Sorority House Massacre (1986)

College student Beth and her sorority sisters are stalked by an escaped psychopathic killer who shares a strange telepathic link with her.

Director:

Carol Frank

Writer:

Carol Frank

Stars:

Angela O'Neill, Wendy Martel, Pamela Ross

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angela O'Neill	...	Beth
Wendy Martel	...	Linda
Pamela Ross	...	Sara
Nicole Rio	...	Tracy
John C. Russell	...	Bobby
Marcus Vaughter	...	Andy
Vinnie Bilancio	...	John
Joe Nassi	...	Craig
Mary Anne	...	Mrs. Lawrence
Gillian Frank	...	Dr. Lindsey
Joseph Mansier	...	Technician
Robert Axelrod	...	Larry (as Axel Roberts)
Fitz Houston	...	Det. Gilbert (as Fitzhough Huston)
Marsha L. Carter	...	Nurse (as Marsha Carter)
Maureen Hawkes	...	Professor

Storyline

A little girl's brother kills the whole family but her (she escapes by hiding in the basement). He is committed, and she grows up with a new family, eventually going to college, where she joins a sorority. Due to a memory block, she doesn't remember that the sorority house was her childhood house. Her brother senses her presence in the house and escapes so he can finish the job he was unable to complete.

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Plot Keywords:

sorority house | mass murder | female nudity | slasher | college student | 

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Taglines:

Who'll survive the final exam?

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death House

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Concorde Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Vinnie Bilancio.

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Goofs

The boom is clearly visible in the shot when the girls are walking to class early in the film, with the arm of the boom visible too.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Beth: Hi, Mrs. Lawrence.

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Connections

Referenced in Sleepless Nights: Revisiting the Slumber Party Massacres (2010)

User Reviews

Contrived Roger Corman-produced slasher is better than it should be

"Sorority House Massacre" follows Beth, a college coed who is spending Memorial Day Weekend at a sorority house with several sisters who want her to join. The house seems strangely familiar to Beth, and a series of dreams and bizarre visions link her to a madman who is dead set on nabbing her in the house.

In some ways a "Halloween" ripoff of the highest order, "Sorority House Massacre" takes the blueprint of Carpenter's classic and bases itself on the precise premise without an ounce of shame. Madman breaking out of a psych ward, shots of a group of girls walking through the tree-lined suburbs to class (except here the location is unabashedly California, and the girls college students). While some people have ripped this film for its shameless imitation, genre fans are more likely to appreciate the funky weirdness the film has to offer.

There are tinges of a psychic thriller set inside the slasher framework here that are handled surprisingly decently; lots of talk of ghosts, dreams and psychology, and brainwave connections make for some inventive plot fixings. The flashbacks and Beth's bizarre visions of the villain are edited and presented in a startling fashion, and somehow manage to be mildly creepy. The film is much less gory than the title would suggest, which is another reason the film falls in line with a psychic thriller perhaps more than a straightforward slasher. The performances are ho-hum at best, but for a low-budget late eighties horror flick, they are completely respectable.

Overall, "Sorority House Massacre" is a heck of a lot better than it should be. It is contrived and at times silly, but there are some genuinely startling on screen encounters with the villain, and the film is engaging in all of its hokey eighties corniness. The obnoxious late- eighties "Saved By the Bell" wardrobe and California atmosphere is also another amusing point of interest. 6/10.