Just Watched: Sorority House Massacre (1986)

Probably the bloodiest part of the movie

During the huge wave of slashers in the '80s it didn't take very long to see a lot of similarities in many of the movies. There were countless numbers of them taking place in camps, schools and on holidays, and many had killers that simply could not be killed. Another common theme was sorority houses and slumber parties with a group of women being attacked by some psychotic killer. Originally there were films such as Slumber Party Massacre (1982) and The House on Sorority Row, and eventually Sorority House Massacre (1986).

While the first two movies mentioned above offered something worthwhile to the sub-genre, by the time Sorority House Massacre released a few years later it seemed like slashers had run out of fresh ideas. SHM tells the story of a girl who joins a sorority house and starts having nightmares about this psychotic man killing in the sorority house itself. Does she know this man?? Has she been to this house before?? Are these just dreams or are they real??

The "dress up" scene is about the only memorable thing here

The problem with SHM is that other than the very campy "dress up" scene there's really nothing that hadn't been done several times before, and that makes for a rather boring movie. Despite running at a mere 74 mins this film doesn't really feel nearly that short. It has its fun moments, and has a pretty cool synthesizer soundtrack, but it doesn't have any memorable characters, villains,kills or any atmosphere. It sometimes feels as though its composed of bits and pieces of other slashers. The movie also can't seem to make up it's mind whether it's serious or funny, and really turns out being neither. Just mostly mediocre and forgettable.

You'll probably forget this guy shortly after the credits roll

Availability: New copies are often going for over $25 but you can probably get a used copy for less than $10 on DVD. It is also packaged as a double feature with the first sequel, the creatively named Sorority House Massacre II. If you can wait though, Scorpion Releasing is supposed to be releasing the film on blu-ray in July.

It's really difficult to recommend Sorority House Massacre to anybody. Slumber Party Massacre is a much better choice for some cheesy fun, and is better in every way while The House on Sorority Row is a much better choice for something a bit more serious. Unless you need to see every slasher film ever released this movie offers nothing new or interesting to the sub genre and should be passed over.