- (Also known as The Slumber Party Murders in the United Kingdom)
- Directed by Amy Holden Jones
- September 10, 1982 (LA) / November 12, 1982 (NYC)
A high school senior throws a slumber party where her and her friends are attacked by an escaped power drill-wielding maniac.
Some movies were never destined for true greatness but rather destined to appeal strongly to a very particular set of people. Those movies are what we call Cult Classics. The Slumber Party Massacre is one such film. Written humorous but turned serious by the minds at the studio, it morphed into something unintended by either side.
This movie is all the bad things one thinks of when it comes to 80s horror. We have a killer killing just, well, because. There are seriously perverted boys who engage in sex crimes but those crimes are kinda laughed off. The film is filled with teenagers that look old enough to be out of college. And for good measure we see examples of unnecessary gratuitous nudity because in these movies when ‘teenage’ girls gather together they can’t help but get naked for reasons.
Part of the charm here is the killer Russ Thorn (Michael Villella)-do they even name him in the footage-kills his victims with a very large portable drill stolen from a telephone repairwoman (Jean Vargas) he killed in the most public place possible. Freddy had his glove. Jason has a machete. Russ has a massive drill built in the late ‘70s. Certainly makes them stand out and gimmicks were important in this era.
I could describe each of the characters, but they really have no defining characteristics. These are a group of young and undifferentiated women and with the token minority in the group as many horror films did at the time associated with a group of relatively undifferentiated guys who are all just cannon fodder for the killer to kill in the most ridiculous way possible. And that’s part of the appeal of 80s films. They were just dumb slaughterfests. I’m not sure if anybody really ever got scared.
The acting is rougher than sandpaper on a chapped butthole. And the killer is bug-eyed always but far from intimidating. The attack scenes are poorly staged. Somebody ducks and then a second later an object flies where their head would’ve been. I think back to the original My Bloody Valentine and how slow those were. I’m not sure why they couldn’t cut out a frame or two to speed things up. Something to make it look like it was faster than an arthritic retiree.
Characters make stupid decisions and put themselves in greater jeopardy or leave those they are supposedly concerned about in serious jeopardy. You hear her screaming over the phone and then the line goes dead. Rather than call the cops right away you send a neighbor girl to check things out? Really?
The blood when people are wounded is quite profuse to a ridiculous level that even if they managed to function before they died you wonder how they continue to function. There are around 10 pints of blood in the human body, but these people look like they have fifteen to forty. And the general gore looks like ground meat. And that’s part of the appeal of movies like this. It’s big and dumb and doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is.
There’s not much story here. In fact there’s very little story here. The whole plot is summed up in the title of the film. It’s a slumber party and there’s a massacre. This is a bunch of people in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As a humorous swipe at the genre, The Slumber Party Massacre falls a little flat. As a serious take on the genre on the slasher genre it falls flat but because of those swings it becomes something of a guilty pleasure. It’s enjoyable even though it should not be. Without the studio interference this would certainly have been entertaining as a comedy but found itself appreciated by only those that could find it in the farthest corners.
If you’re looking for complexity, The Slumber Party Massacre is not the place to find it. It contains all the excesses of 80s horror that horror aficionados of that era loved. Proceed with caution.
