By Melissa Antoinette Garza
In the 70s and 80s, slashers reigned as king. There were so many well-made, entertaining productions that when thinking back to those decades, I always get nostalgic for the heyday of horror.
It isn’t until I run across drivel like Sorority House Massacre that I’m reminded that not everything from that timeframe was outstanding.
In a lot of ways, the film rips off Halloween. It’s about an insane killer in an institution who years prior murdered everyone in his family except his younger sister Beth (Angela O’Neill.) Beth, now an adult in college, remembers nothing about her past. She joins a sorority and it just so happens that the sorority house is the same house where Beth was nearly killed all those years prior. Beth begins having nightmares and tries to piece together what’s going on.
Of course, her brother escapes the institution and returns home to murder everyone who is now in the house. When he looks at the women, he sees his other sisters which makes him want to attack and kill them even more.
Admittedly, this isn’t as big of a ripoff as some of the other Halloween-wannabes I’ve seen. Still, the premise is similar enough make the comparison and it’s easy to see where the intentions of the filmmakers were. The movie just feels like an outline for Halloween or a first draft for a slasher. There really wasn’t much thought put into it beyond the basics. There is zero character development, no intrigue and no flow. It’s sort of a paint-by-numbers movie without any heart.
The acting is mediocre. No one especially stands out and all of the characters are too similar for one to grab anyone’s attention. The pace is slow and at times I wanted to just shut it off.
The villain is just awful. He’s not scary or fun. He’s just a guy with a knife which isn’t interesting at all. All of the characters make stupid moves and everything including the conclusion is predictable.
Overall, it wasn’t the worst horror film I’ve seen but it was far from the best. I wouldn’t recommend viewing it unless you were really desperate one night and it was the only thing to watch.
Scared Stiff Rating: 3/10
