The Dorm That Dripped Blood
The 1981 Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow-directed film opens up as a young man is running away from someone on a moonlit night. Hiding in the bushes, the person grabs the man from behind, jamming a knife into his hand. We are then introduced to the film's leading lady, Joanne (Laura Lapinski), who's having problems on deciding whether to move in with her boyfriend Tim (Robert Frederick) or not. Lately, the couple have been getting on each other's nerves, and many guys around and off the college campus find Joanne attractive.
Joanne and four others, Brian (David Snow), Craig (Stephen Sachs), Patty (Pamela Holland), and Debbie (Daphne Zuniga in her film debut), stay over the Christmas holidays to clean out a condemned, rundown seven-story dormatory before it's torn down. Unfortunately, Debbie has to leave with her parents for the holidays. While her parents are waiting for her, Debbie's father (Richard Cowgill) decides to go get her. Ascending the staircase, her father is killed by someone with a spiked baseball bat. The killer then strangles Debbie's mother (Kay Beth), just as Debbie finds her father's dead body. Running frantically to the car, her dead mother falls out, causing Debbie to faint and drop to the ground. The killer then moves the still unconscious Debbie in front of the car, where her head's ran over. The killer continues to drive away in the family car, everyone else thinking that Debbie's left with her parents.
As the days and nights pass by, John Hemmitt (Woody Roll), a strange, quiet man, starts to steal food and trespass on campus. He was also believed to have smashed a whole table of food the group has prepared one night. The four students are the only ones that are supposed to be on campus, along with a clerk. Not succeeding in chasing Hemmitt away, Joanne calls the police, hoping that he will be arrested soon.
One night, the lights fail and go out in the building. Joanne and Patty are spooked out, but Brian and Craig come to their aid. They immediately suspect Hemmitt of the strange occurences and split up, trying to find him. The students then start to mysteriously disappear, while it's actually the cause of a vicious murderer dressed in black and bent on revenge. Could Hemmitt be the deranged killer? Or could it possibly be someone else with an appetite for death?
Just like so many other horror movies, I anticipated this slasher very much, only to be a bit disappointed by its slow pace and predictable plot, full with cliches so many films of the genre contain. This is one of the countless college slashers, but does have one redeemable aspect: the screen debut of Daphne Zuniga, who's dispatched off too early and should've been the film's final girl. Many of the actors, especially the women, look too old to be playing college students, except for Zuniga, who's portrayal is the most believable.
The body count's fairly pleasing, chockfull of gore, but the killer's identity is very easy to figure out, while the killer's motive is simply ridiculous and never quite explained, along with the first victim, who's completely forgotten throughout the rest of the movie. Despite the somewhat bad acting, it actually served as a few laughs to me. The film's title was mentioned by character Randy (Jamie Kennedy) in Scream 2, along with other high school and college slashers. Also, the film's conclusion is a bit letdown, considering what happens. It gives it a sort of trashy, cheesy feel, as well. Maybe I'm being too hard on this one; it could be one of those films that soaks in with repeated viewings. Recommended to any horror movie fan, but not exactly anything that special. aka Pranks and Death Dorm.
