{"id":3692,"date":"2024-08-28T21:08:32","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T21:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=3692"},"modified":"2024-10-14T14:25:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T18:25:34","slug":"sorority-house-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/28\/sorority-house-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorority House Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sorority House Massacre <\/strong>(1986)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Concorde\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 74 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Carol Frank\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Carol Frank\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michael Wetherwax\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Marc Reshovsky\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 10, 1986 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Angela O\u2019Neill, Wendy Martel, Pamela Ross, Nicole Rio, John C. Russell, Marcus Vaughter, Vinnie Bilancio, Joe Nassi, Mary Anne, Gillian Frank, Joseph Mansier, Axel Roberts, Fitzhough Huston.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0Who\u2019d have thought that a movie called Sorority House Massacre<\/strong> would suck? With a kick-ass title like that, it stands to reason the movie would kick ass too. That\u2019s what\u2019s known as na\u00efve thinking. In my experience, cool sounding titles usually mean the movie sucks. Look no further than I Dismember Mama. Great title; lame movie. The same goes for Sorority House Massacre<\/strong>. It\u2019s bad even by the low standards of the slasher genre.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s not that the title Sorority House Massacre<\/strong> is misleading; it\u2019s not actually. It takes place in a sorority house and there is a massacre. This is where its biggest problem lies. It delivers what it promises in the title without living up to the promise of its title. Allow me to be more specific and direct. Where\u2019s the bloodbath? Although it has a body count of nine (11 if you count a flashback scene), there is disappointingly little gore. Also, the killer\u2019s preferred method of murder is stabbing his victims with a knife. That\u2019s so boring! What\u2019s great about the Friday the 13th<\/sup> movies is that the makers consistently came up with creative ways for Jason to kill his victims. It kept things interesting for 10 \u00bd movies. (Freddy vs. Jason counts as only half). There is no evidence of imagination, intelligence or originality in Sorority House Massacre<\/strong>. It seems to have been made for the sole purpose of parting fools from their money.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Writer-director Carol Frank appears to have assembled the plot from bits and pieces of the first two Halloween movies. The heroine Beth (O\u2019Neill, Grandmother\u2019s House) is the main target of escaped lunatic Robert Henkel (Russell) after he bolts from a mental hospital with alarming ease. Don\u2019t these people believe in locked doors or security guards? He heads straight for the sorority house where Beth is spending the weekend with her friends Linda (Martel), Sara (Ross) and Tracy (Rio, The Zero Boys). Why, you ask, this particular sorority house? He used to live there with his family; that is, before he slaughtered them all. Well, all but one of his younger sisters. Take note of this important detail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When Beth arrives at the sorority house, she\u2019s not her usual self. The aunt that raised her from childhood recently died. When she\u2019s not walking around looking all mopey, she\u2019s having nightmares that involve dripping blood, creepy dolls and a man with a knife. Her friends try to help. One, a psychology major, tries dream analysis and hypnosis. HA! Some therapist she\u2019ll make, assuming she survives the massacre, of course. How does she not see Beth and the killer share a psychic link? Did she not read the whole script?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Remember when I asked you to take note of the one sister that survived Henkel\u2019s murder spree? It doesn\u2019t take a genius to figure out who that sister grew up to be. Hint, it\u2019s the same one having nightmares about the incident. Beth not remembering her sorority house used to be her childhood home can be explained by traumatic memory repression. But isn\u2019t it remarkable that she joined that particular sorority? Did I say remarkable? It should be contrived… or stupid. In any event, Henkel works his way through Beth\u2019s friends and the guys that show up to keep them company, Andy (Vaughter, Nightmare Sisters), John (Bilancio) and Craig (Nassi), until it\u2019s only them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0By way of showing evidence of Halloween I & II being the primary influences on Sorority House Massacre<\/strong>, let\u2019s look at what Henkel does after he escapes from the hospital. First, he steals his weapon from a hardware store. Next, he steals a car, a station wagon no less, and drives a long distance to the scene of the horrific crime that got him put away in the first place. Does any of this sound familiar? Alright, what about this? Beth\u2019s real name is Laura (she goes by her middle name). The heroine of the Halloween movie is named Laurie. Laura, Laurie; do you see it? Beth even has a friend named Linda (as in PJ Soles\u2019 character in the first Halloween). The point of all this is simple; Sorority House Massacre<\/strong> is a Halloween rip-off minus the suspense and terror that defines the John Carpenter classic. It isn\u2019t the slightest bit scary. The correct descriptive term here is indifferent.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It goes without saying that the acting in Sorority House Massacre<\/strong> is horrible. I know these slasher movies aren\u2019t known for superior performances or talented actors. This one, Carol Frank\u2019s one and only cinematic effort, upholds that tradition. This cast is especially bad. If you were to combine the acting credits of all the major players, it would just about fill a single resume page. Russell is particularly awful as the killer. He hasn\u2019t a hint of acting ability. His killer has zero presence, an issue that can be partially attributed to a poorly written screenplay. The four female leads fare no better. Their characters are annoyingly dumb. At one point, while barricaded in a bedroom, one of them asks, \u201cIs he still out there?\u201d What do you think, sweetie? Psychos generally do not give up and walk away before their mission is completed. Frank not only saddles her cast with truly inane dialogue, she also forces the girls to wear some of the fugliest outfits I\u2019ve seen outside an 80s-themed high school reunion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s not even worth the effort to comment on the technical aspects of Sorority House Massacre<\/strong>. Why should I? Based on the evidence before me, the crew didn\u2019t make an effort either. The movie is made with such utter and obvious indifference; it\u2019s a miracle they even bothered reporting to the set each day. There\u2019s no heart or soul. Frank\u2019s direction, at best, is pedestrian and that\u2019s being generous.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll concede that I\u2019ve seen much worse than Sorority House Massacre<\/strong>, but I\u2019m still not willing to give it a pass. It all comes down to a complete absence of creativity; that and a severe shortage of the red stuff. As a scary movie, it\u2019s pretty anemic. That\u2019s too bad, I really do like the title.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorority House Massacre (1986)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Concorde\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 74 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Carol Frank\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Carol Frank\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michael Wetherwax\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Marc Reshovsky\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 10, 1986 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Angela O\u2019Neill, Wendy Martel, Pamela Ross, Nicole Rio, John C. Russell, Marcus Vaughter, Vinnie Bilancio, Joe Nassi, Mary Anne, Gillian Frank, Joseph Mansier, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sorority-House-Massacre-PIC-1.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3692"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5291,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions\/5291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}