Sisterly spoilers
HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW starts off promisingly: the acting ain't bad. The camerawork is good. And the set-up is plausible. So I had high hopes for this film while watching it but then suddenly it turned bad, FAST! I have no idea why the quality of the film deteriorated so quickly but it happened right after the stupid scene with the woman who was attacked by the mysterious killer and helped by the film's heroine safely back into the house, only to have to watch the woman not go where the people were or where the party was happening but go alone in a bathroom on the deserted second floor, is when I gave up on it. The scene is just plain STUPID. The filmmakers wants us to believe that a woman who was attacked by a total stranger, didn't seek refuge where it would have been impossible for the killer to attack her again? Come on. But the scene in the bathroom itself is terrible and we've seen it a million times already. The rest of the film is pure junk. The gore effects were terrible. The hand that got stabbed looked like it was made of papier maché. In fact, everything involved with prosthetic effects looked like they were made of clay or papier maché.
The really crappy thing about HOSR is the heroine. She was a freaking pain in the butt with her noble and stuck-up attitude. The actress who played her, Kate McNeil, wasn't that good or interesting. Eilein Davidson should have been the heroine. She would have been a formidable heroine. I wanted Kate McNeil's character to die a slow and miserable death.
The direction and the script are at fault here. No one behind the caneras understands horror. The sub-plot with the doctor locking up the entire house was pointless. Scenes of McNeil having hallucinatory moments were truly laughable and amateurish. Hard to believe anyone thought those scenes were effective or added anything to the film. The many moments with the girls trying to get rid of the body reminded me of WEEKEND'S AT BERNIES. And the ending in the attic is unbelievable stupid and ineffective. No suspense or terror. And the very last shot of the movie, after the heroine made the killer fall from the attic down to the next floor, and the body of the killer is not moving or anything but then his eyes suddenly open. That's it. That's the last shot of the film. What happened after that? Did the killer murder McNeil's character ( I hope so)? Did the killer in the clown suit ran away and joined the circus? Did the two get married? Was the ending done in preparation for an eventual sequel that never happened(Arf!)? The whole ending left me with a big "Huh?" That has got to be the lamest ending I've seen in a horror film, and I've seen a lot of them.
To add more kookiness to this already wretched product is the undeniable feel that while I was watching HOSR I was actually watching a Brian De Palma movie. Then I read somewhere that the director of HOSR used to work with De Palma. Wow! No wonder HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW starts off great and ends miserably. It's a Brian De Palma trademark: aside from CARRIE, all of De Palma's movies have great beginnings, lousy endings. If I had known that the director used to work with De Palma, then I probably wouldn't have bothered to watch this flick.
HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW starts off promisingly: the acting ain't bad. The camerawork is good. And the set-up is plausible. So I had high hopes for this film while watching it but then suddenly it turned bad, FAST! I have no idea why the quality of the film deteriorated so quickly but it happened right after the stupid scene with the woman who was attacked by the mysterious killer and helped by the film's heroine safely back into the house, only to have to watch the woman not go where the people were or where the party was happening but go alone in a bathroom on the deserted second floor, is when I gave up on it. The scene is just plain STUPID. The filmmakers wants us to believe that a woman who was attacked by a total stranger, didn't seek refuge where it would have been impossible for the killer to attack her again? Come on. But the scene in the bathroom itself is terrible and we've seen it a million times already. The rest of the film is pure junk. The gore effects were terrible. The hand that got stabbed looked like it was made of papier maché. In fact, everything involved with prosthetic effects looked like they were made of clay or papier maché.
The really crappy thing about HOSR is the heroine. She was a freaking pain in the butt with her noble and stuck-up attitude. The actress who played her, Kate McNeil, wasn't that good or interesting. Eilein Davidson should have been the heroine. She would have been a formidable heroine. I wanted Kate McNeil's character to die a slow and miserable death.
The direction and the script are at fault here. No one behind the caneras understands horror. The sub-plot with the doctor locking up the entire house was pointless. Scenes of McNeil having hallucinatory moments were truly laughable and amateurish. Hard to believe anyone thought those scenes were effective or added anything to the film. The many moments with the girls trying to get rid of the body reminded me of WEEKEND'S AT BERNIES. And the ending in the attic is unbelievable stupid and ineffective. No suspense or terror. And the very last shot of the movie, after the heroine made the killer fall from the attic down to the next floor, and the body of the killer is not moving or anything but then his eyes suddenly open. That's it. That's the last shot of the film. What happened after that? Did the killer murder McNeil's character ( I hope so)? Did the killer in the clown suit ran away and joined the circus? Did the two get married? Was the ending done in preparation for an eventual sequel that never happened(Arf!)? The whole ending left me with a big "Huh?" That has got to be the lamest ending I've seen in a horror film, and I've seen a lot of them.
To add more kookiness to this already wretched product is the undeniable feel that while I was watching HOSR I was actually watching a Brian De Palma movie. Then I read somewhere that the director of HOSR used to work with De Palma. Wow! No wonder HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW starts off great and ends miserably. It's a Brian De Palma trademark: aside from CARRIE, all of De Palma's movies have great beginnings, lousy endings. If I had known that the director used to work with De Palma, then I probably wouldn't have bothered to watch this flick.