I sat down to watch this not really expecting that much. I am a fan of Slasher movies in general and movies from the Slasher Golden Age (1974 – 1984) so came across "House on Sorority Row" by simply going through the back catalogue. One quick look at the lurid cover, the title, and a quick scanning of the plot I figured I would quickly be struggling not to turn it off from being bored by pedestrian acting, woeful direction, and a plot that was exploitative and, even worse, cliché
even back in 1983. Still, in the interests of better understanding the genre, I decided to give it a go and must admit to having been very pleasantly surprised.
The house in "House on Sorority Row" has been occupied for the past few years by a group of average, fun-loving, all-American college girls who are keen to organise an end-of-year party. However, for the past few years they have had the misfortune of being supervised by the mean and austere Ms. Slater who forbids the party going ahead. Undeterred, the girls decide to play a prank on her which goes horribly wrong and results in the death of Ms. Slater. The girls try to hide the body but as people start being brutally murdered the girls begin to wonder if Ms. Slater did indeed die or if something more sinister is responsible.
The movie has all of the plot devices of a bog-standard slasher: anniversary of a gruesome event long kept secret, hot teenage victims who question authority, imaginative kills, and the final girl. However, the movie does a good job piecing these tropes together and, with the respectable performances from (most of) the cast, a good use of location, and a reputable directing job, manages to establish characters early and build the atmosphere into a suspenseful and watchable slasher thriller.
Sure, there are better films in the slasher genre (obviously the likes of 'Black Christmas' (1974) and 'Halloween' (1978) as well as lesser-known slashers like 'The Burning' (1981)) but then again, there are many, many worse films you could spend an hour-and-a-half with.
The house in "House on Sorority Row" has been occupied for the past few years by a group of average, fun-loving, all-American college girls who are keen to organise an end-of-year party. However, for the past few years they have had the misfortune of being supervised by the mean and austere Ms. Slater who forbids the party going ahead. Undeterred, the girls decide to play a prank on her which goes horribly wrong and results in the death of Ms. Slater. The girls try to hide the body but as people start being brutally murdered the girls begin to wonder if Ms. Slater did indeed die or if something more sinister is responsible.
The movie has all of the plot devices of a bog-standard slasher: anniversary of a gruesome event long kept secret, hot teenage victims who question authority, imaginative kills, and the final girl. However, the movie does a good job piecing these tropes together and, with the respectable performances from (most of) the cast, a good use of location, and a reputable directing job, manages to establish characters early and build the atmosphere into a suspenseful and watchable slasher thriller.
Sure, there are better films in the slasher genre (obviously the likes of 'Black Christmas' (1974) and 'Halloween' (1978) as well as lesser-known slashers like 'The Burning' (1981)) but then again, there are many, many worse films you could spend an hour-and-a-half with.