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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (14) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (9) | DVD (1)
he strain between content and tone leaves it feeling like no other slasher film of that period, and while it also leaves it more frustrating and ineffectives... it stands out.
[Director Amy Holden] Jones tries the more effective tack of playing the slasher stuff straight and inserting clever visual jokes when she has the opportunity.
Slumber Party Massacre is not a great film - the plot is thin and the performances occasionally a little awkward - but there's no doubt that it maintains its shock value.
Fans of the genre will find very little to appreciate here, while those who aren't fans will find even less. Unless you're desperately looking for a little T&A and blood, then it's best to stay away from this party.
[Blu-ray Review] An amalgamation of satire, conventional box-checking and fright tactics, "The Slumber Party Massacre" is smarter than most naysayers give it credit.
Click to read the review.
A gruesome, T&A-filled feminist tract about female fears of mature male sexuality.
If you need a slasher flick, you could do worse
You get what you pay for with a title like this one.
The Slumber Party Massacre is a true '80s slasher classic. Refreshingly, the film doesn't pretend to be something it's not. It incorporates all of the usual slasher cliches, but with a healthy dose of humor. As a result, it's a lot of fun. Interestingly, the screenplay was written by feminist Rita Mae Brown, who intended for her script to be a parody of the slasher genre. Instead, it was filmed as a straight-forward slasher, so it both follows and subverts the rules of the genre. The guys are weak and ineffectual, with serious manhood issues, and their onscreen deaths are more brutal than the girls'. Most of the girls are likeable, and they're not complete weaklings as they band together to fight back against their attacker. There's even humor to be found in the requisite nude scenes. The camera lingers just a bit too long on one girl's butt, and the dialogue includes "I think your tits are getting bigger," to which a chorus of girls excitedly ask, "Mine?" Another example, the boys answer the door expecting the pizza delivery guy. They say, "what's the damage?" On the other end you hear, "six... so far." "Six, even? Okay."
Super Reviewer
Ok, so the original Slumber Party Massacre is by no means one the great and legendary slasher films, but it doesn't really need to be. It's basically Michael Myers with a power drill, if you want to look at it that black and white. I kind of like it that no screen time is spent really explaining the killer. To me it makes the killer more menacing if you don't explain who they are and what they're all about, which is the major problem I have with every film in the Halloween series after the first one. You give the audience that tidbit of information about them, basically make them two dimensional, and you've got yourself a powerful force that seems to be acting on nobody else's impulse but their own. Not some convoluted backstory about a curse on the killer's family that caused him to be the way he is... I'm looking at you Michael Myers. This movie is not that deep. Nowhere near it. It's a generic 80's slasher with tons of boobs, blood and bad dialogue, and that's all that I really wanted from it.
For a film that was directed by a woman and written by a feminist, 'Slumber Party Massacre' is just as misogynistic as the slice-and-dice pictures executed by men. Glances between women can interpreted as latent lesbianism and a prurient shower scene pans up and down the female bodies like a voyeur. The women aren't entirely helpless though as they easily thwart the drill-obsessed killer (a machete severs the tip of his drill which is symbolic of his manhood). Most of the midsection is fraught with torpid scenes of girls gossiping about boyfriends and French-kissing. Even the spoof elements (the girls are oblivious to a body in the fridge and red is a primary color for the beverages throughout) can't enliven this shoddy B-movie.
The first of three slasher films involving a maniac with a power drill, The Slumber Party Massacre is basically an improved version of the classic "The Driller Killer". This is a surprising film, and watching it, I didn't expect it to be this good. I was pleasantly surprised at what I got. I thought the film was terrific, and in the long series of Halloween clones, The Slumber Party Massacre is a film that is memorable because of the fact the killer wields a mean looking power drill. This film has everything you'd expect from a good Slasher film. There's plenty of suspense and awesome kills on screen. What's surprising about The Slumber Party Massacre is that it was made by a group of feminists who would normally dismiss this genre of Horror as pure trash and making women look like victims. Well, I'm glad that even feminists were able to put aside those feelings and they ended up creating one entertaining Slasher film where everyone, not just women were the victims. That's what I loved the most about this film; everyone got power drilled to death by an escaped murderer. The kills were terrific, awesome, and with plenty of blood and gore on some occasions. This is definitely a film to watch with a group of friends to have a great time. The film is very good considering the many negative reviews it has received, and if you enjoy a really good Slasher film, this is yet another solid film of the genre, one that is underrated, but delivers awesome kills that every Slasher film fan will adore.
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