‘The Slumber Party Massacre’ was originally released in 1982 and it went on to a be a cult classic among horror fans. Focusing on a group of sorority girls who are left home alone, the film saw a power drill wielding killer picking them off one-by-one. While the film wasn’t exactly the most sophisticated of horror films, it was certainly a fun popcorn ride that was as gloriously entertaining as it was silly. Nearly 40 years on, the film has been rebooted by director Danishka Esterhazy and writer Suzanne Keilly, but does it honour the spirit of the original?
In this iteration, we see a group of girls terrorised by a killer with a power drill in the opening scene and only one of them, Trish (Schelaine Bennett), makes it out alive. Years later, Trish is anxious when her daughter Dana (Hannah Gonera) goes away for the weekend with friends. What Trish doesn’t know is this isn’t your typical pyjama party (spoiler alert), Dana has rallied her friends together to draw out and kill the driller killer that terrorised her mother leaving her traumatised. It’s the first of many twists that come over the course of the film’s 86 minutes and it’s an interesting way to spin a very familiar story.
Writer Keilly has transformed the original film from a B-movie favourite, which checked all of the usual horror tropes (e.g. nudity, big breasted girls), into a female empowerment story with Dana and her friends taking back control and refusing to let more women be senselessly murdered. There’s a nice dynamic established once the truth of the girls’ trip is revealed and they discover a group of hot young guys in a nearby house. The girls are insulted that the men automatically assume they need their help and protection, and it soon becomes very obvious that the girls are far better equipped than the guys to deal with the situation that unfolds.
Esterhazy and Keilly also subvert the exploitation of women in horror films by sexualising the men instead. One scene features the girls looking on as the hot guys party with their shirts off while later a gratuitous shower scene lingers on the buttocks of a man. It’s actually pretty refreshing to see a horror film where the female characters aren’t stripped of their clothes at some point, and instead it’s the men who are the hapless victims that also provide the eye candy for the viewer.
Perhaps what surprised me the most is that the film is actually pretty gory when it comes to the kills. In the US, ‘Slumber Party Massacre’ aired on Syfy as a Syfy Original but that didn’t seem to provide any barriers when it came to gruesome kills. There’s plenty of blood, some very graphic face-meets-drill moments and a hell of a lot of fun to be had along the way.
The young cast impresses too. They have to skirt the line between horror and comedy, while establishing themselves as kick-ass women who can hold their own. Hannah Gonera leads the group as Dana and she proves herself to be a likeable final girl that you can root for. Mila Rayne, who makes her feature film debut as tearaway Alix, is a standout too. Initially Alix isn’t keen to get involved in the shenanigans of the group, even though she hid in the car to join them, but soon she gets into the spirit and provides some of the best one-liners.
‘Slumber Party Massacre’ isn’t going to be a turning point for the horror genre but it’s not supposed to be. Just like the original, this is a film that wants you to turn the lights down low, get out the popcorn and enjoy the ride. If you accept it for what it is, you’ll find there’s plenty to enjoy and when I warn you that the kills are gory, I’m not joking. ‘Slumber Party Massacre’ is a fun addition to the genre that is sure to launch further films in the future.
Cast: Hannah Gonera, Frances Sholto-Douglas, Alex McGregor, Reze Tiana Wessels, Mila Rayne Director: Danishka Esterhazy Writer: Suzanne Keilly Certificate: 18 Duration: 86 mins Released by: Lightbulb Film Distribution Release date: 13th December 2021 (Digital Download), 10th January 2022 (DVD)
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