This tiresome slasher yarn is lacking in wit, sophistication, originality, action or quality; all of the reasons you would want to watch a movie in the first place. Why did I decide to rent this film in the first place if it was so bad, you may ask. Well firstly the box art - many a time I have been suckered into seeing a film because of the cool box art. Secondly, I found this on the Medusa label, and there used to be a lot of interesting films on that label. Sadly this is not one of them. The best thing about the movie is the title, although sadly there isn't a "massacre" of any sort really.

Sure enough, the film opens with lots of p.o.v. camera-work and tinkly music. The plot in a nutshell is that teens are terrorised at night by a killer who has escaped from an asylum and turns out to be the brother of the lead. I'm surprised Moustapha Akkad didn't sue the makers of this HALLOWEEN rip-off. Then again as Roger Corman is behind this movie nothing would surprise me. What happened to that guy anyway? He started off by paving the way for the genres with his enjoyable B-movies of the late '50s, and has ended up producing all sorts of rubbish in his later years. The film is very cheap-looking, and in particular has some really bad sets which just look plain wrong. The most imagination is summoned in a dream sequence in which the lead discovers a load of weird life like dolls sitting around a dinner table, but that's it. Otherwise its business as usual with lots of irritating teens talking, messing around, and a bad guy picking them off one by one (in the last twenty minutes that is).

Watching a film in which teenage girls talk about the reasons for their hairstyles and try on various items of hideous '80s clothing isn't my ideal choice for an evening's entertainment, although the latter event is merely a gratuitous opportunity to throw in some extra nudity from the girls. With Roger Corman I wasn't surprised, although a scene later on in the film with a nude man was pretty shocking. The acting is awful, the cast bland and wooden, but that doesn't matter anyway as the script is rubbish to begin with. In an asylum scene one of the orderlies has some funny lines but that's about as unintentionally funny as the script gets and only provides a few chuckles here and there.

What else is there of note? In one scene characters watch HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP on television, another Corman reference and the film's nicest surprise. Is it scary? Nope, because the killer is just an ordinary Joe who you've passed on the street a million times. He becomes indestructible at the end of the film, but that just serves to drag out the running time even more, so that the last ten minutes drags like two hours. Watch out for a hilarious moment where the killer dives in through a window. On the first floor. Is he pals with Superman or something? So, in the end, SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE is the bane of American '80s cinema, and a fine example of the trash that the slasher genre spawned. There isn't even the saving benefit of any gore for the horror fans, as the oh-so-imaginative killings are reduced to repeated non-bloody stabbings. This is a film ridden with annoying flashbacks, silly slow-motion dream sequences and false scares, and isn't to be recommended to your worst enemy. It's not even funny-bad. It's just boring.

A little girl's brother kills the whole family, but she escapes by hiding in the basement. He is committed, and she grows up with a new family, eventually going to college and joining a sorority. Due to memory loss, she does not remember that the sorority house was her childhood home.

Thank you, Roger Corman, for producing this cheap attempt at a slasher, cashing in on a craze at the time. You are a producing genius.

I am more than a little confused by the "trying on the wardrobe" scene. Did it help the plot? No. This seemed like an excuse to play bad music for a minute and show three girls in various stages of undress. While (for good or bad) nudity is a crucial part of the slasher, this pushed the concept of "gratuitous" to new levels.

The film was written and directed Carol Frank, assistant to the director of "Slumber Party Massacre". Clearly that film's influence on this one is obvious, if for n other reason than the title. And Frank has done little else in the world of movies... very mysterious. (For what it is worth, this film is more than good for a first time director... the potential for a career was certainly there.)

The lead actress, Angela O'Neill, is unknown to most people, but she is actually now a success in Hollywood -- in the arts and props department. She has worked on such films as "American Beauty" and "Apollo 13". If this film did nothing else for the world of cinema, it launched O'Neill's career, and has benefited us all.

Troubled young college student Beth (a solid and sympathetic performance by Angela O'Neill) has a strange feeling about the sorority house that her friends reside in. Her pals dismiss her warning about a knife-wielding killer. However, Beth proves to be right after psycho Bobby (a creepily intense portrayal by John C. Russell) escapes from a mental hospital and heads straight to the sorority house so he can embark on a murderous spree. Writer/director Carol Frank maintains a swift pace throughout, draws the characters with more depth than usual, generates a reasonable amount of tension, and delivers a satisfying smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity as well as a sufficient helping of bloody violence. Moreover, Beth's various dreams and visions provide a sizable jot of eerie and unsettling surrealistic oomph. The actresses are quite pretty and personable: Wendy Martel as sweet psychology major Linda, Pamela Ross as perky ditz Sara, and Nicole Rio as bitchy party gal Tracy. Michael Wetherwax's spirited hum'n'shiver synthesizer score hits the shuddery spot. Marc Reshovsky's slick cinematography makes good use of a prowling hand-held camera and offers plenty of strikingly offbeat visuals. Recommended viewing for slice'n'dice fans.