07 August 2013

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - REVIEW


Looking at the film reviews on the site I noticed that a few of my favorites had not been reviewed yet.  The Slumber Party Massacre is one of them.  SPM came out in 1982 right at the beginning of the slasher craze and it goes down as one of the greats.  Film legend Roger Corman was about to put his mark on the slasher's of the 80's in a big way.

Trish (Michelle Michaels) gets ready to go to school as her parents leave for vacation as Trish is having an all girls party at the house that night.  It has already come over the radio that convicted murderer Russ Thorn (Michael Villella) has escaped from prison and is again on the loose.  After basketball practice Trish tries to invite the new girl to the party, Valerie (Robin Stille), but she does not want to attend even though she lives next to Trish.  As the girls gather for the party at Trish's and they have no idea they are being watched by a convicted murderer and may be the last night any of them see.  The first of the girls to go in the house is Diane (Gina Smika Hunter) who is in the garage getting in a car to leave with her beheaded boyfriend.  The girls have to get help but are afraid to leave.  As 2 guys are with them they volunteer to go next door and get help from Valerie but will they make it back?

SPM is one of my personal favorites of slasher films.  Watching this movie with all the gratuitous nudity it is hard to believe that it was directed by a woman.  Amy Holden Jones did a fantastic job with this movie, originally meant to be a tongue in cheek film with more comedy than horror.  It turned out to be more horror than anything, with some humorous parts too.  Anyone who is a slasher fan knows that horror and comedy are a great mix.  One of the things that I really liked about the film aside from the gorgeous women gallivanting on the screen was the score.  To me it really is creepy as creepy gets.

The main characters and the supporting cast were all fantastic in their roles.  Especially the lead role of Valerie played by Robin Stille.  Unfortunately Robin did not make it through the 90's but still left her mark on a few 80's gems.  Also with her first speaking role in a film was Brinke Stevens who is also the first of the girls to die, she just never makes it to the party.  I am going to go out on a limb with this one and rate it 9 out of 10 stars.  It really deserves the attention of one of the great 80's horror films.  Stay twisted everyone!


No comments:

Post a Comment