killer takes aim upon a slumber party of several high school girls, as the host's parents are out of town. Even with the standard setup, this is still a good horror film. I know some that love it and while I am not as strong for it, I am glad I was able to finally track this down... nevermind how.

Brown wrote the script as a parody and yet it was filmed totally straight. Even then, a good amount of humor snuck in so that makes it stand out, and it an easy 76 minute watch; there's still enough chilling moments, blood spilled, and fake jump scares (the type that probably were already cliché by 1982) to satisfy the slasher fans. Yes, there's also the expected female nudity that many expect. The killer's identity is known right away and it isn't long before you see the dude's face, so it's not a mystery. Rather, it's about seeing him wield a giant power drill. The giant drill bit being a phallic symbol is rather obvious and that is used as a gag several times. Even with that, our villain (Russ Thorn) is a creepy-looking dude who acts creepy so it is not a limp figure... pun intended.

Included with all that is an astounding Casio keyboard soundtrack from Ralph Jones and I can see why this has a cult following. Of course it's cheap and the acting isn't the best, but that's not the point. This is definitely a Slasher with a capital S and the film does stand out.