Killer Party (1986)

It’s a party to die for!

Demonic spirit or not, Killer Party proves why wild costume parties inside abandoned fraternity houses are a really bad idea.  There’s just a lot to unpack by way of young adults and their raging hormones before the twisted spirits get wind of this possessed affair.  It's the 1980s!  And this party is a whole lot of fun!  In fact, it's to die for!

"Killer Party proves why wild costume parties inside abandoned fraternity houses are a really bad idea"


Killer Party has to be one of the wildest canuxploitation offerings out there.  It’s not great comedy as scares give way to pranks time and time again before the REAL beheading begins, but its twisting turns are beyond BIZARRE and BRAVEKiller Party is memorable in that it breaks free from "The Final Girl" mold of the horror genre and offers horror fans an unconventional take at bite-sized creative Canadian horror by way of the pranking sisters of Sigma Alpha Pi.  It’s the best times of their lives, you know?  Keep that in mind as this movie within a movie breaks out all the tunes.

Complete with two faux beginnings (one at a funeral home and another at a Drive-In before becoming an outrageous music video), Killer Party is, from the get-go, completely off the rails and open for anything to happen.  This spirited take on the horror genre is solidified by a fun cameo from Paul Bartel as Professor Archibald Zito who finds himself having to kick out some students for not taking his literature course seriously, suddenly the whole class gets up and leaves.  Later, he’s dealt with in the basement of a very haunted house.

Directed by William Fruet (Funeral Home) and written by Barney Cohen (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter), Killer Party is what happens when an April Fool’s Day party takes place inside the same building where an unfortunate pledge got his head cut off by a guillotine.  And now, on the anniversary of this poor schmuck’s beheading, the house comes roaring back to life . . . along with the vengeful ghost who possesses our leading lady.  Wait/  What?! Killer Party (1986)

The film stars The Bold And The Beautiful’s Joanna Johnson as Jennifer, Final Exam’s Sherry Willis-Burch and Alien PredatorsMartin Hewitt and features one hazing after another as sorority sisters go after frat boys and vice versa as den mother’s are beaten with oars and teachers are electrocuted to death.  Who is doing the killing, though?  The young adults just want sex and beer and dancing.  They want to lose control.  They aren’t down for all the killings which start on the night of the party.

But wait.  There’s an unexpected twist coming up and it involves Jennifer’s body!  April Fools, assholes!

Just when you think you know where Killer Party is headed, the horror movie does a unique and unforgettable switch on its audience and, with a little help from some Evil Dead influences, becomes a movie about a supernatural possession - which is all sorts of ON POINT - as who we thought would be the Final Girl becomes the villain.  The staircase EXPLODES and the role of the Final Girl gets reassigned.

That’s right, Jennifer is not who she once was and neither is this once routine campus-straddled flick as it delivers one twist after another before unseating us all with an ending that is frightening as hell.  April Fools!   This Killer Party isn’t done with you yet!

You are cordially invited . . .

4/5 beers

 

Killer Party (1986)

Blu-ray Details

Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray
- October 26, 2021
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English SDH
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

It's April Fool's Day and the sisters of Sigma Alpha Pi believe they've found the perfect place to throw a party: the abandoned fraternity house where a guillotined pledge once lost his head in a hazing gone awry. But shortly after their revelry begins, the student body count starts to rise as the vengeful pledge returns from the grave and makes it a party to die for. Featuring appearances by Paul Bartel (Death Race 2000, Chopping Mall) and Martin Hewitt (Endless Love, Alien Predators) and the debut of Joanna Johnson (who would graduate a year later to her longtime best-known role on The Bold And The Beautiful), Killer Party was written by Barney Cohen (Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter) and directed by William Fruet (The House By The Lake, Spasms, Funeral Home).

Video:

Holy exploding staircases!  Offered courtesy of Shout! Factory, the AVC-encoded 1080p transfer of Killer Party is a relative goldmine of previously unseen details and colors.  The details in this campus shoot  and the clothing and some of the furnishing items are a reason to appreciate the visual “pop” throughout the high definition transfer.  The crisp image quality is the best you’re going to get with a film like this and, admittedly, even a bit better than expected.  Some stuff from the same era hasn’t made the HD transition quite as well, but the film looks better than it ever did.  Colors are perfect. Blacks are solid. Skin tones are detailed and appropriate.

Audio:

Fans get a robust DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track with which to enjoy the screams and chills of this party to die for!

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

This blu-ray release is loaded with NEW special features which will definitely please its fans.

  • NEW Campus Gentleman – An Interview With Actor Ralph Seymour
  • NEW Head Of The Class – An Interview With Actress Sherry Willis-Burch
  • NEW Fool's Night – An Interview With Writer Barney Cohen
  • NEW Racing To The Party – An Interview With Composer John Beal
  • NEW Unholy Diver – An Interview With Special Make-Up Effects Artist Gordon J. Smith
  • NEW Dressed To Possess – An Interview With Production Designer Reuben Freed
  • NEW From Burbank It Came: White Sister And KILLER PARTY – An Interview With White Sister Members Gary Brandon And Dennis Churchill-Dries

Blu-ray Rating

  Movie 4/5 stars
  Video  4/5 stars
  Audio 3/5 stars
  Extras 4/5 stars

Composite Blu-ray Grade

4/5 stars


Film Details

Killer Party (1986)

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime:
91 mins
Director
: William Fruet
Writer:
Barney Cohen
Cast:
Martin Hewitt; Ralph Seymour; Elaine Wilkes
Genre
: Horror
Tagline:
By the end of the dance, some of the sorority sisters were dead on their feet.
Memorable Movie Quote: "OK, slime-buckets, listen up! The phrase for today is: 'I myself prefer a big, fat cucumber.' Let's hear it."
Theatrical Distributor:
MGM/UA Distribution Company
Official Site:
Release Date:
May 9, 1986
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
October 26, 2021.
Synopsis: In order to join a sorority, three friends go to a hazing party in an old house where a sadistic bloodthirsty demonic spirit is lying in wait.

Art

Killer Party (1986)