I expected this story (about a female sociopath in college) to be bad-good. Surprisingly it was just good! Susan Cabot gives a very strong performance in the lead. She shows the pain of the lead character who ruins people's lives but can't understand why. It's very short (60 minutes) and moves quickly. Not a hard-hitting expose on sociopaths--just an interesting little film about them. Worth watching.
8 Reviews
Where Sabra goes, chaos follows.
planktonrules30 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
"Sorority Girl" is a film directed by Roger Corman, and like so many of Corman's films from this era, its budget is small and its plot is directed at young folks to go to drive-ins. It is a ridiculously broad story about a bad girl, Sabar, and her amazing ability to alienate everyone around her.
The film is set at some sorority and Sabra is an upper class person there. In reality, the actress playing her (Susan Cabot) was 30...which is pretty typical of films of the era where RARELY were teens or young adults were played by actors that actual age.
Early in the film, Sabra's mother comes to visit and it's obvious that although rich, Sabra is miserable and has a terrible mother. The mother is cold and detached and seems to care little for her daughter. The film tries to say that as a result of that, Sabra hates mankind and she spends the rest of the film tormenting EVERYONE around her. First, she beats an insecure younger girl and when she's caught, she attacks Rita and knocks her out! While Rita is unconscious, Sabra goes through Rita's purse and finds an article about the girl's father...who is in prison! So, she blackmails Rita to keep her mouth shut about her physical assaults OR she'll tell everyone her dad is a crook. Not too much later, Sabra discovers that Tina is pregnant and concocts a scheme to extort money out of Mort...a guy who is definitely NOT the father, though they threaten to tell everyone he is! Truly, Sabra is a complete creep and you hope that she gets her comeuppance...and soon.
Apart from really neat opening credits, this is a cheesy film...not terrible but also not especially good. Had Sabra been a bit more subtle and her extortions, blackmails and assaults occurred over a longer period, it would have worked better. That being said, it IS entertaining in a goofy exploitation way...fun but also dumb at the same time.
The film is set at some sorority and Sabra is an upper class person there. In reality, the actress playing her (Susan Cabot) was 30...which is pretty typical of films of the era where RARELY were teens or young adults were played by actors that actual age.
Early in the film, Sabra's mother comes to visit and it's obvious that although rich, Sabra is miserable and has a terrible mother. The mother is cold and detached and seems to care little for her daughter. The film tries to say that as a result of that, Sabra hates mankind and she spends the rest of the film tormenting EVERYONE around her. First, she beats an insecure younger girl and when she's caught, she attacks Rita and knocks her out! While Rita is unconscious, Sabra goes through Rita's purse and finds an article about the girl's father...who is in prison! So, she blackmails Rita to keep her mouth shut about her physical assaults OR she'll tell everyone her dad is a crook. Not too much later, Sabra discovers that Tina is pregnant and concocts a scheme to extort money out of Mort...a guy who is definitely NOT the father, though they threaten to tell everyone he is! Truly, Sabra is a complete creep and you hope that she gets her comeuppance...and soon.
Apart from really neat opening credits, this is a cheesy film...not terrible but also not especially good. Had Sabra been a bit more subtle and her extortions, blackmails and assaults occurred over a longer period, it would have worked better. That being said, it IS entertaining in a goofy exploitation way...fun but also dumb at the same time.
A True Classic
jrog200017 May 2002
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's a masterpiece. I think Susan Cabot is right up there with Faye Dunaway in "Mommie Dearest," and Lili Taylor in "I Shot Andy Warhol" in her role as Sabra. I think anyone with any damned sense can see him/herself in this young woman. Call me disturbed, or twisted, but that's just the way it is. The scenes with Sabra & her mother are priceless, as are the interactions (and altercations!) between Sabra & Rita, her roommate. It's hard to believe Corman made this film in 1956; it holds up so well. If you miss this, you are missing out on life itself.
She won't be getting any surprise pity party from me.
mark.waltz11 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Threats, blackmail, violence, crocodile tears. All from one sorority sister, the truly vile Susan Cabot. Bike towards those she pledged with, vile to the plane Jane, desperately seeking attention. All because she has a wretched harpy of a mother, all an excuse to treat everyone around her like crap. Thus exploitation film from American International is supposed to be a shocking expose of what goes on behind the scenes of the doors to the women's dorm, and supposed to be serious, not laughable.
In the period of only an hour, there are multiple subplots that take away from the necessary explanations of why sororities or fraternities like this need to exist in the first place. A good majority of the so-called college girls look like they should be long graduated, if not way past the age of worrying of what everybody else would think about that. Forget this one and find the comedy video, "Sorority Girls from hell" by Lois Bromfield.
Having recognized the almost Dante's Inferno style credits, I was instantly reminded that I had suffered through it once before. Evenvthe confrontation at the end is a let down, and Fay Baker, as Cabot's mother, has to be one of the worst actors I've seen on film, her ineptness obvious when she played Bette Davis's money grubbing sister in "The Star". There's far more plot in that than this vulture of a movie. I use vulture, because I really don't want to insult a turkey.
In the period of only an hour, there are multiple subplots that take away from the necessary explanations of why sororities or fraternities like this need to exist in the first place. A good majority of the so-called college girls look like they should be long graduated, if not way past the age of worrying of what everybody else would think about that. Forget this one and find the comedy video, "Sorority Girls from hell" by Lois Bromfield.
Having recognized the almost Dante's Inferno style credits, I was instantly reminded that I had suffered through it once before. Evenvthe confrontation at the end is a let down, and Fay Baker, as Cabot's mother, has to be one of the worst actors I've seen on film, her ineptness obvious when she played Bette Davis's money grubbing sister in "The Star". There's far more plot in that than this vulture of a movie. I use vulture, because I really don't want to insult a turkey.
"SABRA: Smart... Pretty... and ALL BAD!!!"
Laughing_Gravy9 December 2004
Stunning Susan Cabot is Sabra, a troubled young woman indeed. Despised by her mother and hated by her sorority sisters, Sabra has plenty of dough but no friends and nothing but hatred for the world and everybody in it, including herself. She tortures the poor chubby li'l pledge that has been assigned to her as a "little sister", at one point even giving her *gasp* a good spanking! Events soon spiral out of her control, though, and her slippery slope of loathing soon leads her to blackmail, extortion, and revenge. And when I say "soon", I mean "soon", because the whole darn movie is only 60 minutes long! I like SORORITY GIRL a lot. In addition to Miss Cabot (who gives her best performance ever here, despite the fact that at age 30 she was a little long-in-the-tooth to be a sorority girl), you'll find Barboura Morris (the sexiest of all '50s AIP starlets, in this guy's opinion), June Kenney (well remembered from ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE), and the ubiquitous Dick Miller (somewhat surprisingly playing a character not named Walter Paisley).
Roger Corman said that AIP presented him with the script and asked him to make the picture quickly and cheaply (no surprise there); Corman was used to being involved in his screenplays, so he worked on it as quickly as he could while filming commenced. He shot the picture at the USC campus and rented, rather than built on a set, the sorority house, to accomplish maximum frugality. It gives the film a nice college atmosphere (watch the cast hanging out at USC landmarks just to show they were really on campus).
The film's hour running time allows for no humor, and suspense builds nicely to the picture's climax. (I shouldn't say NO humor; look for the lamps in Sabra's room: they are ballerina legs with tutus for shades!) In the end, when all of the sorority sisters finally confront Sabra on the beach ("You're not human you're something the SEA cast up!") I actually felt sorry for the poor little sociopath.
SORORITY GIRL originally played as a double-feature with MOTORCYCLE GANG, and that film is also recommended.
Roger Corman said that AIP presented him with the script and asked him to make the picture quickly and cheaply (no surprise there); Corman was used to being involved in his screenplays, so he worked on it as quickly as he could while filming commenced. He shot the picture at the USC campus and rented, rather than built on a set, the sorority house, to accomplish maximum frugality. It gives the film a nice college atmosphere (watch the cast hanging out at USC landmarks just to show they were really on campus).
The film's hour running time allows for no humor, and suspense builds nicely to the picture's climax. (I shouldn't say NO humor; look for the lamps in Sabra's room: they are ballerina legs with tutus for shades!) In the end, when all of the sorority sisters finally confront Sabra on the beach ("You're not human you're something the SEA cast up!") I actually felt sorry for the poor little sociopath.
SORORITY GIRL originally played as a double-feature with MOTORCYCLE GANG, and that film is also recommended.
Great Performance by Cabot in Old Corman Flick
ryan-100759 March 2021
I didn't know what to expect before watching this movie. But with Susan Cabot's great performance as the main character Sabra Tanner I really enjoyed this old Roger Corman classic.
Sabra is well...not a nice person at all. She is spoiled rotten and rich and is being cut off from the family's money after her mother (Fay Baker) advises her of this. She is in a sorority, but tries to get the better in every situation she is in including blackmail, attempting to be romantically involved with roommate Rita's (Barboura Morris) man Mort played by Dick Miller and yes even spanking with a paddle one of the other sorority girls. It comes down to Cabot's performance though. She keeps things interesting and Corman keeps things at a brisk pace as the movie only runs just over an hour.
Sabra is well...not a nice person at all. She is spoiled rotten and rich and is being cut off from the family's money after her mother (Fay Baker) advises her of this. She is in a sorority, but tries to get the better in every situation she is in including blackmail, attempting to be romantically involved with roommate Rita's (Barboura Morris) man Mort played by Dick Miller and yes even spanking with a paddle one of the other sorority girls. It comes down to Cabot's performance though. She keeps things interesting and Corman keeps things at a brisk pace as the movie only runs just over an hour.
Sabra and Mrs Tanner
KrystelClaire12 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I liked this film so much! When I saw the cheesy hardback of the video, I thought this movie was going to be much worse. I liked it especially when Sabra tries to put a stop to herself and all the damage she is doing to other people. When she tries to open her heart to her mother, and she refuses to listen, I feel that one understands why Sabra does what she does. I think that Sabra's relationship with her mother makes the film much subtler, more realistic and psychologically accurate. Their two family meetings are the best part of the film -in my opinion, of course- and I really felt sorry when all her previous schemes are laid open for everybody to see. From now on she'll be the school outcast, and nobody is going to be her friend -in case she won't be expelled-, and I felt so sorry for her... She could have become a normal human being, but nobody listened to her cries of desperation.
Absolutely Hideous
drednm27 January 2020
Susan Cabot stars as a spoiled rich college girl names Sabra. As an upperclassman she like to taunt and order about a fattish pledge named Ellie (Barbara Cowan), which irritates fellow student Rita (Barboura Morris). Sabra just seems to spread misery everywhere she goes.
Even a meeting with her mother (Fay Baker) leads to mama's tearing up Sabra's monthly allowance check. This just makes Sabra meaner and she eventually paddles Ellie and has a cat fight with Rita. When she learns that dopey Terry is pregnant, Sabra launches a plan to blackmail Mort (Dick Miller) and extort $1,000 from him by claiming he's the father.
Later on, at the beach, Terry goes into a funk and decides to jump off a cliff. Will anything save her?
Fay Baker is fun as the mean mama; everyone else is terrible. Cabot and Morris were also in THE WASP WOMAN together.
Even a meeting with her mother (Fay Baker) leads to mama's tearing up Sabra's monthly allowance check. This just makes Sabra meaner and she eventually paddles Ellie and has a cat fight with Rita. When she learns that dopey Terry is pregnant, Sabra launches a plan to blackmail Mort (Dick Miller) and extort $1,000 from him by claiming he's the father.
Later on, at the beach, Terry goes into a funk and decides to jump off a cliff. Will anything save her?
Fay Baker is fun as the mean mama; everyone else is terrible. Cabot and Morris were also in THE WASP WOMAN together.
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