Entertaining slasher film with good production values.
It blends various ideas that had already been copied several times before, but it is still effective. The prologue is a standard slasher trope, as is the mysterious revenge killer idea.
After Friday the 13th and sequels many slashers added a who's who/whodunit aspect and that is represented here too. It lifts from Prom Night the 'picking off the group with a guilty secret' bit, plus that film's 'chase scenes and kills intercut with a happy party' style. Then there's the swimming pool element used in Les diaboliques then in Scream of Fear...
The prank element is well developed. Other films have the prank in the prologue but here it is in the present day part of the story.
It is all quite effective with a charismatic believable cast, good pacing, and effective suspense. Apparently the brief gore glimpses were added later at the distributor's request and some do look slotted in plus they weren't needed.
Some parts of the story make little sense. There is a huge party hosted by the sorority whose members are acting jumpy and do odd things like run out to the pool in a panic then disperse to be mysteriously killed one by one. The party plays out and winds down and the huge crowd and band apparently disperses while the main sisters (and one stray party guest) are being slaughtered in the house and the yard but no one notices the bodies or notes that their party hosts are all missing. But you can ignore those bits.
It blends various ideas that had already been copied several times before, but it is still effective. The prologue is a standard slasher trope, as is the mysterious revenge killer idea.
After Friday the 13th and sequels many slashers added a who's who/whodunit aspect and that is represented here too. It lifts from Prom Night the 'picking off the group with a guilty secret' bit, plus that film's 'chase scenes and kills intercut with a happy party' style. Then there's the swimming pool element used in Les diaboliques then in Scream of Fear...
The prank element is well developed. Other films have the prank in the prologue but here it is in the present day part of the story.
It is all quite effective with a charismatic believable cast, good pacing, and effective suspense. Apparently the brief gore glimpses were added later at the distributor's request and some do look slotted in plus they weren't needed.
Some parts of the story make little sense. There is a huge party hosted by the sorority whose members are acting jumpy and do odd things like run out to the pool in a panic then disperse to be mysteriously killed one by one. The party plays out and winds down and the huge crowd and band apparently disperses while the main sisters (and one stray party guest) are being slaughtered in the house and the yard but no one notices the bodies or notes that their party hosts are all missing. But you can ignore those bits.