By Geno McGahee
“You raised a demon.” – Phoebe (Elaine Wilkes)
The 1980’s came out with a lot of slasher films…they were the thing, and it was a god damn good thing. It is much better than this torture shit that we see nowadays. I would much rather see a guy in an elaborate costume or a neat mask killing people with some sort of stabbing weapon than a guy tied to a chair and molested to death. Well, KILLER PARTY is a slasher…sort of. It’s more of a slasher/demon movie hybrid. I guess it’s just confused, but this still is not a bad movie at all. I actually enjoyed it very much.
We begin with a funeral and a woman coming back from the dead and dragging her relative into the coffin with her, both being incinerated, but that’s not the movie. We then realize that April (Danielle Kiraly) is actually watching this movie at the drive in with her boyfriend. When her man gets too friendly, she exits the vehicle in search of popcorn…but she did it basically to get away from the groping dude in the car. Now, we are dealing with zombies and the delightful music of White Sister. We now have a music video on our hands…so this is not the movie either. This had to be some deal with the group White Sister. They used it as a promotional tool and probably gave the filmmakers some cash for the exposure. Either that or the producer really liked White Sister. What kind of name is White Sister? There’s White Snake, Great White, and White Lion, and their names aren’t great, but they don’t seem as ridiculous. Maybe they should have been White Snake’s Sisters.
So to fit this stuff into the film, we transition over to Phoebe (Elaine Wilkes), sitting in a chair, enjoying the music video. She and her two friends Vivia (Sherry Willis-Burch) and Veronica (Alicia Fleer) want to get into a sorority and will do just about anything to get in. On top of dealing with the bullshit that comes with sororities, the trio has to deal with a fraternity of horny dudes…all of which are annoying.
Martin (Ralph Seymour) is one of the most annoying characters in the movie, and I don’t know why Vivia would want anything to do with him. He is strange and is obsessed with her friend Veronica, but she still screws him…doesn’t seem believable, but then again, how many attractive women do you see with ugly dudes? I remember when I was at Six Flags and saw this hot chick with this fat ugly dude. Pity fuck? Maybe, but sometimes you see that, where great looking women go with really fat and ugly guys. So, I guess the Vivia-Martin relationship is somewhat believable.
The name of the film “Killer Party” refers to the big bash that the sorority is throwing at the old frat house that has been shut down since the “incident.” It’s an April Fool’s party, where the guests will be playing pranks on each other. Now the slasher film begins. We have a killer in a deep sea diver costume, killing the partiers, which is rare. Usually the killers in these movies will wear something that breathes and where they will have mobility…not some costume that weighs 200 pounds! But that is what they are wearing here…strange.
Now, we turn from slasher into demon movie and there is probably a good reason for it. This film was originally shot in 1978, but never finished because it was over budget. Then, it was finished in 1984, and released with some of the film left on the cutting room floor. So maybe this was a straight up slasher in 1978, but in 1984, they went the demon angle, and that is where the confusion comes from…or maybe what was left on the cutting room floor would clear it up a little.
The incident that happened so many years ago raised a demon and it possesses Veronica, and she (spoiler) was the one in the deep sea diver costume this entire time. Vivia and Phoebe are now the only two survivors (a good thing considering the rest of the characters pretty much suck) and they are now dealing with the demon that climbs walls, yells in a scary voice, and sticks out her tongue over and over again. That’s scary! Well, kinda scary. A little scary?
KILLER PARTY, despite all of its problems, is still an entertaining movie with a great ending. I think that if they can ever put together the movie with the deleted scenes, we may have a better understanding of what they were trying to get across with this film. Hopefully they can do that, but even if they do not, this is still a good horror movie from the 1980s and I recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10. The Slasher is a Demon!!!!!