Slumber Party Massacre Review (1982)

My History With the Film:
Growing up, I watched Slumber Party Massacre II just to see Crystal Bernard. Recently, I re-watched it and thought to myself, “You really should watch the others.” So, I sat down to watch Slumber Party Massacre and I gotta say, it wasn’t quite what I expected, but in a good way.

What The Film Is About (Non-Spoiler):
A female high school student’s slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighborhood.

What I Liked About It:
-There is actually some decent cinematography in this film. There is one very memorable scene from inside the gym that really showed off the isolation and despair one of the characters was feeling.

-Slumber Party Massacre doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it sticks to the basics of most slasher films and that makes for an enjoyable experience. We have pranks, the power going out, nudity, and everything you’d come to expect from a film called Slumber Party Massacre.

 

-The killer is memorable, thanks in part due to his unique oversized drill weapon. There is a gaping plot hole (how the hell does he power that drill) but if you can overlook that it makes for a fun time.

-I felt like the film did it’s best to copy popular slashers, even utilizing one of our protagonists as a babysitter for her younger sister who keeps spying on the house where the slumber party is occurring. It felt like the movie was bouncing between the two stories, similar to the way Halloween built up the story by focusing on the various houses and how they were interlinked.

-The first kill is unexpected and probably the most memorable from the entire movie. There was something about the simplicity and unexpected nature of the kill that really stuck with me. In many slashers, you struggle to find empathy for the characters who are dying, but not in this case. Kudos to the writing and super quick performance for making an impact.

-Everyone loves a masked killer, but sometimes a killer with a face and very little backstory can really make a story feel a bit more real. I loved that our killer had no real motive and no dialogue.

What I Didn’t Like About It:
-Courtney (Jennifer Meyers) Valerie’s younger sister is a mess. The actress appears to be attempting to be much younger than she actually is and she comes across like an SNL spoof of an adult acting as a child/young teenager. I come to expect some questionable performances in horror films, but this one is just atrocious.

-Another scene that should have been cut was a scene involving a girl eating pizza. I won’t spoil it, but you can definitely tell it would have made sense if they shot the movie like a parody as it was written and not as a straight forward movie.

Additional Notes:
-The score was created on a Casio synthesizer.

-The film was originally written as a parody but was shot as a legit film. This is why the film seems to have a little extra intentional comedy than other films in the genre.

-Only one actress from the poster is actually in the movie: Andree Honore (Jackie).

-One of the most memorable scenes is an overhead shot in the gym before Jackie is attacked. Due to the low budget, this scene was achieved by having the cameraman standing on top of a cherry picker.

-Brinke Stevens (Linda) has a very cool old school looking website.

Rating:
I have seen Slumber Party Massacre 2 twice now, but never watched the original. I went in expecting a more over-the-top comical movie, and instead, I found a very paint by numbers slasher with a little extra humor. It’s hard to even compare the two films because the tone is totally different. It’s almost like Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, but no where near as high quality as those films.

With that being said, Slumber Party Massacre is still a decent film. It’s a run of the mill slasher that really plays into all the tropes that people associate with slasher films. It’s fun, gory, and a good way to spend seventy-eight minutes.

I rate Slumber Party Massacre a three out of five and say it’s a rental for fans of 80’s slashers.