Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

This is one of the better entries to the slasher genre in the early 80s.  Here an escaped killer stalks and kills a group of high school girls, as well as anyone that gets in his way.  After he gets the “phone lady” and arms himself with her electric drill he follows the girls home to where they are having the slumber party (can’t have a slumber party massacre without a slumber party!).  The rest of the movie is him sneaking around and popping out to get the girls with his drill and any other pointy thing that is handy.  Eventually the killer takes on too many girls at once and gets what is coming to him.  But not before he has an impressive pile of bodies (literally). 

You have to ask yourself what you expect in a slasher movie.  I expect a story that makes some sense and doesn’t bore me to death.  Then you add some nudity and some fun death scenes.  If you can do these three things you have succeeded in making a decent slasher movie.  Slumber Party Massacre is a decent slasher film.  You get some nudity right from the start as the movie opens with a lovely actress taking off her top!  But a gratuitous shower scene soon tops that with many lovely ladies on display.  After a good start the nudity is almost non-existent, but then the kills get going.  So we get some boobs that are then quickly followed up by lots of bloody kills.  Now this isn’t the greatest movie that I’ve ever seen.  We get to see the face of the killer early on, so there is no mystery at all as to who is killing everyone off.  Also the movie tries several times to sneak a jump scare in, but they don’t work.  Even with these two complaints I have to say I was entertained by the movie.  It is never boring and is always either setting up something cool or showing it to us the audience. 

I have a feeling that this movie might have been made on a smallish budget.  The special effects work, but are a bit rough at times.  There is a severed head that looks goofy and fake.  But then there you have a stabbing that looks awesome on camera.  So the effects are a mixed bag that are all right for the most part.  The movie does have 11 kills, but one happens off camera and several of the others are cut so the good stuff isn’t shown.  I guess my advice is just don’t expect too much from the effects and you’ll have a good time.

I recommend Slumber Party Massacre.  It is definitely one of the better early slasher movies that were made to cash in on the craze.  The bad news is that it can be difficult to track down a copy.  Your best bet is to hit up eBay or another site like that online.  I wouldn’t spend a fortune on it, but it is worth checking out.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2009 John Shatzer