The Slumber Party Massacre - Splurge of the Week

By: Brandon Sites http://bigdaddyhorrorreviews.com

Russ Thorn has just escaped from the local asylum.You see Russ has a fetish for power drills and teenage girls. So when some teenage girls have a slumber party for old times sack, it's rather unfortunate that this looney decides to crash the party along with some lustful teenage boys. The Slumber Party Massacre is one of those films that appears dated, yet has gotten better over the years even gaining some minor classic status in the slasher sub-genre.

What has made The Slumber Party Massacre so enduring nearly 30 years after the fact? The Slumber Party Massacre gives us a portrait of teenage girls being teenage girls. They smoke pot, drink, gossip, back stab the pretty new girl who plays basketball far better then any of them, order pizza, sneak out to have sex with their boyfriend, etc. The characterizations here don't feel cliched. It feels as though these are girls that we all knew back when we went to high school. The young cast of women here make each and every one of their characters relatable and personable.

There is a completely gratuitous scene in which all the girls get buck naked to have a shower after a sweaty game of basketball. They have to lather up and clean their bodies. There is such a good spiritedness to this scene that it comes across as good ole' American fun. The killer himself and his motive are as bare bones as it gets, but the actor portraying Russ Thorn brings a dimensionality to his performance that he doesn't come across as a cliche. Plus, the killer is the stuff that urban legends are made of. Slumber Party Massacre plays up to that inherent fear. To top it off, there is some delicious camera angels serving as commentary on the plight of the feminist along with some perfectly absurd dialogue as this was originally intended as a spoof as penned by legendary feminist Rita Mae Brown.

The Slumber Party Massacre is a film, an all American slasher, that doesn't pretend to be anything other then what it is. It takes cliches and sends them up with amusing results. The Slumber Party Massacre entertains from start to finish.