The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) User Reviews

don't ya just hate party-crashers.

[Nightman85 · 7/10 · 25 July 2005]

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 ****

Surprise! It gets better with age.

[capkronos · 7/10 · 21 August 2005]

I've seen this one three different times - once in childhood, once in my teen years and finally again now as an adult as part of IFC's month-long "80s Slashback" series (August 2005). I watched every single retro slasher film they played and this one was by far one of the most enjoyable. Sure it is just a simple low-budget horror outing rife with chances to criticize it (as Siskel and Ebert, Leonard Maltin and many others did upon release), but what is maybe not-so-simple and not-so-typical in this critically disreputed genre is that it is put together with enthusiasm, a good sense of humor and surprising attention to detail. And while it provides the requisite nude scenes and gory murders, it does not put viewers to sleep in between the exploitation.

In other words, compared to the absolute crap we horror fans are subjected to nowadays, this movie is funny, clever, entertaining and fast-paced. SPM possesses a genuine sense of fun that is just about extinct in today's slasher movies. The principle cast (Michele Michaels, Debra DeLiso, Robin Stille...) is comprised of mostly unknown young actors and actresses, but they are fun, natural and appealing and none of them walk through their roles acting disinterested in the material. Brinke Stevens, one of the most ubiquitous Scream Queens of the past twenty years, has an early role here, as does Aaron Lipstadt, the director of the sci-fi sleeper Android (1982) with Klaus Kinski. Humorously scripted by feminist author Rita Mae Brown (of 'Rubyfruit Jungle' fame).

Score: 7 out of 10

Pizza time!

[Boggman · 7/10 · 10 June 2005]

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.

The title tells it all

[matt-282 · 4 February 2001]

A good, better than usual Halloween clone set in a quite Venice suburb of Los Angeles where an 18-year-old girl, Trish, decides to throw a slumber party for her friends, members of her school's girls basketball team. Little do they know that a wild-eyed, middle-aged, maniac named Russ Thorn, who killed five people back in 1969, has escaped from a mental hospital and spots Trish and follows her to and from school to her house and, undercover of darkness, invades their party. Pre-slumber party killings include a telephone repairwoman named Mary, whom Thorn steals her van and drill he needs for the killing, and teammate Linda (played by Brinke Stevens in an early movie role) but they woun't be missed by the others. This one has all the elements of a good 1980's slasher flick, a high body count, a fair amount of splatter, a most phallic weapon, lots of false shocks, some gratuitious female nudity, etc. Given that this was writen and directed by women one would expect anything other than this material would have been given an edge of parody or irony, but it's all played straight. There is no masked killer, no surprise killer, no twist in the end, just straight-forward horror. Despite some cheap qualities it's all not badly done, especially in the last 20 minutes where the driller killer finally breaks into Trish's house and the girls dashing from room to room getting killed one by one, all the while the girl next door, Valerie and her little sister, Courtney, are oblivious to the going-ons. It is notable for Robin Stille as Valerie in the Jamie Lee Curtis heroine role and Andree Honore and the party goer with the largest bust.

Contents: 11 killings, good graphic gore (including a head lost and a hand getting chopped off), female nudity galore, lots of screams, a more stylish-than-usual, energetic flick.

"Hey, it's not the size of your mouth; it's what's in it that counts."

[bensonmum2 · 5/10 · 25 May 2017]

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.

An 80's slasher at it's best

[KFear · 7/10 · 20 August 2005]

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.

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As bare-bones as any slasher can get, and still it delivers...

[Vomitron_G · 5/10 · 20 September 2009]

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.

A feminist style slasher parody film (SPOILERS)

[edeighton · 7/10 · 25 October 2019]

My Review of The Slumber Party Massacre SPOILERS "You're pretty. All of you are very pretty." "It takes a lot of love for a person to do something like this"

How weird is it that my Grandpa and Grandma introduced me to this movie, when I was about 12 or 13 years old? My grandparents went through a phase where they loved renting horror movies in the mid 1980s. I can remember watching this one at their house as a young teenager. At the time, I was blown away by the "awesome" nudity and what I considered to be graphic violence. I loved the Killer, Russ Thorn, as he was one of the more unique horror villains (a drill killer) I had encountered thus far. While I only saw The Slumber Party Massacre that one time, for years, I frequently referenced it as one of the best of the slasher films I had seen, perhaps because it was one of the few unedited for television movies I had watched.

Imagine my surprise when I re-watched The Slumber Party Massacre this week and discovered that it was actually pretty tame compared to the movies I have since seen over the past thirty some years. Right off the bat, I picked up on some of the more subversive humor contained in this movie that I would not have appreciated as a young teenager. This movie is not your average slasher film.

The Slumber Party Massacre is one of the few slasher films both written and directed by females. The screen writer, Rita Mae Brown, is a noted lesbian-feminist author who wrote mystery novels under the pretense that they were co-authored by her cat. Rita Mae Brown's script was originally titled Don't Open the Door and was designed with the sole intention of poking fun at the slasher movie genre. The director, Amy Holden Jones was actually an editor who worked on numerous Roger Corman films. For some reason, Amy Holden Jones took an interest in Rita Mae Brown's script and wanted to try her hand at directing it. Amy Holden Jones had a difficult time attracting any investors to finance the film until she convinced her husband, veteran cameraman, Michael Chapman (who shot both Godfather and Jaws) to film a nine minute promo reel for next to nothing. This promo reel was later used in The Slumber Party Massacre and convinced Roger Corman to finance the $200k required to get the project off the ground. While Amy Holden Jones insists that her film should be considered a dark comedy, she never told that to the cast and they played it straight down the line.

Considering the all female writer and director combo, its no surprise that feminist themes are promoted in The Slumber Party Massacre. Typically male roles are instead played by females: the gym coach, the carpenter and the telephone repairman. Writer, Rita Mae Brown wrote this movie as a metaphor about female objectification by men. The ladies in this movie are constantly spied upon, peeped at, stalked and assaulted by men. Far from being the sexist exploitation film that it appears to be at first viewing, The Slumber Party Massacre is intentionally critical of sexism. The men in this film get far more graphic deaths than their female counterparts. The female protagonists are very confident in their own sexuality and work together to kill the male slasher. The iconic weapon the killer uses is clearly a phallic symbol and at the end of the movie the drill is cut off (in half) by the female lead character. Rita Mae Brown intended the character of Russ Thorn (the drill Killer) to be a commentary on the way that male killers compensate for their pent-up sexual frustration. This is never more literal than the moment when he stands astride one cowering female victim with whirring drill bit at full stretch between his legs as he prepares for penetration. Russ Thorn is more outraged by the amputation of his phallus/drill bit than his hand. The men in this film are all portrayed in an unflattering manner, wimpy, ineffective and creepy. The woman are portrayed as athletic, beautiful, fun and sympathetic.

Here are a few quick one hit observations: *The character of Courtney (Valerie's kid sister) is looking at a Playgirl magazine with Sylvester Stallone on the front cover. * There are quite a bit of dark comedy bits that shine through in this film: the dead girl in the fridge keeps slowly falling out without the sisters noticing; the killer counts the bodies in the trunk of the car, finds that he's one short, and goes off in pursuit of a second try at the severely wounded high school boy; the killer makes reference to how many people he has killed so far (six) when the kids ask how much the pizza costs. *Perhaps the most subversively unflattering portrayal of masculinity is the character of the neighbor, David Contant. He assures Trish's parents that he will "look in on her" while they are out of town and then later lets himself into Trish's house. Notice that David Contant enters the scene from upstairs (in Trish's bedroom?). What was he doing up there? Maybe the bag of Maui Wowie weed was not the only thing he was sniffing in Trish's house. He is constantly finding reason to hang around the girls and act like a cool adult. He prowls around outside Trish's house at night allegedly killing snails to protect his garden? Likely story...was he actually peeping in on the naked high school girls just like the high school boys were doing?

this was s-o-o-o-o funnY!

[TerminalMadness · 2/10 · 1 May 2003]

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.

That's a BIG tool you have there, Mr. Killer...

[Coventry · 6/10 · 16 June 2006]

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!

Too cheesy

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 11 October 2018]

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE is one of the less well-known slashers of the 1980s and, having just seen it, I can guess why: it's simply not very good. The story is about a bunch of nubile young women stalked by a murderous killer with a massive drill, but if that sounds frightening at all then I can assure you that this is pure cheese instead. Everything is very '80s, and the emphasis is very much on nudity, with long shower-room scenes and girls gratuitously stripping off in their bedrooms while jocks peep on them from outside. The death scenes are quite brief with only acceptable effects. Sadly, the quality of the script is pretty bad, the acting is negligible, and it's all too cheesy to make much impact on the slash-happy viewer.

A true '80s slasher film!

[SleepawayCampFan · 9/10 · 11 March 2005]

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!

A killer with a very lousy sense of dressing. Only for fans who doesn't get tired of the 80s slashers.

[Fella_shibby · 6/10 · 20 February 2020]

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.

Uninspired Garbage

[currax · 1/10 · 2 September 2000]

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.

Getting Your Power Drill To Work

[dougdoepke · 4 April 2020]

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.

Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad

[ODDBear · 1/10 · 25 September 2008]

To my utter amazement most of the comments concerning this film are somewhat positive. Now I really love decent slasher films, and the year 1982 is certainly vintage for those types but this stinker is just plain bad.

Now I don't know about most slasher lovers but I'll name a few who set the bar:

Halloween: I don't think there are many people who dispute the fact that Halloween is a real horror classic. It's got many of the slasher film elements but it's also a really good demonstration of how to make a great horror film with little more than enthusiasm and skill.

Friday the 13th: A really great slasher film. Nowhere near Halloween in terms of atmosphere, suspense and overall craftsmanship but the "woods scenario" was pretty much perfected here, the kills are great and the "wooden disposable teenagers" are presented here basically for the first time.

Black Christmas: A moody, atmospheric sorority slasher that is a bona fide horror classic. Here lighting, music, grueling set pieces, good acting and an OK sense of humor ensured that Christmas was always going to have a dark side. Made before Halloween so in some ways this film could be considered the granddaddy of all slashers.

Now these are three excellent films and belong as top referrers to any horror lover. Then there are those copycats and while some are really good (some Friday sequels, some Halloween sequels, The Burning, My Bloody Valentine for instance) many are not at all good. Many films fall somewhere in between, displaying some features that are to be admired. Films like "The Prowler", "Happy Birthday To Me", "Prom Night", "Dead and Buried", "Maniac" and "The House on Sorority Row" have some features working for them, be it atmosphere, gore, solid display of originality or good craftsmanship - something ensures they have good entertainment value.

Then there are those that have none of that, just copy from better movies and do it in a cheap, unimaginative and talentless fashion. Now seriously, those who won't find this little outburst of mine helpful will agree to the fact this this film has any of the features that make a solid horror movie.

It's horribly acted with one badly staged set piece swiftly followed by another. The set ups here are painfully bad (that pizza delivery boy who's just had his eyes drilled out was a particular fav). Honestly, I wish there was a comment section here so I could have admirers of the film point out to me what they liked and why.

Now, maybe I was just in a really foul mood when I watched this and I certainly don't want to imply that those who like it are any certain type of individuals, hell, I like some movies that get horrible beatings here. But, in my humble opinion, it's movies like "Slumber Party Massacre" that gave slashers a bad name and I'm just amazed to see that many horror lovers seem to think highly of it.

Be prepared for some sleaziness!

[Analog_Devotee · 6/10 · 10 October 2021]

Had the privilege of watching this one on VHS. Definitely an enjoyable slasher of the sleazeball variety, but I think I much prefer Sorority House Massacre to this.

Looking forward to trying out the sequels -- I know 2 has cultivated quite the cult following.

"Wait! I think I hear someone! I better go play the piano "

[Anonymous_Maxine · 1/10 · 18 December 2003]

The above is not a direct quote, but a quote of the action. At one point, one of the girls is home alone, talking on the phone, and tells the person on the phone that she has to go because she thinks she hears someone. She hangs up the phone and walks immediately over to the piano and starts playing. Now, I normally reserve my votes of one out of ten for movies that are absolutely incomprehensible on any level. Slumber Party Massacre has a definitely decipherable plot, but the plot is nothing but a flimsy clothesline along which are staged a lot of cheap thrills and boring murder scenes.

And, ironically enough, even in the case of a movie that is obviously driven by nudity (of which the film features remarkably little), I don't mean cheap thrills as far as shower scenes or lingerie scenes or any weak trash like that. You have the screeching cat scare, half a dozen or so friends sneaking up on people and viciously grabbing their shoulder from behind or something, only to throw up their hands like, What? What? I scared you? Each successive one making this movie more and more of an endurance test than the weak horror, awful acting, or abysmal script-writing could ever do.

And who's the killer? No one. Some tool in cowboy boots and a lot of denim. Evidently he's an escaped mass murderer who went on a killing spree in the late 60s, which I guess would explain why he appears to be nothing but a middle-aged man with graying hair and a three foot drill. It's like they picked some jerk off the street and said Hey, hold this drill and let us film you running around this locker room for a little while. That should be good enough for this movie.

I love all of the attempts to impose some deep women's lib meaning into this movie by commenting on the obviously phallic drill that this jean-jacket-clad maniac chases these women around with. Not that there's anything wrong with the women's liberation movement or implying that a film like this has any meaning in regards to the plight of women, I just think it's really funny to inject meaning into a film as meaningless as this one.

(spoilers) There's one scene at the end of the film where there is a weak attempt to suggest the insanity of the killer as he mumbles his total of I think 21 spoken words (not including the gibberish he screams after he gets his hand cut off), the first few of which are, "You're all so pretty," and, shockingly enough, "I love you." Very cute, it's too bad this sudden moment of character depth comes so far out of left field that it is memorable simply because of its separation with the rest of the film than any meaning it might carry.

Joseph Ulibas (my neighbor right over in Sacramento) makes an interesting comment that Freud would have loved to psychoanalyze the killer in this movie. Sure, this last scene definitely implies some serious sexual anxiety, as this is apparently a man who gets his thrills by killing pretty women that he loves, but to be perfectly honest, I think Freud would have more of a field day analyzing the writers and, at least as much, whoever it was that read the script and decided that this would be a good movie.

Amelia, It Was Just Another False Alarm

[ferbs54 · 6/10 · 7 November 2007]

Although most of the 18-year-old girls in 1982's "The Slumber Party Massacre" do some pretty dumb and questionable things, Trish (Michele Michaels) shows perfectly sound judgment when it comes to one area: When your parents split for the weekend, THAT is certainly the time for an "open house"! Doritos? Check. Beer? Check. Maui Wowie? Check. Pizza? Check. Too bad, though, that psycho driller killer Russ Thorn has just busted out of jail and has decided to crash the party... Anyway, although my beloved "DVD Delirium" book claims that this film has not "a single moment of cinematic fat" in its 78-minute length, I would have to respectfully disagree. There are SO many instances of false alarms here (you know the kind I mean...you think the boogeyman is about to pounce and it turns out to be a cat or something) that things get rather annoying. Sure, I know that these moments, used with discretion, can add to a film's suspense, but when you string over a dozen of them together, it gets pretty old and downright frustrating. The last 20 minutes of the film are fine, though, as nutzo Thorn tries to finish his night's work with a clean party sweep. It is a little hard to believe that this film, which revels in topless shots and shrieking bimbos, was written by feminist author Rita Mae Brown and directed by another woman, Amy Jones. Still, it IS a group of women that ultimately gives Thorn a tough time, after the doofy boys fail (although it is fairly obvious who will be the last girls standing). And I just love it when Robin Stille's Val delivers that symbolic castration! Too bad that future "scream queen" Brinke Stevens has such a small role here, though; wotta looker! Anyway, this movie is fairly lame but somewhat fun. You probably know what to expect.

Slahser film that offers nothing new, just had things borrowed and left me blue

[gregsrants · 3/10 · 2 March 2008]

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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The epitome of an 80's slasher film

[rosscinema · 6/10 · 5 September 2005]

Written an directed by two women this has become what a lot of horror films represented in the 1980's but it also proves that even if your female in the movie making business money is still the focus point. Story is about a bunch of teenage girls who decide to have a slumber party one Friday night but what they don't know is that a mentally disturbed man has escaped and is roaming about the same area where he committed his crimes in 1969. The party is held at the home of Trish (Michelle Michaels) and her friends who are attending are Diane (Gina Mari), Kimberly (Debra Deliso), and Jackie (Andree Honore) but her next door neighbor is Valerie (Robin Stille) who is the new kid in school and has been has been treated unfairly by Diane so she decides not to show up.

*****SPOILER ALERT***** Lurking around the house is Russ Thorn (Michael Villella) who's an escaped mental patient and armed with a two foot power drill that he uses to kill everyone that he comes in contact with. From horny boyfriends to oddball neighbors Thorn kills them all and starts to pile them into the trunk of a car but it's the pretty teenage girls at the party that seem to be where his real interest lies.

This is directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown and just goes to show that even female movie makers want to make money because this is one of those films that has become a cult favorite. You know your about to see an exploitation classic when during the opening credits actress Michaels has already started getting naked for the camera! We have all seen our share of shower scenes but the one that takes place at school in the girls gym makes you re-check who made this film because you would swear that a man was involved. The camera pans from one girls tight butt up to their perky boobs and then moves on to the next girl where we see the same thing! While the camera pans from one naked girl to the next it's absolutely impossible to concentrate on what exactly they are chatting about but the scene is there for one point and it's to show nudity and nothing more! There were a few things that I couldn't help but notice and the first is the goofy (and seemingly sexually indifferent) neighbor David who spends his Friday nights by the woodpile killing snails with a cleaver. He didn't seem to care that there are some hot chicks parading around and instead mutters "that makes 53 tonight"! Stille who plays Valerie is the spittin' image of Virginia Madsen and as big a compliment as that is it was Jennifer Meyers (as Courtney) who stayed in my mind because she's one of the few girls I have seen sporting a mullet for a hairdo. The cast is basically unknowns but the one familiar face (and body!) that is recognizable is Brinke Stevens who plays Linda and she's the first nude body that we see in the shower scene. What makes this film work is how basic it's premise is as it has the usual gratuitous nudity and gore and show's you early on who the killer is without having the audience think who might be the one responsible. It's simplicity makes this a film that's hard to dislike as it delivers exactly what it advertises and offers none of the ridiculous plot twists that usually has viewers rolling their eyes. This has become quite the cult sensation and it's fairly easy to see why and while it's certainly no cinema classic it is a piece of exploitation that works perfectly on it's own.

California Girls & a Psycho Meet

[BaronBl00d · 4/10 · 6 February 2005]

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 didn't expect it to be so good

[Ivan Ravenous · 8/10 · 26 August 2000]

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.

Fun movie but very silly

[neil-douglas2010 · 7/10 · 7 November 2022]

Another one of the countless slasher movies that followed 1978's Halloween. Obviously none of them were as good as that but this one has it's moments. Robin Stille stars as Valerie, extremely good at basketball but not very popular with Trish (Michele Michaels) who is a bit jealous. Trish and her friends decide to have a slumber party and Trish wants to invite Valerie, but she declines after hearing Trish bad mouth her. Lucky for Valerie as there's a deranged killer on the loose and one by one Trish's friends are murdered. Valerie to the rescue and the murderer is slain by the swimming pool. Fun movie with plenty of jumpy scenes to please slasher fans. Amazingly a sequel followed in 1987.

Better than any Hollywood "Neo-Slasher" film...

[unakaczynski · 5/10 · 14 December 2005]

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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