Slumber Party Massacre Earns Top Spot in '80s Slasher Library
Lately my wife and I have gone down a particular horror rabbit hole, slasher movies from the ‘80s. We’ve gone through some good movies, that I may yet still talk about in more detail here, such as introducing her to the Sleepaway Camp franchise, and others which were far less memorable, such as the Prom Night series, which couldn’t even be made more interesting by having legends like Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, and Michael Ironside in them, and Slaughter High, a movie which had three directors and seemingly not a single person to do lighting, as parts of this movie made that Game of Thrones big battle episode look brilliantly lit in comparison.
But recently we’ve stumbled across maybe one of the best and unsung horror franchises of the 1980’s, the Slumber Party Massacre series. There were only three movies that were made, in 1982, 1987, and 1990, but these movies have something different going for them that few horror movies did back in these days, they were made by women. The first movie was written by Rita Mae Brown, and directed by Amy Holden Jones, who would later go on to direct or write movies as varied as the 1987 Ally Sheedy comedy Maid To Order, and the classic 1992 family comedy Beethoven.
But I digress, Rita Mae Brown wrote the script at first as a parody of the slasher movie genre, but it was shot as a straight horror movie, but that tongue in cheek vibe carries through, with surprisingly witty dialogue at times, including a scene in which the girls debate about baseball statistics, which not only makes this movie pass the Bechdel Test, it stands out among other movies of its type.
Not that it doesn’t have its fair share of your standards of this genre back in the 1980’s, exploitative nudity and gore, the movie has plenty of that to offer, including one of the first shots of the movie, and a lingering camera during a locker room shower scene early on, that you can tell was made with studio interference, or at the least keeping the audience at the time for these things happy; horny teenage boys.
The characters in the first film are definitely well written, and they don’t fall into your standard cliches that most ‘80s movies go for, which felt very refreshing to see from a modern perspective.
I should also note that the movie features the most denim ever worn by a horror movie villain in history I’m pretty sure. He doesn’t have too much personality per se, he’s just a normal escaped psychopath with a penchant for killing with an electric drill, and the actor, Michael Villella, looks a lot like comedic actor Fred Armisen.
If you’re well versed in horror movies and even movies in general, you can see influences here that they took from movies like Halloween, and I’m almost certain Quentin Tarantino took some inspiration in parts of this movie for parts in Pulp Fiction and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
The first movie was a huge hit, grossing $3.6 million dollars on only a $220,000 budget, so inevitably a sequel was made. 1987’s Slumber Party Massacre 2 is a bit weirder, okay a lot weirder, and makes far less sense than the first one, but it’s so much fun, and it brings back the killer from the original movie as a ‘50s greaser type with a leather jacket and a drill at the end of an electric guitar, complete with a musical number out of nowhere near the end of the film.
The sequel was written and directed by a different woman, Deborah Brock, but it continues the theme of no real cliche characters, and is much less exploitative than the first one. Like I mentioned it gets into weird territory, and it doesn’t make a bit of sense but it’s a lot of fun.
They made a third movie, in 1990, but unfortunately it’s not streaming on Tubi, so I haven’t seen it yet, however it’s really hard to top the second one’s awesomeness, so maybe it’s best that I leave my Slumber Party Massacre journey with this chapter.
These days, women directors are becoming more and more prevalent, especially in the horror genre, but back when these movies were made I can only imagine how rare a feat it was, which makes this series even more notable in my opinion. I’m glad I heard about this series, as it was so much fun, and one that is definitely worth checking out and adding to your ‘80s slasher library.
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