Slumber Party Massacre
Encyclopedia
The Slumber Party Massacre is a 1982 slasher film
directed
by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown
.
Russ Thorn watches the girls leave school from the van and a girl named Linda (Brinke Stevens) goes back inside the school to retrieve something, but is attacked by Thorn and murdered with a power drill. That evening, the party and the bloody decimation begins of the girls, as they smoke pot and talk about boys. Valerie lives next door conveniently and is babysitting her younger sister Courtney (Jennifer Meyers). Diane's boyfriend John (Jim Boyce) and two other guys from school Jeff (David Millbern) and Neil (Joe Johnson) who spy on the girls undressing. Thorn kills Mr. Contant, drilling through his neck, and meanwhile, Courtney is begging Valerie to go crash the party, but Valerie protests. Diane begins making out with John in the car and after she gets out to ask Trish permission to go off with John, she comes back to find him decapitated. Diane tries to flee, but is murdered with the drill.
While the girls are on the phone with their Coach, Mrs. Jana (Pamela Roylance), the pizza guy is discovered dead with his eyes gouged out by the girls. Coach Jana hears the girls screaming and calls Valerie to check on them. Coach Jana starts on her way to the girls house. The teens arm themselves with knives and Jeff and Neil try to run for help, but are gorily killed by Thorn. Russ gains entry to the house, murders Jackie and chases Kim and Trish upstairs. Courtney and Valerie go over to the house, but find the house empty and dark, unbeknownst to the horror that has happened. Trish and Kim have barricaded themselves in Trish's bedroom. They hear Valerie, but ignore her, thinking she may be the killer's friend. Thorn enters the bedroom through a window and stabs Kim to death. Trish flees and hides. Courtney and Valerie enter Trish's house and find Kim dead. Thorn attacks them and Valerie escapes to the basement while Courtney hides under the couch. Coach Jana arrives and seeing the killer, she beats him with a fire poker but he quickly murders Coach Jana. Trish manages to stab Thorn with a butcher knife, but this barely slows him down. Valerie runs up with a machete and chases Thorn out the backdoor, managing to sever his hand and slash his stomach, forcing him into the swimming pool. A shaken Courtney, Valerie and Trish embrace but Thorn arises and attacks the girls. There is a struggle but Thorn proceeds to fall onto the machete accidentally, finally killing him. Sirens are heard in the distance as the movie ends.
, the film was intended as a parody of the Slasher film
. Producers filmed it not as a parody, but a straight genre film. Because of this, the film contains more humor than other slashers of the time period.
theatrically in the United States
by New World Pictures in November 1982. It was later released on VHS
by Embassy Home Entertainment
.
The film has been released on DVD
three times. The first release came from New Concorde Home Entertainment
on September 2000. Extras included actor bios along with trailers for Slumber Party Massacre, Slumber Party Massacre II and Sorority House Massacre II. The company subsequently re-released the film on a double feature
DVD alongside Slumber Party Massacre II in July 2003. These versions are both currently out of print
. On 5 October 2010 Shout! Factory
released Slumber Party Massacre, Slumber Party Massacre II and Slumber Party Massacre III on a two-disc special edition
DVD set.
s to the movie: Slumber Party Massacre II, Slumber Party Massacre III and Cheerleader Massacre
. It's also in the Massacre Collection which also includes Sorority House Massacre
, Sorority House Massacre II and Hard to Die
. Jason Paul Collum directed the documentary Sleepless Nights: Revisiting the Slumber Party Massacres (2010).
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time...
.
Plot
Trish Devereaux (Michelle Michaels), an 18 year old teen decides to throw a slumber party while her parents are away and their neighbor Mr. Contant (Rigg Kennedy) is given the job of checking in on the girls during the night. That morning, she gets up, dresses and heads to school. Meanwhile, a mass murderer with a fondness for power drills, Russ Thorn (Michael Villella), has escaped from prison, killed a telephone repair woman (Jean Vargas) with a power drill and steals her van. Trish meets up with her friends Kim (Debra Deliso), Jackie (Andree Honore) and Diane (Gina Hunter) and the girls on her basketball team. The new girl, Valerie Bates (Robin Stille) is invited by Trish, but refuses after hearing Diane talking cruelly about her.Russ Thorn watches the girls leave school from the van and a girl named Linda (Brinke Stevens) goes back inside the school to retrieve something, but is attacked by Thorn and murdered with a power drill. That evening, the party and the bloody decimation begins of the girls, as they smoke pot and talk about boys. Valerie lives next door conveniently and is babysitting her younger sister Courtney (Jennifer Meyers). Diane's boyfriend John (Jim Boyce) and two other guys from school Jeff (David Millbern) and Neil (Joe Johnson) who spy on the girls undressing. Thorn kills Mr. Contant, drilling through his neck, and meanwhile, Courtney is begging Valerie to go crash the party, but Valerie protests. Diane begins making out with John in the car and after she gets out to ask Trish permission to go off with John, she comes back to find him decapitated. Diane tries to flee, but is murdered with the drill.
While the girls are on the phone with their Coach, Mrs. Jana (Pamela Roylance), the pizza guy is discovered dead with his eyes gouged out by the girls. Coach Jana hears the girls screaming and calls Valerie to check on them. Coach Jana starts on her way to the girls house. The teens arm themselves with knives and Jeff and Neil try to run for help, but are gorily killed by Thorn. Russ gains entry to the house, murders Jackie and chases Kim and Trish upstairs. Courtney and Valerie go over to the house, but find the house empty and dark, unbeknownst to the horror that has happened. Trish and Kim have barricaded themselves in Trish's bedroom. They hear Valerie, but ignore her, thinking she may be the killer's friend. Thorn enters the bedroom through a window and stabs Kim to death. Trish flees and hides. Courtney and Valerie enter Trish's house and find Kim dead. Thorn attacks them and Valerie escapes to the basement while Courtney hides under the couch. Coach Jana arrives and seeing the killer, she beats him with a fire poker but he quickly murders Coach Jana. Trish manages to stab Thorn with a butcher knife, but this barely slows him down. Valerie runs up with a machete and chases Thorn out the backdoor, managing to sever his hand and slash his stomach, forcing him into the swimming pool. A shaken Courtney, Valerie and Trish embrace but Thorn arises and attacks the girls. There is a struggle but Thorn proceeds to fall onto the machete accidentally, finally killing him. Sirens are heard in the distance as the movie ends.
Cast
- Michelle Michaels as Trish Devereaux
- Robin StilleRobin StilleRobin Rochelle Stille was an American actress known for her role in the 1982 slasher film The Slumber Party Massacre as Valerie "Val" Bates. She is sometimes credited as Robin Rochelle.-Biography:...
as Valerie 'Val' Bates - Michael Villella as Russ Thorn
- Debra Deliso as Kimberly 'Kim' Clarke
- Andree Honore as Jackie
- Gina Smika as Diane
- Jennifer Meyers as Courtney Bates
- Joseph Alan Johnson as Neil
- David Millbern as Jeff
- Jim Boyce as John Minor
- Pamela Roylance as Coach Rachel Jana
- Brinke StevensBrinke StevensBrinke Stevens is an American actress, model and writer.-Life and career:Born in San Diego, California, Stevens has studied several foreign languages, including Esperanto, and gained a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology from San Diego State University and a Master of Science in Marine...
as Linda - Rigg KennedyRigg KennedyRigg Kennedy is an American character actor.Kennedy's career began in theater and episodic television, including appearances in The Fall Guy, Big Bad Beetleborgs/Beetleborgs Metallix, Matt Houston and Days of our Lives....
as Mr. David Contant - Jean Vargas as Mary
- Anna Patton as Mrs. Devereaux
- Howard Purgason as Mr. Devereaux
Production
Written by author and feminist activist Rita Mae BrownRita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time...
, the film was intended as a parody of the Slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
. Producers filmed it not as a parody, but a straight genre film. Because of this, the film contains more humor than other slashers of the time period.
Release
The film was given a limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
theatrically in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by New World Pictures in November 1982. It was later released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
by Embassy Home Entertainment
Embassy Pictures
Embassy Pictures Corporation was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as The Graduate, The Lion in Winter, This Is Spinal Tap and Escape from New York.-Founding:The company was founded in 1942 by producer Joseph E...
.
The film has been released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
three times. The first release came from New Concorde Home Entertainment
New Concorde
New Concorde is a Los Angeles, California based film distribution company founded by Roger Corman. NC got its start in 1983 when Corman formed the production and distribution Concorde-New Horizons as one of the first production companies to develop and take advantage of video as a distribution...
on September 2000. Extras included actor bios along with trailers for Slumber Party Massacre, Slumber Party Massacre II and Sorority House Massacre II. The company subsequently re-released the film on a double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers 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.The double feature, also known as...
DVD alongside Slumber Party Massacre II in July 2003. These versions are both currently out of print
Out of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....
. On 5 October 2010 Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
released Slumber Party Massacre, Slumber Party Massacre II and Slumber Party Massacre III on a two-disc special edition
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
DVD set.
Sequel
There have been 3 sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
s to the movie: Slumber Party Massacre II, Slumber Party Massacre III and Cheerleader Massacre
Cheerleader Massacre
Cheerleader Massacre is a 2003 slasher film directed by Jim Wynorski and written by Lenny Juliano. The film stars Tamie Sheffield, Charity Rahmer, and Erin Byron. The film is a sequel to the Slumber Party Massacre franchise. It is the first sequel in the franchise to depart from the original title....
. It's also in the Massacre Collection which also includes Sorority House Massacre
Sorority House Massacre
Sorority House Massacre is a 1986 slasher film in the same realm as the Slumber Party Massacre series, and was marketed as part of the "Massacre Collection". It is often criticized for being "too similar" to Halloween.-Plot:...
, Sorority House Massacre II and Hard to Die
Hard to Die
Hard to Die is a 1990 film, written by Mark Thomas McGee and James B. Rogers, directed by Jim Wynorski, and starring Gail Harris and Melissa Moore...
. Jason Paul Collum directed the documentary Sleepless Nights: Revisiting the Slumber Party Massacres (2010).