The ''Massacre'' films are three interconnected series of

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

s executive-produced by

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

: the ''

Slumber Party Massacre ''The Slumber Party Massacre'' (also known as ''The Slumber Party Murders'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1982 American slasher film produced and directed by Amy Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown. It is the first installment in the ''Slumber P ...

'' series (1982–1990), the '' Sorority House Massacre'' series (1986–1990) and the '' Cheerleader Massacre'' series (2003–2011), distributed by

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia com ...

and

New Concorde New Concorde (NC) is an American film distribution company founded by Roger Corman. NC got its start in 1983 when Corman formed the production and distribution Concorde-New Horizons (CNH) as one of the first production companies to develop and t ...

. The series also features the standalone film '' Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre'' (2015), and the

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

film ''

'' (2021). All three of the original ''Slumber Party Massacre'' films, and the first ''Sorority House Massacre'' film, were given limited theatrical releases, while ''Sorority House Massacre II'' and ''III'', and both ''Cheerleader Massacre'' films were released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

, and the 2021 reboot released to the Syfy network. The franchise is notable for being primarily directed by

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

, who direct every ''Slumber Party Massacre'' film and the first ''Sorority House Massacre'' film.

Background

The title ''Massacre Collection'' was utilized in the marketing of the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

releases of the films, and was not a part of their theatrical or initial home video releases. The films, the first six of which were each produced by Roger Corman, were marketed as an analogous series based on their related content as well as the inclusion of "massacre" in their respective titles. The ''Slumber Party Massacre'' series has the distinction of being the first horror film series in history whose films were exclusively written and directed by women, in addition to the first spin-off film forming the ''Sorority House Massacre'' sub-series.

Film series

''Slumber Party Massacre'' series

Between 2000 and 2003, the first two films were each released twice on

, while the third film was released once. These releases featured the ''Massacre Collection'' banner. In 2010, all three of the ''Slumber Party Massacre'' films were released as a triple feature DVD by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

as part of the company's Roger Corman's Cult Classics DVD series. Shout! Factory released ''The Slumber Party Massacre'' on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

for the first time in March 2014, and on January 17, 2017, ''Slumber Party Massacre II'' and ''III'' were released as a double feature Blu-ray, also by Shout! Factory. None of these releases featured the ''Massacre Collection'' epithet that the New Concorde DVD releases had. Shout! Factory released a limited edition of the first film on Blu-ray in January 2020, featuring new extras and a steelbook. A remake, directed by

Danishka Esterhazy Danishka Esterhazy is a Canadian screenwriter and film director. She is best known for her thriller and horror movies, such as '' Black Field'' (2009), '' Level 16'' (2018), ''The Banana Splits Movie'' (2019), and the '' Slumber Party Massacre'' ...

and simply titled ''

'', premiered on Syfy in 2021.

''Sorority House Massacre'' series

Between 2000 and 2004, like the ''Slumber Party Massacre'' series, New Concorde released the first two films twice on DVD, while the third film was released once. ''Sorority House Massacre'' was released on Blu-ray for the first time on November 3, 2014, by Scorpion Releasing. This release was limited to 1,200 copies. As of February 2025, ''Sorority House Massacre II'' and ''III'' have not been given a Blu-ray release. As a result of the DVD release success, fourth ''Sorority House Massacre'' film began production in 2001 and wrapped principal photography in February 2002, subtitled ''Final Exam'' in August. The film was scheduled for release in 2007 on DVD under a new title, ''The Legacy'', but Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures closed up shop and the film was never released. In March 2015, Jim Wynorski released a poster for the film on his official Facebook page with the title ''Sorority House Massacre: The Final Exam''; of February 2025, it is unknown as to whether or not the film will ever be released, although

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, R ...

reprised her role from the film in '' Cheerleader Massacre'', a direct sequel to ''

The Slumber Party Massacre ''The Slumber Party Massacre'' (also known as ''The Slumber Party Murders'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1982 American slasher film produced and directed by Amy Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown. It is the first installment in the ''Slumber ...

''.

''Cheerleader Massacre'' series

The film '' Cheerleader Massacre'', directed by

Jim Wynorski Jim Wynorski is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is known for making B movies, softcore pornography, and exploitation films, such as '' The Witches of Breastwick''. In 2009, the documentary '' Popatopolis'', directed by C ...

, is a semi-

direct sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to the first ''Slumber Party Massacre'' film, which itself was followed by a

stand-alone sequel Standalone or Stand-alone may refer to: *Stand-alone DSL, a digital subscriber line without analog telephone service; also known as ''naked DSL'' *Stand-alone expansion pack, an expansion pack which does not require the original game in order to us ...

titled ''Cheerleader Massacre 2'', directed by Brad Rushing. ''Cheerleader Massacre'' was released on DVD in 2003, while ''Cheerleader Massacre 2'' has not been given a release in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. As of February 2025, neither film has been given a Blu-ray release.

Stand-alone films

In 2015,

directed a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of the series, titled '' Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre''.

Other media

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

based on the ''Sorority House Massacre'' sub-series is in the works by

Norman Reedus Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1970) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 1990s, starring in the role of Murphy MacManus in ', followed by supporting roles in successful box office films ''8MM,'' '' Blade II'', and ''Amer ...

Cast and characters

* This table shows the principal characters and the actors who have portrayed them throughout the franchise. * A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's presence in the film has not yet been announced. * A indicates a
cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
. * A indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs only. * A indicates an appearance in archival footage only. * A indicates an uncredited role. * A indicates a voice-only role. * A indicates a younger version of the role.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

The Massacre Collection
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

The Old Hockstatter Place
fansite {{DEFAULTSORT:Massacre American film series Direct-to-video film series Horror film franchises