User reviews

Totally unpretentious '80's slasher is a cheesy, but fun ride.

Some lovely young ladies decide to throw a get together, only to have some loonie with a drill stop in to kill them all.

Slumber Party Massacre is a slasher fan's guilty pleasure with a pretty silly edge to it! One might just gather that from the DVD cover or poster for this film. It takes the predictable elements of the "splatter" film and with a complete lack of seriousness has a ton of fun with them. It makes sense considering that this film was originally written to be a slasher parody, and frankly still works well as a parody. The acting, directing, and special FX are all B-grade stuff, but overall that helps rather than henders the mood of the film.

At any rate, this film is strictly a good-time party kinda film, certainly nothing to be taken serious, but just enjoyed for it's humor (both intended and unintended) with the horror genre.

*** out of ****

While her parents are away for the weekend, Trish invites a few of her girlfriends over for the weekend. Their plans include beer, weed, and pizza. Plans are interrupted, however, by an escaped mental patient with a very large power drill that he enjoys plunging into his victims. Girls in pajamas (or less) and a deranged killer - sounds like a good mix.

I never realized the screenplay for Slumber Party Massacre was written by novelist Rita Mae Brown. Over the years, I've enjoyed her Mrs Murphy mystery series. I've read that she originally intended the movie to be a parody of the slasher genre, but the producers went ahead and made it a more serious movie. There's still a lot of humor in the film that I find quite funny - the refrigerator door scene near the end being one example. Also, knowing that this was originally meant to be a parody, it helps explain a lot to me about the killer and the rest of the movie. On his own, Russ Thorn is not very frightening - just odd. Some of his facial expressions in the finale are priceless. I haven't read through all the comments on IMDb, so I'm sure this has been endlessly written about, but exactly what kind of power source was he using with that drill? There was no power cord and I've never seen a battery powered drill that can maintain that much power for that length of time. It must have been one of those nuclear drills so popular in the early 80s. The giant drill also makes for a very unwieldy, noisy weapon. Not the weapon of choice when sneaking up on people. I'll bet this was most likely a leftover irony from the original script.

Since its release, I think I've now seen Slumber Party Massacre three times. I enjoyed it much more this time, but still can't rate it higher than a 5/10. I think that had they gone ahead and made this a full- on parody, it would have been a much better movie.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for "Slumber Party Massacre" ever since I first saw it at the ripe old age of 11. Sure it's not the bloodiest, scariest, well acted or written horror movie that wonderful 80's produced- but it does have something that makes it special and a standout on its own.

Trish (Michelle Michaels) is a popular basketball player whose parents have gone away for the weekend. Just so happens that the night before, convicted killer and mental patient Russ Thorn (wonderfully played by Michael Villella) has escaped from confinement. Awww...timing is everything! Val (Robin Stille) is the new girl in school as well as on the basketball team, who also happens to live right next door to Trish. Of course, Trish decides to gather her girls for a night of fun at her empty house. She suggests they invite Val, and is of course is rejected by her snobby & trampy friend Diane (Gina Mari).

Cut to the chase...the girls have there slumber party. Of course Russ has been following them around all day and is just waiting for his moment to strike. Val on the other hand is alone too next door, with the exception of her boy crazy 13 year old sister Courtney (Jennifer Meyers). When the pizza delivery boy shows up dead on Trish's doorstep- mayhem ensues. The girls (along with some boys who have crashed the Slumber Party) are scared to death. They are afraid to leave the house - so the boys volunteer to make a run for it.

One by one our teenagers get hacked away. Eventually Val and Courtney get involved in the goings on and before you know it our girls are in some serious trouble.

The movie works due to some genuinely funny comedic dialogue- and Michael Villella's great portrayal of the Driller Killer. When he says "I love you" in his sick and twisted way- you genuinely feel creeped out! The music is also quite good as well. With a 77 minute run time- Slumber Party Massacre doesn't drag and keeps pace quite nicely. If you collect horror and are a big fan of the classic cheesy horror movies from the beloved 80's, Slumber Party Massacre is worth an entry into your DVD collection.

Without further ado, this simply is an early 80's slasher that's worth seeing (at least once). If not for any other reason, then watch it for the fact that this was written and directed by two women. I still can't believe it! All women in this film are portrait as helpless victims (except for two or so). Most of the killings are bloody and gory. And after only 8 minutes in the movie, the whole teenage female basketball-team goes fully nude and hits the showers(!). The camera gratuitously focuses on boobs and buttocks. Who said women can't make a decent horror movie? Haha! So boobs galore, spiced up with some good-looking gore. Unfortunately there's no story (the movie's title actually is the story). And we know who the killer is right from the start of the movie (we see his face all the time). It's just a crazy man escaped from the loony-bin. I was at least expecting some kind of twist, but about halfway through the movie I gave up this wishful thinking and just enjoyed the rest of it, being as there weren't going to be any surprises anyway. But still, this is a must-see for everyone who calls himself an 80's slasher-fan.

i love the 80's well...almost at it's best. I've seen more gore in other 80's horror flicks. but if you want nudity and lots and lots of screaming girls getting knocked off one by one by a mad man with a power drill...it's a real safe rent. the scares will not make you jump out of your seat...but really...it's just a movie meant for you to sit back and laugh at. For slasher fans...it's a must see. hold on though...is it breaking a slasher movie rule to have the killer talk to his victims??? i was wondering that when it happened. still though it doesn't take away from the overall experience. oh yeah. just watch this one...don't bother with the others. they are not at all worth it.

kjfear@yahoo.com

I love slasher flicks but this was the worst and it had me laughing in tears! The part where the girl is hitting him with the fire poker, and it wobbles like rubber had me laughing and the part where he hides under the rug like Elmer Fudd! I'll get those wascally women! This is awful beyond comprehension but still a laugh and a half.

This is definitely a true '80s slasher film! Since "Slumber Party Massacre" was released in 1982, you can say this may have been one of the films to create the '80s cheesy/slasher films...which is great! It is your basic '80 horror film; slumber party, drinking, comedic moments...and of course, the escaped maniac who is on his way to the party! Keep an eye out for Brinke Stevens as Linda, as this was one of her first roles. This is definitely a popcorn flick; so just sit back, & enjoy yourself. Also, the late Robin Stille was one of the leads in this film. She appeared in a few other '80s horror films, & is truly missed!

This is a movie from the early 80's and it contains the word "massacre" in the title, so you know the…um…DRILL! Standard, by-the-numbers slasher except that this is supposed to be a feminist slasher! In all honesty, I don't really get it. Portraying dumb but hot-looking girls stalked & killed by a homicidal maniac is a sexist crime, but if this exact same formula is presented by a FEMALE director and a FEMALE scriptwriter, it all of a sudden becomes a parody and/or a feminist statement? The male characters in this movie may be a bit dumber than usual but the teenage beauties are all still defenseless little lambs to the slaughter, so where exactly lays the girl-power element? Oh well, since I absolutely don't wish to receive negative feedback from female readers, I'll just restrict myself to reviewing the actual movie and leave the speculations of possible deeper meanings behind. Talking purely in terms of 80's horror, "The Slumber Party Massacre" is a pretty good effort with likable characters, a fair amount of suspense and a handful of excellent gory killings. With her parents away on holiday, a schoolgirl invites her friends for a sleepover party with the usual pizzas, beer and soft drugs. Unfortunately for them, an escaped lunatic with a gigantic power tool still terrorizes the area and he shows up as the party-pooper, drilling holes in everyone whose path he's crossing. The only hope for rescue in the new girl who lives across the street but – oh no – she wasn't invited to the party! The identity and motivations of serial killers are usually kept secret in 80's slashers until the ending (as they're frequently acquaintances of the victims), but you don't have to worry about that in this case. Right from the opening minute, newspapers and radio bulletins loudly announce that a psychopath escaped from the local asylum and he doesn't even bother to wear a silly mask, as he's already carrying the drilling device – which symbolizes a male penis – instead. There's little else you need to know, except that nearly all the girls willingly take their clothes off and that the obligatory after gym-class shower sequence comes early in the movie. Hooray for feminism!

I'm guessing the flick has about the largest female dead body count on Hollywood record. If the girls aren't running around half-nude, they're pumping out blood like human pin cushions, thanks to a looney guy who apparently flunked highschool mechanics. I'm not surprised 50's schlock maestro Roger Corman produced this near-parody of the slasher flick craze. After all, he mastered the teenage drive-in trade with epics such as Little Shop of Horrors (1959) and Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) back when I was a teen- maybe not Oscar fare, but still lot's of fun.

I wish I could say the same about this bloody mess. Except for the promising beginning, there's no real story, just a succession of dark menacing and anti-climaxes that're overdone and soon lose impact. At least the pacing is brisk, while the girls' shower scene may be the film's centerpiece, at least for us guys. Then too, it may be a cast of unknowns, but the girls do well even if short on acting experience. Can't say the same about the madman who's about as scary as an unshaven milkman. Anyway how about that power-drill that's not exactly a surgical instrument. My take on the madman's problem is that his own power-drill doesn't work, so he uses a symbolic mechanical one to get even with his female frustrations. However that may be, the over-done flick's not good enough to be either a parody or an effective fright fest.

This movie seems to have some fans; I am not one of them. Okay, this is a slasher movie, so I wasn't expecting a great movie, but The Slumber Party Massacre is just uninspired garbage. The killings are boring (no pun intended). There really isn't any decent gore, just some bloody t-shirts. There is no atmosphere; the film just feels bland. The music is unexceptional. Everything is just so mediocre, and that really hurts this movie. Slasher movies usually at least have one interesting element. This doesn't even have an interesting killer. It's just some 40-something guy in ordinary clothes. I never thought I'd say this, but The Slumber Party Massacre makes me appreciate all the interesting elements in a movie like Class Reunion Massacre. I really don't see how so many people rated this a 10! It's not even bad enough to like it on a cheesy level. This movie is just bland.

I first saw this in the mid 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently.

High school girls r targetted on a slumber party by a maniac with a power drill.

Our psycho ain't a big built or scary looking guy but jus an ordinary fella with a very bad sense of dressing, he wears a dark blue denim jacket, on a red tshirt with dark blue jeans n black cowboy boots.

His power drill machine is heavier than him but unfortunately our teens cannot put up a fight against him inspite of being large in nos.

Forget about putting up a fight, a young guy keeps knocking on the door rather than jus running away from the old killer. Our teen wud have definitely outrunned the puny killer.

In another scene a stupid fella without uttering a word lays outside a door n when the killer kills him, he screams.

The film has the same cliches which has been endured by horror fans umpteenth no of times. A person hits the killer, the killer falls on the ground unconscious n rather than hitting the killer repeatedly while he is unconscious n down, people run away.

Marcus Dunstan's The Neighbour is a good example of a thriller without the usual cliches.

Now coming to some good points, the film has lots of nudity. In one scene a camera lingers on boobs n butt. It has a hot babe in a chemise exposing large cleavage.

The film does get a bit violent towards the end with some stabbings n slashings.

Campy and fun, but cliched of course- The Slumber Party Massacre is a fun flick for all slasher fans- but is definitely not enough for those seeking quality. I was surprised to say I enjoyed watching most of this one. Yes the film is riddled with cliches, there are more fake jump scares than I thought was ever possible, and the films antagonist definitely needed some work. Its acting isn't anything great, which was probably obvious to most, and its soundtrack consists of the same song played over and over again at random menacing times throughout the film. So why did I enjoy this one you may ask, I don't really know. Maybe it was the nostalgic atmosphere and incredibly 80's visuals, or its ability to somehow carry a story along with so few people and such a small budget. Maybe it was just the fact that despite its flaws, it was entertaining and fun to watch, and did have some cool little kill scenes. The cinematography is also quite interesting a very campy but surreal kinda vibe that adds to the overall charm of the film. In the end, The Slumber Party Massacre hardly compares to other slasher classics- but it does prove to be a fun and campy watch that I certainly didn't mind nor regret.

My Rating: 5.6/10.

My two favorite things in the world are slumber parties and massacres so having both represented in a horror film title was titillating to say the least. Slumber Party Massacre boasting a movie poster that had four scantly clad women viewed from between the legs of the killer was something of teenage pin up fantasy. The phallic killing weapon of choice is a portable drill with a bit the size of John Holmes. The victims are a bunch of high school girls that look as old as College sophomores but thanks to the tight form fitting fashions of the time (the film was shot in 1982) they are every bit as sexually stimulating as they were intended.

So with the setting established – a slumber party at the home of one of the girls homes, the characters all exposed as expendable and the killer on the loose after having escaped authorities, we were set for some bloodletting.

There is nothing new about Slumber Party Massacre. Even in 1982, the film was a rip of just about every other horror film that was hitting the theatres in rapid releases. Even the film's score was an organ key shade away from John Carpenter's classic Halloween winning number.

Surprisingly directed by Amy Holden Jones (women directing horror films were not of the norm), the film does at least try to use the horror playbook to ensure that all the plays are executed. We have a shower scene that is definitely a press pause and zoom experience. There are countless individuals that are lined up as plausible victims. And there is a killer that has a kill toy of choice even if he doesn't have any kind of personality present within the film's frames.

Slumber Party Massacre was originally written with the intention of being a slasher movie spoof. It was reconstructed into the straight horror that it ends up becoming, but the resonating humor is still present throughout the film.

One of the worst things that can happen after viewing a horror film is having the details of the film forgotten. This is exactly Slumber Party Massacre's problem. I remember the shower scene, but just two days since my revisit to the experience, I can't remember anything notable about the films plot, it's characters and most importantly, it's killing.

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A high school girl's last slumber party before becoming a woman doesn't go as planned when a drill wielding psychopath crashes the party and starts killing everyone and it might be up to her neighbor, a fellow classmate who wasn't invited, to save the day.

The Slumber Party Massacre somehow gives you everything teenage boys would want in a slasher film, but also adds a little extra feminist punch. I'd be curious to see how the original script for this read and if it was a little diluted during the filmmaking process, because some of these smarter moments still shine through, but most of the time it does play out like your average, run of the mill slasher. The biggest howler of the night comes when a would-be victim sees a murdered pizza man on the floor and takes a slice of pizza out of his pizza box and chows down on it.

One gets exactly what one is promised in this somewhat low-budget slasher film that would go on to spawn at least a couple sequels. The film's premise is about a group of girls & company(voyeuristic boys, a neighbor, a basketball coach, etc...)spending an evening together for a slumber party only to have things go awry when an escaped serial killer with a penchant for drilling people to death comes onto the scene. This film has two points to make primarily: one, kill as many people as possible in the most unnatural ways possible and two, mix as much senseless nudity, sexual innuendo, and sophomoric humour into the film without turning it to a comedy rather than a slasher flick. Well, Slumber Party Massacre is fairly successful on both counts. There are a lot of murders, particularly with characters that are not characters(pizza guy?). The film is fairly gory but not hyperbolic by any means. I was more disturbed by the screenwriter's lack of humanity and the director's lack of good taste and sense more than what I saw on screen. One can make a film like this and create characters we care about and place some value on life. When one character dies after another in some weird way, the audience becomes removed from what is going on in the film and what is going on in the film becomes something distant. OK, enough of my sermonizing on the need of directors, writers, and audiences putting a little more value into human existence. As for the film, it is not a good one ,but it is not real bad either. I have seen far worse. The actors and actresses, despite the ridiculous lines that must utter, are efficient. The girls too are lovely to look at. The killer is, well, a type that has been unfortunately seen in far too many films despite his lack of dimension and purpose.

I bought this because it was cheap and had 'massacre' in the title. What I didn't know is that this is a really tense movie. While not quite scary, it does have very suspenseful scenes, and the killer is classic! It's not filled with nudity like I had expected, and the killings are pretty gruesome. I'd recommend it to any slasher fan.

This is a bit of a cult classic slasher in the lexicon of horror, so I can't bash it too much, so I'll make it short and sweet.

When this came out, I was a teen, and I just remember loving it! Upon rewatching, I'm sure the biggest reason I was so tittilated as a teen was the ample (and, well, not so ample) teen girl nudity (lots of topless scenes). While I still enjoyed it, as it has all the hallmarks of a "classic" early 80's slasher flick, it doesn't have the gore that I remember. At first I thought maybe I had normalized to modern fx practices, but I watch a ton of other similar movies with similar budgets and such, but quickly realized that wasn't it. What it was turned out to be one simple fact...it just wasn't that gory.

Be that as it may, it's still a fun watch and is chock full of (what are now) clichés, subtle hints of what have become one-liners, classic screams, a bunch of kills, "creepy" 80's synth sounds, and a good all around production.

While many people bash this aspect of the early slasher movies, I enjoy the stupid decisions kids make in horror movies. You know...

• "Don't worry, even though I know shouldn't, I'll go out there alone,"
• "Yeh, one of my friends was just randomly killed...oh wait....2...no 3...no 4...it's still ok to open the front door,"
• "(Before crazy horror acts begin) Ooooh, I'm scared to go in the garage to get a get something, but (now that a deranged killer is stalking my party) I'll go outside and to the neighbor's house and see if they're ok after hearing screams, phones going dead, and my gym teacher disappeared doing the same thing."

The first rule of watch most movies, but horror in general, is to never question "WHY." You just gotta to with it. Sure...modern horror has become great at making movies that prey on realistic(ish) possibilities, but most of the 70's/80's/90's slashers lived and died by these seemingly stupid decisions. Besides, without them, how would anybody die?

All in all, this is still a fun watch, especially if you haven't seen it or are a fan of the early horror mores. While this might seem like breaking that "first rule" I just listed, the one comment I would make about SPM, which I don't care for, is that we see the killer's face almost immediately upon the movie beginning. It's no big deal, but there is an air of mystery and creep factor when the killer's face is obscured until the end. Again, no biggy, but a note.

Parental content:

• plenty of profanity
• drug (pot), alcohol, and cigarette use
• several female topless scenes
• a good number of kills, with ample blood, and maybe a tinge of gore, but nothing that would be considered drastic, and most very unrealistic
• do I consider it scary or intense? Not at all, but based on intent and attempt, the whole flick is supposed to be scary and intense.

If you like classic horror, teen slashers, or the likes, definitely put this on the watch list.

Slumber Party Massacre, Quickie Review:

Oh classic slashers! Where would we be without them? And hey, it don't get more classy than this! If you read the title, you know what you're getting with this. Sexy women being butchered by a madman. With a great big drill. Hey, for what it's worth, it's not that bad. I've also seen Slumber Party Massacre III, and let me tell yah, that is some purile sh*t right there. This one, on the other hand, at least has being the first movie in that series on it's side. So it feels at least a little refreshing. It has decent atmosphere and story--from the early to mid 80's when slashers were in their prime of course. But we're really watching this for nudity and slayings. Which we get, the film's not too shy. The nudity and gore are pretty average and nothing all too special. The driller killer? Just an escaped lunatic with a big-assed drill. He doesn't wear a mask, just a grimace. Some decent tension and a pretty good climax (ha ha) prevent the film from failing--though, the story and setting are really damn average. Worth a gander for horror and especially, slasher fans. 5/10

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