House On Sorority Row

In honor of the release of the remake of this film, that just came out this week, I’m reviewing it’s source material so that maybe someone won’t forget about it. Katey (Kate McNeil) is a recently graduated sorority girl who is sharing her last few days at the house they’ve been living in for the past four years, along with a group of others. They sadly have the sorority mother from Hell, who won’t let them celebrate properly their graduation with drinking and sex like they want. So like any sorority, they decide to pull a prank to scare the shit out of her. Of course, in typical slasher fashion, the prank goes horribly wrong and they end up killing the bitch. Now all involved in the same murder, the girls, scared of ruining their futures, take the Diabolique route and wrap the corpse with towels so that it will stay at the bottom of their filthy green pool.
After all this, they decide to carry on with their plans, which include a big graduation party in the house. But somebody knows of what’s happened, a mentally unbalanced son of the sorority mother, and he’s just started killing the girls for what they’ve done. Soon only Katey remains. Yes, the plot is very formulaic of the typical slasher mold. The gore is minimal, although we do get some severe stabbings and even a decapitated head in a toilet, which is hilarious. But even with the formula type story, the script is very well done. The girls seem to be very natural, and aren’t your typical “do stupid shit” type of roles. Particularly interesting is Vicki, the slutty one who also kills the sorority mother, played by Eileen Davidson. She’s very attractive but also cunning, and kind of a bitch, which makes her death more entertaining in the process. Oddly enough, she looks better now than she did back then.
The movie has some faults, however. Kate McNeil is very good in the first two acts, but when the third act comes and she is drugged by the doctor, she starts over-acting pretty badly. The dark makeup around her eyes doesn’t help, either. Also, there’s the killer. Now, a lot of people would argue that it was a good idea to not give away much information on him since it helps keep him mysterious, and while that’s true in some aspects, it isn’t in this case. I knew little and cared less for the killer, who never had his own ‘look’ (ala My Bloody Valentine or The Prowler) or caused any real fright. At the end he pops up in a harlequin costume, but since I’m not afraid of clowns, this did very little to frighten me. Still, this is a very well made slasher film with a better than average script and solid scares, and comes very recommended.