The Initiation (1984)

While trying to understand a frightening reoccurring nightmare, a pledge (Daphne Zuniga) is coaxed into breaking into her father (Clu Gulager)'s department store by her sorority sisters, where a deranged killer targets the girls and their boyfriends.This film's genesis seems pretty standard. Fresh out of school, Charles Pratt (who has gone on to make a name for himself in soap operas) pitched a script to New World. They accepted it, and brought on actress Daphne Zuniga, who had recently had a smaller part in "Dorm That Dripped Blood". Peter Crane started as director, but was apparently replaced by Larry Stewart when the film could not stay on its brisk schedule. Because the movie was shot in order, this creates a bit of a style shift after the first 20 minutes or so (in my opinion, a shift towards the better).By slasher standards, this one is pretty decent, though nothing special. The actual slashing does not even start until the third act, and none of the deaths are terribly inventive. The slow buildup does offer plenty of time to build up the characters and the mystery around some of them. There is also plenty of subplot concerning Kelly's nightmares and her forgotten childhood. Even without the slasher elements, it makes for a good horror mystery film. We know early on that her dreams are more than dreams, but they may not mean exactly what we expect.Horror icon Clu Gulager does not get enough screen time, and Vera Miles (easily the biggest star attached) is not used to her fullest. It is a shame, as she deserves better. On the bright side, the movie really lets Zuniga shine, and she appears in almost every scene. From here, everything was coming up in her favor, from "The Sure Thing" (alongside John Cusack) to Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs" (where children of the 80s probably remember her best). The Blu-ray from Arrow Video features an upgrade on the sound and picture, though given the original source, it is not mind-blowing. We also get a brand new audio commentary by the Hysteria Continues (a slasher-themed podcast), and new interviews with actors Christopher Bradley (who went on to "Waxwork" among many others) and Joy Jones (who has Heidi, the sleep study assistant, as her only credit). Screenwriter Charles Pratt has an interview that lasts over 20 minutes, telling tales of his scribbling. There is an extended scene, but amounts to little more than 3 or 4 seconds from a party and adds nothing to the plot. It could have been added back in and no one would have noticed.

The Initiation is definitely one of the better 80's horror films. A sorority pledge named Kelly Fairchild is have a recurring dream that holds the key to something traumatic from her childhood. She tells her college professor about it and he starts digging into the family secret surrounding the dream. All of this is going on while the sorority she is in is planning an initiation for Kelly and some of her friends. They have to spend the night in a mall which Kelly's family owns. They end up getting locked in the dark mall with a killer running around knocking many of them off one by one. There is a very neat twist with the killer's identity which leads into those recurring dreams Kelly was having.The cast is pretty good. Vera Miles and Clu Gulager are no strangers to the horror genre. Miles was in Psycho 1 and 2, and Gulager was in A Nightmare on Elm St 2. Daphne Zuniga does good in the lead, and Hunter Tylo (famous from the Bold and the Beautiful) does a good job as well. The setting of the dark spooky mall after hours is very well done. Elevator doors opening, a killer lurking in almost every shadow, and the overall effect of being in a dark mall overnight is just creepy. The murders are sort of gory, one in particular involves one of the girls being stabbed repeatedly at the night watchman's desk.The story of Kelly and her family makes the movie very watchable and adds a good twist to the end of it all. The acting is pretty good and there is a creepiness about the whole being trapped in a mall with a killer on the loose. Definitely check this out if you like horror, especially 80's horror movies.8/10

The Initation is a product of good old 80's slasher formula. Just by the title you are probably assuming that this deals with a sorority pledge, which it does. Daphene (Melrose Place) Zuniga, who plays Kelly Fairchild is tormented from childhood nightmare memories. However, Kelly is now in college and she wants to join a sorority group. The initiation prank involves spending the night inside of an empty mall. While the college kids are trapped inside of the mall, they begin to get killed off as the night progresses. This movie moves along well. I especially like the fact that it's set inside of a mall. Other successes which are set inside of a mall include Jim Wynorski's "Chopping Mall," "Dawn of the Dead" and "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge." I don't know exactly what it is, but I enjoy that setting for a horror film. I also appreciate the acting capabilities of one Clu (Return of the Living Dead) Gulager. This guy is an awesome actor, no matter what role he is faced with. It also has some good fatalities in it. Check out the one with the arrow, it was right on point:) "The Initiation" is very comparable to such films as "Slumber Party Massacre," "House on Sorority Row" and "Scream" As one who frequently watches horror movies, I do recommend this one!

Vera Miles was featured in two Alfred Hitchcock movies:"Psycho" and mainly "The wrong man" in which she was remarkable.So when you had been directed for two classics by a genius ,the only way to go was down as far as thrillers were concerned.Vera Miles had taken on the part of Lola in "Psycho II" with so so results.She continued in the horror vein with "The initiation "which is not bad:it's abysmal ;awful directing,laughable lines (bad jokes about sex as usual), mediocre acting (even Miles cannot do anything with her part of a mother with a racy past).The "intellectual" side about Freud and the dreams ,represented by a bland professor (he will probably get a Mickey Mouse doc degree) and his not-very-attractive assistant ,does not show any improvement on the forties shrink movies,the likes of Siodmak's "The dark mirror"(1946) or Hitchcock's himself ("Spellbound" ) (1945) Beginning as a female forerunner of "the skulls" ,"the initiation" becomes a poor man's "spellbound" to end up as a "Friday the thirteenth " in a department store .Of course there are plenty of teenagers and there's a killer at large