Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

   

Produced & Directed by: Amy Holden Jones

Written by: Rita Mae Brown

Starring:

Michelle Michaels ... Trish Devereaux
Robin Stille ... Val Bates
Michael Villella ... Russ Thorn
Debra Deliso ... Kim Clarke
Andree Honore ... Jackie
Gina Smika ... Diane
Jennifer Meyers ... Courtney Bates
Joseph Alan Johnson ... Neil
David Millbern ... Jeff
Pamela Royance ... Coach Rachel Jana

Special Appearance:

Brinke Stevens ... Linda

Release Date: Limited Theatrical: November 12, 1982

 

 

Rating:

 

A popular highschool student named Trish (Michelle Michaels) decides to throw a slumber party with her best friends on a Friday after school as her parents go away for the weekend inviting most of her gymnasium classmates except for the new girl at school Val Bates (Robin Stille) who refused to go after hearing some nasty comments about her through one of Trish's friends Diane (Gina Smika) who disses her out of jealousy.
However, what they don't realise is that during the morning news that a psychopath killer Russ Thorn (Michael Villella ) has escape from a mental hospital who has killed 5 people already and is near their neightborhood down in Venice, California. He has already killed two people at the highschool and seems to go down to Trish's house and see what's happening there.
Well Trish and her friends have a great time by smoking dope and drinking beer as well as sharing secrets with one another but however, they encountered two pranksters that decided to drop in who weren't invited Neil (Joseph Alan Johnson) and Jeff (David Millbern) as they join the fun.
But suddenly the pizza man arrives dead at the house as Russ Thorn decided to crash the party as well with his power drill as all of them try to hide and survive the night in the house.
Val happens to be nextdoor babysitting her 12 year old sister Courtney (Jennifer Meyers) and check to see what's happening there since they heard the odd scream and are in for a horrifying surprise.

 

The opening credits start then going down towards a house and of course there's a paper boy delivering newspapers with a big advetisement that a maniac escpaed from a mental hospital and even announcing it on the radio. It's just amazing on how many people ignore this warning.
Then there's cheesy writing with the parents leaving and the popular highschool girl Trish saying goodbye to them before going to school.
There's also fun moments like the girls playing basketball in gym class making you want to join in and have some fun along with them all taking it off to have a nice long shower afterwards which was one of the film's main focus by showing plenty of skin so the guy's can get their jollies while watching.
There's a moment when they talk bad about a new pretty girl named Val Bates behind her back having doubts inviting her to Trish's party who lives next door to her in fact and they find out that she heard their conversation but asks if she wants to come and Val tries to leave asap which seriously made me feel sorry for this poor gal.
There's also a telephone repair woman named Mary who is about to go back to her vehicle and the driller killer Russ Thorn hides in it and drags her in which looked incredibly hokey since most slasher films show more wise moments to where the killer would be hiding and not in the daytime near a highschool which the whole public could see all of this. But yet Rita Mae Brown changes those rules for a corny one like this.
There's also the second victim Linda who forgets her text book and goes back to her locker in order to get it but of course Russ enters the school to try and do her in which is another cheesy moment since there's janitors or hall monitors that would still be at the school but not in this story. I feel sorry for poor Linda as she's scared out of her wits when she tries to hide from Russ but he finds her bloody trail after slicing the side of her arm with his power drill. Of course I loved the sound of the grinding noise this drill makes which offers more fun cheesy horror to the story.
Then there's the girls partying out and getting changed in their nightgowns along with smoking weed in which none of this looked like they were actually having a teenage party since in most kids' school days there's alot more excitment going on. Of course there's one of the girls who talks to her boyfriend on the phone while the rest go on the other line to listen in and she calls her boyfriend "Boo Boo" which is so lame but it's funny when she finds out that her firends were eavesdropping.
We have to have a couple of male pranksters named Jeff and Neil peeking in the window watching all the fun.
Then the pizza arrives and the terror happens after the delivery man is massacred in which these teen bimbos find unintelligent ways on defending themselves along with Russ doing all sorts of tricks by doing them all in which seemed fun to watch all of this.
There's also alot of bad scene's with Val babysitting her younger sister Courtney in which the writing wasn't natural at all with how they associated with one another but yet it was fun when they decide to check in on their neighbors since things are way too quiet.
There's some gruesome and disturbing moments when Russ tries to stuff an extra dead body in the back trunk of a vehicle in the basement but can't find any more room cause there's too many dead bodies already. This may make someone cringe who isn't into slasher films.
My favourite scene is where some of the survivors lock themselves in a bedroom and Russ comes from their window get in and kill off one of them named Kim Clarke in which he later on stuffs her in a refrigerator which looked a bit more original in a slasher flick but yet that's saying very little.
What seemed quite spooky is when Val and Courtney are looking around the house and it's dark and still. This gives you a creepy feeling that the killer might appear before you know it and can finally make you jump but yet this doesn't happen at all.
There's even a moment when Val finds a powersaw in a basement and activates it along with her trying to run out to kill this maniac but one small problem is that it's plugged in and the plug falls out of the socket cause she went too far with it. DUH!!!!
I do love Val's vengeful attitude when she goes in for the kill which really makes you a part of this movie to get even with this maniac and what he did to everyone.
Close the almost the end of the film there's cheesy thunder and lignting effects which doesn't sound realistic at all but it fits the cheesy story and most slasher films have something like this for the story. The ending was gruesomely put together in a fun way that you'd think a sequel wouldn't arise and one did which was made on a better budget but more comedic since during that time era lots of horror movies had stuff like that.
Bottom line is we have lots of bad writing and tons of cheesy stuff with plenty of killing in which the movie was basically KILL KILL KILL, lots of skin with a weak plot. It's so bad it's good type of cult favourite that years later it inspired many other obscure trashy horror flicks with a terrible plot and budget that it never went to theatre's. 
This movie is not at all a believeable horror flick as we have Texas Chainsaw Massacre as the killer had a chainsaw and in this one we have a killer with a power drill but neither of these movies have anything in common. It can be easily categorised as a Halloween ripoff with a neighbor babysitting and a killer killing next door.
It is a fun movie to watch if you're in the mood for a bad movie bringing some friends over to watch it for the laughs.

The acting to be honest is pretty bad but some of them try their best at it. Michelle Michaels (Trish Deveraux) as the lead who is hosting her slumber party tries to put what she's got into the film but however doesn't do the trick. Yet she had that type of appeal that came off nicely to the camera as one of those good looking girl next door types so there's a pointer for her with that.
Robin Stille (Val Bates) however as the new girl next door seemed to pull her part off fairly well playing that Jamie Lee Curtis type of a part showing some fair characteristics coming across as someone mellow, wholesome and innocent. She definetely had the hot girl looks as well as her outgoing behavior too. Does an impressive job acting upset after eavesdropping from what she heard about during the near beginning of her performance. Plus she shows great energy with her vengeful attitude towards the end as this was another great plus to her performance.
Michael Villella (Russ Thorn) shows off his menacing character as the driller killer but of course would have limited oportunities with his acting career due to the character he portrayed. He shows a nice middle aged look in which this didn't look too bad for what he had to do in the film as he looked like one of those demented types of mechanic or repair operator. He seemed to bring on some decent enegry when he lunges in for the kill.
Debra Deliso (Kim Clarke) seemed charming enough in her part as one of the guests at the slumber party who seemed to get into her character. She shows some good spunk with whatever she did as well as knowing on how to have a good frightened and anxious behavior for when the terrors start to occur. She also shows some nice uplifting humor in certain spots of the film as well.
Gina Smika (Dianne) seemed to do not too shabby by acting someone who can be stuck up and wasn't too bad for her looks with this either although she wasn't gorgeous like you'd imagine in those snobby popular girl types but still was nice looking enough. Sometimes she was a bit over the top but like I said the acting was bad for the most part.
She doesn't react too well by screaming after experiencing her slaughtered boyfriend in a car.
David Millbern (Jeff) seemed to do okay as one of those mischievious teens who acts like a goof off in which you can tell that he tried this best to portray this type of role and seemed to pull it off not too badly. He also does well acting serious and nervous for when he tries to be a hero to get help which really shows off onto the camera pretty well. Plus does a great job reacting to the terror which he does well acting intense.
Jennifer Meyers (Courtney Bates) lacked as a 12 year old pre-teen. She looked more like a 17 year old and wasn't believeable at all as an immature child. Plus she was supposed to be one of those ugly duckling type phase in which she looked a little too lustful so her looks for this didn't help much either.
TV actress Pamela Roylance (Coach Rachel Jana) does an okay job as a gym teacher as she passes her part well enough by showing alot of good spunk and looking good for her part too. She studied her part not too badly as one of those nice types showing good spirit throughout her performance. She lacked a bit with her screaming though after spotting the killer.
We spot a first time performace by scream queen Brinke Stevens (Linda) in her small supporting role and years later would be fondly remembered for it by many fans who watched her in this one as well as getting work in numerous obscure low budget direct-to-video and DVD horror films. She really knew how to use her lung power in this one with her horrifying scream.

Michelle Micheals undresses in her room for school exposing her breasts.
There are lots of butt and breast shots mainly performed by Brinke Stevens, Michelle Michaels and Debra Delisso while taking a shower after gym period in school which is a real main focus.
Michelle Michaels and Debra Delisso undress their street clothes into their nightgowns exposing their breasts.
There is a shirt life in a car with a breast exposed.
Yes folks this is a total T&A slasher flick

A corpse has a hole in her head and all bloodied.
A girls arm is bloodied while a drill stabs her.
A drill goes through a man's throat.
A head falls off a jock in a car.
A pizza delivery boy's eyes are plucked out
A guy is bloodily stabbed
A girls throat is slit by the drill
A drill cuts open a gymnasium teachers stomach
The driller killer's hand is chopped off as well as stabbed through the stomach by a machette.

We have some old fashioned organ music playing that sounds a wee bit dated more sounding for haunted house 50's types but very enjoyable for the plotlines here as well as some cold sounds too for the real dark moments all composed by Ralph Jones which he is impressive by the whole thing for a cheesy flick nevertheless. Plus there's some good dark metal echoey scraping sounds too for when it's dark and still before the killer makes his entrance while the survivors look around which sounded creepy and effective too.

Diane: Y'know, I think your tits are getting bigger.
Various Girls: MINE?


Trish Devereaux
: Look, what do you have against Valerie, anyway?
Diane: Nothing. She drinks too much milk.


Trish Devereaux
: Diane! You're a snob!
Diane: Hey, only the best people are, you know?

[talking about the slumber party]
Linda: I don't know if I can go. My mom's on my case about my grades.
Jeff: Mine too, but I'll be there!



[there's a knock at the front door]
Trish Devereaux: Who is it?
Jackie: [from outside] We're here for the orgy.
[there's scratching on the door, accompanied by heavy panting]
Kimberly Clarke: [from outside] Let us in! Let us in! Hurry!


Val: Shut up and drink your Kool-Aid

Val:
Too bad Mom and Dad didn't get a divorce before you were born
Courtney: I love you too

[Jeff and Neil are watching the girls change through a window]

Jeff: What did we do to deserve this?
Neil: I think we died and went to heaven

[Diane is talking on the phone with her boyfriend; the girls are downstairs listening on the other end]
Diane: I love it too. You think I'm getting better?
[downstairs, the girls break out in laughter, and Diane hears]
Diane: I think our first amendment's been violated.
Trish Devereaux: Not the word I would have chosen.

Jeff: Can't you take a joke?
Diane: Can't you get out of the third grade?


Val: Courtney.... I'll tell Mom

[the girls are covering up the pizza guy's dead body]
Kimberly Clarke: He's dead all right. So cold.
Jackie: Is the pizza?
[Jackie takes a slice of pizza]
Jackie: Well life goes on after all and eating makes me feel best when I feel bad and boy do I feel bad.
[she takes a bite of the pizza]
Jackie: I feel better already. Really, I do.


Russ Thorn: You're pretty. All of you are very pretty. I love you. It takes a lot of love for a person to... do this.