The Slumber Party Massacre Collection (1982/1987/1990/Shout! Factory)
Picture: C+/C+/C Sound:
C Extras: A- Films: B-
Shout! Factory has gone above and beyond with their
two disc collection of The Slumber Party Massacre series. In this set, they have brought together all
three of the original films, along with a series-spanning documentary, entitled
Sleepless Nights. Though neither
of the sequels were able to live up to the 1982 original, each has something
unique to offer.
Slumber Party Massacre is an unheralded classic of the slasher genre. Featuring a memorable and well-acted
performance by Michael
Villella as the driller killer, it is quite surprising that the popularity of
this film did not take off as it did for the likes of Freddy or Jason.
Not as good, but still quirky and interesting, part 2 takes a hard left turn,
serving itself up as an offbeat musical. With shades of Nightmare on Elm St.,
the film still manages to maintain a direct link to the first film through some
of the characters.
The third film in the series, though tied to the earlier movies in title only,
is truer to the first film in tone, and is actually quite enjoyable. Despite being made for the home video market,
the look of the picture is of a higher quality than most other direct to video
fare of the time.
Picture quality starts off well on the first two films, though in all three
cases there are some examples of artifacts on the prints. By the third film, however, the image begins
to look noticeably softer and muted. The
first two films are anamorphically enhanced, with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on
the first film, and 1.85:1 on the second. Slumber Party Massacre III is
presented 1.33:1, maintaining its original framing for home video.
The sound quality is average on these releases, and all three films are
sporting their original mixes. They are
of varying quality, but for the most part are pretty much equal to one another
without many problems.
As mentioned earlier, there is an excellent full length documentary that takes
a look into the production of all three films in the series. There is also some mention of Jim Wynorski's
unofficial fourth film, released in 2003 as Cheerleader Massacre.
The Slumber Party Massacre films make up a terrific series. Though they are not without their devout
followers, these are films that surely deserve to be excavated by the horror
community at large for further examination.
This set is another home run from Shout! and Roger Corman, and I highly
recommend picking it up before it might happen to fall out of print as the
older DVD editions did. The prices
escalated sharply after that, and its good to see them back on the market.
- David Milchick
