The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Details: By Loron Hays; 19 March 2014

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The Slumber Party Massacre - Blu-ray Review

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Up until this week, this Roger Corman-produced slasher/comedy was long overdue on blu-ray. It was originally made in 1982 on a shoestring budget and featured as many boobs as it did grizzly power-tool murders. Directed by Amy Holden Jones (who turned down editing E.T. for the chance to direct) and written by Rita Mae Brown, this feminist-agenda skin flick was played straight for the laughs and left critics scratching their heads and audiences enjoying the hell out of it.

Full of quotable lines and enough gore, gore, gore to soothe our savage needs, The Slumber Party Massacre begins with a radio announcing that a violent prisoner has escaped and is at large. Russ Thorn (Michael Villella) is back on the hunt through the teenage wasteland of southern California. It just so happens to also be the day that Trish Devereaux (Michelle Michaels), an 18 year old (and socially awkward) senior, decides to throw a slumber party while her parents are away for the weekend. No boys allowed.

After a lengthy gym shower with soap and discussions about their boobs, the teenage girls – Kim (Debra Deliso), Jackie (Andree Honore) and Diane (Gina Hunter) – make their plans, filling it with weed, pizza, and beer. The goofy boys – namely Diane's boyfriend John (Jim Boyce) and two other guys from school Jeff (David Millbern) and Neil (Joe Johnson) – make plans to scare the girls and crash the party.

Unfortunately, Russ “All of you are very pretty” Thorn has his own plans involving his exceptionally long power drill. Yes, it is as crude as that, folks. The boys are cowardly chickens and the girls are on their own to cut it off.

The satire in this exploitation flick is through the roof and clever, clever, clever. If you haven’t caught the parody of the slasher genre here yet just from the description, you just might not ever. The film is centered on a virgin’s fear of sex as a man comes at her with his big tool. The Slumber Party Massacre isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. And that’s what a lot of people give up on it for. Others were turned off by the fact that two feminists were behind the mayhem. Well, if the men are doing it, then why not the women?

Tits, butts, and blood. That’s the flick in a nutshell. The rest you have to read into and interpret as satire, parody, and, of course, to relive the horror as these girls are dealt with rather heinously. The Slumber Party Massacre – which, in 1982, had one of the best premieres in movie history – is one sleepover you won’t want to miss.

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MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Runtime: 77 mins
Director: Amy Holden Jones
Writer: Rita Mae Brown
Cast: Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella
Genre: Horror | Comedy
Tagline: You bring the pizza....I'll bring the drill.
Memorable Movie Quote: "You're pretty. All of you are very pretty. I love you. It takes a lot of love for a person to... do this. You know you want it. You'll like it. Yes..."
Distributor: New World Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: November 12, 1982
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: March 18, 2014
Synopsis: An eighteen-year-old high school girl is left at home by her parents and she decides to have a slumber party. There is friction between some of the invited guests and the new girl, who is better at basketball than they, so the new girl decides to stay at home (which is conveniently across the street from the host's house). Meanwhile, a murderer of five people with a propensity for power tools has escaped and is at large, and eventually makes his way to the party, where the guests begin experiencing an attrition problem, with only the new girl to help them.

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The Slumber Party Massacre - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - March 18, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

Courtesy of Shout! Factory, The Slumber Party Massacre is presented in a 1.78:1, 1080p High Definition transfer that looks practically new again. This transfer was remastered from the original camera negative, removing much of the grit and fuzziness (examples of which we can see in the extras), leaving behind a picture that looks absolutely incredible. The 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio is likewise excellent, allowing for every little sound to come through in perfect clarity. As usual, Shout! Factory has done a great job bringing a relatively obscure film back from the dead and making it look as fresh as the day it was first released.

Supplements:

Commentary:

The Audio Commentary with Director Amy Holden Jones and Actors Michael Villela and Debra De Liso is not a terrible commentary track, but they don’t really have anything interesting to say, spending much of the time reminiscing about the duller side of the shoot.

Special Features:

This release seems rather lacking in extras when compared to other Shout! Factory releases, but it’s hardly surprising considering its genre. You get about 20 minutes of interviews with the cast and crew discussing how the film came about and their experiences working on it. The second is a hilarious interview with the actor who played the neighbor who didn’t really do a good job looking over the girls and their party. He reads poetry.