''The Slumber Party Massacre'' (also known as ''The Slumber Party Murders'' in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

) is a 1982 American

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...

directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by

Rita Mae Brown Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, ''Rubyfruit Jungle''. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of le ...

. It is the first installment in the ''Slumber Party Massacre'' trilogy, and stars Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, and Michael Villella. The film follows a high school senior who gathers her friends for a slumber party, unaware that an escaped power drill-wielding killer is loose in the neighborhood. The film was originally written by Brown as a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of the slasher genre but was shot as a straightforward horror film instead. As a result, it contains more humor, both intended and unintended, than usual for the genre at the time. ''The Slumber Party Massacre'' grossed $3.6 million at the box office on a budget of $220,000, and received mixed reviews from critics. Despite the reception, it has obtained a large

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

since its release. Two direct l

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 ...

s, '' Slumber Party Massacre II'' and '' Slumber Party Massacre III'', followed in 1987 and 1990, respectively, with a fourth film following in 2021. Two

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

film series forming a wider ''Massacre'' franchise were also produced: the ''

Sorority House Massacre ''Sorority House Massacre'' is a 1986 American slasher film written and directed by Carol Frank. The film follows a sorority pledge who experiences deja vu in the sorority house when a murderer begins killing the residents over Memorial Day we ...

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

(1986–1990), and the ''

Cheerleader Massacre ''Cheerleader Massacre'' is a 2003 American B-movie slasher film directed by Jim Wynorski and written by Lenny Juliano. It is the seventh installment in the Massacre (franchise), ''Massacre'' franchise and was originally meant to be a direct sequel ...

'' duology (2003–2011), the first film of the latter series having been filmed as ''Slumber Party Massacre 4'' before being renamed.

Plot

In Venice, Los Angeles, Trish Deveraux, an 18-year-old high school senior, decides to throw a

slumber party A sleepover is a social occasion where a young person stays at the home of a friend. Multiple people and/or friends may sleepover at the friend's home, typically a younger person will partake in a sleepover, however an adult or older person may s ...

while her parents are away. Their neighbor, Mr. David Contant, is given the job of checking on the girls. She awakes and gets dressed shortly before going to school. Meanwhile, Russ Thorn, an escaped mass murderer, kills a telephone repair woman and steals her van. Trish meets up with her friends Kim, Jackie, and Diane. She invites the new girl, Valerie, to the party but she declines the offer. After school, one of their classmates, Linda, goes back into the school to retrieve a book but gets locked inside. She is attacked and presumably killed by Russ, armed with a power drill. As the party begins that night, the girls smoke

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

and drink

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

, while Valerie babysits her younger sister, Courtney, across the street. Two boys from school, Jeff and Neil, arrive and spy on the girls while they change clothes. Russ kills Mr. Contant outside with his power drill. Diane asks Trish permission to go with her boyfriend, and goes to his car to find him decapitated and is murdered as well. The girls order pizza and, while on the phone with their coach, Rachel Jana, the girls answer the door and find the pizza delivery man with his eyes drilled out. The teens arm themselves with knives as Jeff and Neil run for help, but both boys are killed. Russ gains entry to the house and murders Jackie. Trish and Kim barricade themselves in Trish's bedroom, but Russ enters through a window and kills Kim as Trish flees. Valerie and Courtney enter the house to find Kim dead, and hide from Russ. Coach Jana, having grown concerned over the phone call earlier, arrives and is confronted by Russ, who disembowels her with the drill. Valerie chases Russ with a machete, eventually severing his hand before slicing his stomach open. Russ falls into a swimming pool and sinks beneath the water, only to emerge moments later and attack them once more, but Valerie finally kills him with the machete. Valerie and Trish break down in tears as Courtney looks on in

shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Collective noun *Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names * Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves Healthcare * Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerge ...

Cast

Production

Conception

Author and feminist activist

wrote the original screenplay, titled ''Sleepless Nights'', as a parody of the

. Producers repurposed Brown's script to make a "serious" slasher film against her wishes. Amy Holden Jones, a film editor, wanted to direct and asked

Frances Doel Frances Doel is a writer and story editor, notable for her long association with Roger Corman. Doel was head of the script department at New World Pictures; Jon Davison said that at one stage Doel "wrote just about every first draft of every picture ...

for advice. Doel gave Jones a number of scripts. Jones chose the script that would become ''The Slumber Party Massacre'', then going by the title of ''Don't Open the Door'', and decided to film the first three scenes. Her husband, cinematographer Michael Chapman, acquired equipment and film and hired actors from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

, and they shot the scenes at their house over a weekend for $1,000. She showed the result to

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

, who agreed to finance the film. Jones had to turn down a job editing

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

's ''

E.T. ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dub ...

'' (1982) as a result. The soundtrack was composed on a Casio MT-40.

Filming

Filming began in the summer of 1981. The film was shot on location in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, mainly in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Release

Box office

Distributed by

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...

, the film premiered in Los Angeles on September 10, 1982, and was given a limited release in New York City on November 12. It grossed $3.6 million at the box office on an estimated budget of $220,000.

Critical response

''The Slumber Party Massacre'' received mixed reviews from critics.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote of the film: "''The Slumber Party Massacre'' is just the usual cavalcade of corpses, all of them dispatched by a maniac who wields a power drill. At the end of the movie, a woman who has miraculously survived the carnage breaks his drill in half. That's feminism for you, and symbolism too". ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...

'' gave the film a middling review, noting: "Despite the unlikely script credit for Rita Mae Brown, Jones's debut feature is little more than a ''

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

'' clone, reliant on buckets of blood and sudden surprise rather than suspense". David Hinckley of the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

'' awarded the film 1.5 stars out of 4, noting that the performances are "uneven" and "the special effects are not special". '' Variety''s published review, however, praised the film: "Besides its obviously catchy title, ''Slumber Party Massacre'' is an entertaining terror thriller, with the switch that distaff filmmakers handle the 'young women in jeopardy' format".

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the '' Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a ...

of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'' also gave the film a positive review, noting its even pacing and direction by Jones. Leonard Klady of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' also noted the film's pacing, writing in a retrospective that the film boasted a "darkly humorous vision and a breathtaking pace". Dale Schenck of ''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after '' The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its ...

'' deemed the film a "rousing thriller" that "delivers as many vicarious thrills as one could want from this sort of cinematic mayhem".

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reports that 45% of 20 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.6 out of 10. Despite the critical reception, the film has a large

among

slasher Slasher may refer to: * Slasher (basketball), a style of play in basketball * Slasher film, a subgenre of the horror film * Slasher (tool), a scrub-clearing implement * ''Slasher'' (2004 film), a 2004 documentary film * ''Slasher'' (2007 film ...

fans.

Home media

It was later released on VHS by

Embassy Home Entertainment A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually de ...

. The film has been released on DVD three times in North America. The first release came from New Concorde Home Entertainment in September 2000. The company subsequently re-released the film on a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera h ...

DVD alongside ''Slumber Party Massacre II'' in July 2003. Both these versions are

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a boo ...

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

released all three films in the series on a two-disc

special edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, ...

DVD set in October 2010.

, under their subsidiary label

Scream Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

, released ''The Slumber Party Massacre'' on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on March 18, 2014. The company later re-released the film on Blu-ray in a limited edition steelbook with new extras in January 2020. In the United Kingdom, the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of ...

(BBFC) re-titled the film ''The Slumber Party Murders'', as the word "massacre" was felt to be too suggestive. In the U.K., it has had two releases on DVD, with both editions containing no special features.

Sequels

There have been two

s to the film, '' Slumber Party Massacre II'' (1987) and '' Slumber Party Massacre III'' (1990). Jason Paul Collum directed the documentary ''Sleepless Nights: Revisiting the Slumber Party Massacres'' (2010). Other films in the ''Massacre'' film series includes a second trilogy: ''

'' (1986), '' Sorority House Massacre II: Nighty Nightmare'' (1990), and '' Sorority House Massacre III: Hard to Die'' (1990), and a third duology: ''

'' (2003) and ''Cheerleader Massacre 2'' (2011), the former filmed as ''Slumber Party Massacre 4'' before being renamed during post-production.

"Re-imagining"

Shout! Studios produced a

stand-alone 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 / "re-imagining" of the film, with director

Danishka Esterhazy Danishka Esterhazy (born in Winnipeg, Manitoba) 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 ...

and written by Suzanne Keilly. The film premiered on

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. La ...

on October 16, 2021.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slumber Party Massacre I 1982 films 1982 directorial debut films 1982 horror films 1982 independent films 1980s English-language films 1980s exploitation films 1980s feminist films 1980s horror thriller films 1980s serial killer films 1980s slasher films 1980s teen horror films American feminist films American independent films American serial killer films American slasher films American teen horror films Films about mass murder Films about stalking Films directed by Amy Holden Jones Films produced by Amy Holden Jones Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Venice, Los Angeles Massacre (franchise) New World Pictures films Parodies of horror 1980s American films