The House on Sorority Row (1983)

Another slasher movie in which a bevy of beautiful sorority girls are diced and sliced and all because of something that happened 20 years previously. It's hardly "Halloween"; it's not even "Friday the 13th" but "The House on Sorority Row" is a suitably sleazy creep-fest nevertheless. Of course it's also totally predictable right from the pre-credit sequence. The acting is terrible and the script is no better and sometimes it's hard to tell if the laughs are intentional or not but that's all part of the fun where trash like this is concerned. This is strictly Midnight Movie material; seeing it in the cold light of day may not really be such a good idea.

The House on Sorority Row is formulaic, but I'm sure it only feels that way because so many slashers have taken its template and mined it for their own use. We follow the good girl, the girl who is sure to be our final girl, and we're introduced to the other characters who all reveal flaws that will surely lead to their deaths at the hands of our killer.In this movie, the first act introduces a motive for our killer, and we spend the rest of the movie trying to guess who it might be, while also wondering when and where our next victim will be offed. Some kills are better than others, but that can be said for all slashers.Unlike the best the genre has to offer, the movie never makes you truly care for any of the victims, they all played a part in a crime early in the movie, and that hinders the movie's ability to get you invested in their fates, but it's still a fun time. I enjoyed the scenes at the party, particularly one scene where the camera in one smooth shot follows each of our sorority sisters as they try to act naturally as they keep a terrible secret.For any slasher fan this is a can't miss. For anyone looking for something more, you can probably do better elsewhere.

This movie isn't very scary, but it's never boring. The basement and the climax have tension, but the rest of the movie just isn't scary. In fact, there are more funny moments than scary ones: some girls at the party gush over how cute an average guy is when he gives the goofiest, cheesiest smile imaginable; Mrs. Slater tries to be intimidating, but the acting just comes off as cheesy.There are some things that are confusing: the prank scene and Eric. When Vicki points the gun at Mrs. Slater, the girls think it isn't loaded because Vicki said it wouldn't be. She then points it at a lamp post and shoots it, breaking the glass. A friend comes up to stop her, and Vicki shoots her in the leg. They then reveal that it was a prank, and Vicki wasn't really shot. Then the gun goes off and Vicki accidentally shoots Mrs. Slater for real. What was really in her gun? Blanks, bullets, or a mix? If Vicki shot her friend with a blank, then where did the fake blood come from? And how did the lamp break if she was using blanks? For the lamp to break, she had to have been using at least some real bullets, but the movie never really explains how all this happened. The second confusing thing is Eric. The doctor says Eric died at birth and Mrs. Slater just pretends that Eric lives to make herself feel better. But during the climax, Katie fights the killer, who appears to be a man, and Ms. Slater seems to have been dead the whole time. If this were true, then how would the doctor have not realized the baby was alive? The baby he delivered was either already dead or died soon after, certainly before Mrs. Slater woke up. So assuming she got her baby back after for a funeral, the doctor should have realized the baby was alive. If this is what happened, the movie didn't make the twist very clear.

The House on Sorority Row is a classic low-budget Eighties slasher, but its got a genuinely creepy-as-hell ending scene... let's just say it's got a clown involved.Anyway, the plot follows a gang of girls living in a sorority house, under the thumb of strict Mrs. Slater, an old woman with a haunting past. When Vicki gets caught having sex and Mrs. Slater pops her water bed on purpose, Vicki decides to play a mean prank on the old lady. Unfortunately it all goes very wrong, and soon the girls are being picked off one by one at their own party.I loved this movie; sure it was kinda cheap but if you're a fan of the slasher genre you'll probably love it, too. It has cool soundtrack, decent-enough acting and a good story to it.