The best thing to be said about “The Slumber Party Massacre” (1982) is that it’s easy to watch. You might check more than once to see how much time remains, but since it’s only 77 minutes long, it’s not unendurable. There’s some nostalgia value with Eighties-style houses and an organ-heavy soundtrack.
But as it brazenly yet incompetently mimics 1978’s “Halloween” with its hand-held “killer’s point of view” camera and heavy breathing, it becomes clear this is a cheap knock-off.
At its best when silly
Notable for being written and directed by women (Rita Mae Brown and Amy Jones, respectively), “SPM” starts promisingly enough by showing off the assets of the actresses in a girls locker room scene. (The “girls” are well into their 20s, thus cutting back on the skeeze factor.)
The movie is honestly at its best when it’s in “Porky’s” territory, with guys looking in on the sleepover-partying girls through the ground-floor window. The poor framing where there’s no way the girls couldn’t see them standing there is hilarious.
Hurt by cheapness
The movie’s main stumbling block is its cheapness. As serial murderer Russ Thorn – known outside the film’s universe (two sequels followed) as the Driller Killer — Michael Villella looks like he’s the set carpenter and they threw him an extra $10 to play the killer.
He has a clean haircut and a crisp leather jacket and looks totally sane as he kills co-eds with a power drill.
I get a sense that a bunch of young women were cast and roles were picked out of a hat on the first day on set. The electrician and the gym coach appear to be the same age as the high school girls.
The actresses are fine inasmuch as they seem like friends – I guess they must be, with the way they cavort in the shower — with Michelle Michaels leading the way as Trish. (By the way, several actors’ names are spelled wrong in the credits, affirming how cheap this production is.)
The most genuine relationship is between sisters Valerie (Robin Stille) and Courtney (Jennifer Meyers); they’re new in town, they live a few houses down and they’re jealous of the partiers.
Flipping gender roles
The most interesting thing about “SPM” is that the girls talk a lot about boys; one of them sneaks off to make out with her boyfriend, and even young Courtney is interested in Playgirl magazine and French kissing.
Recent films such as “Blockers” (2018) gained attention for showing sexed-up high school girls, but “SPM” shows the concept is an old, if underappreciated, one.
“SPM” has moments of goofy dark humor – “the fridge scene,” especially – but the kills are mostly implied with cutaways and screams. No doubt more money was spent on the shower sequence than on gore effects.
“Slumber Party Massacre” is not for a moment scary or suspenseful, and it’s not funny or sexy enough to make up for those shortcomings. But it is short, at least.
