The Slumber Party Massacre
(Review by WhiteTrash2000)
During the eighties we have been given many horror films pitting many girls against psycho maniacs that want to kill them. Most of them we simply dismiss as dried up slasher movies with boobs in them. One movie that sure is a slasher movie with boobs in it is The Slumber Party Massacre. It isn't however "dried up". While spoofing the genre and still treating itself serieously the movie shines with it's funny approach to slasher films.
Combining elements of horror and comedy is what this movie tries to do and it succeeds admirably. By giving the fans a fun-filled story that had (at the time) only been done a few times before it *upon first watching* can be rather original. And it manages to give us a pretty good amount of stereotypes along with the fun.
Trish is a typical high school girl, she wakes up, goes to school and has fun with her friends. She is even of the basketball team with her best friends. However, unbeknownsh to them, they have decided to plan a slumber party on the same day that a psycho had escaped from a mental hospital. Trish wants to ask Valerie but of course someone has to oblige letting us know in one scene who is the nice girl, the mean girl, the good natured girl, and who is simply in the middle. The girls arrive at Trish's house and begin to party, drink, and do drugs, what else is new. However unknown to them, the psycho happens to be wandering around ready to pick them off one by one. Valerie happens to live next door to Trish and when she and her sister begin to suspect something may be wrong things really start to pick up, and it just may be up to the two sisters to save the day.
Besides giving us a fair amount of T and A and gore. Director Amy Holden Jones also manages to give the viewers some suspence even though this is something they have seen before. And writer Rita Mae Brown ( who is a noted feminist) manages to give us a fun, witty, often laugh out loud movie without distracting us from the horror. The comedy isn't smack in the fact it simply gives you a chuckle while you are waiting to be scared again.
The acting is actually much better than you would normally find in a movie of this nature. Brinke Stevens does good with the small role she has(apparently she was to have a much larger role and even go to the party, only she was doing another film that conflicted with shooting so she requested that her role be shortened.) The main attractions are Jennifer Meyers and Robin Stille as Courtney and Valerie Bates who both have some of the best lines together. Everyone else does a pretty good job and believeably come off as teenagers.
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE wasn't exactly a box office hit. But it has gained a definate cult following on home video. I didn't expect much from the movie but I did get more than I thought I would. I was amused by the movie, and that doesn't usually happen to me very often anymore.
