Amy Holden Jones’ 1982 film The Slumber Party Massacre was a bit of a rarity in the ’80s slasher boom: it was written by a feminist writer (Rita Mae Brown) and told from a female perspective (Jones’). While they were beholden to certain non-feminist genre tropes (half-naked pillow fights and fully naked breasts, just to name a few) the film was able to subvert the male gaze in multiple ways. Under Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, the film passed the Bechdel Test before the Bechdel Test was even invented. If there ever was a time to give the cult classic an update, now is it. That’s just what writer Suzanne Keilly (Leprechaun Returns) and director Danishka Esterhazy (Level 16, The Banana Splits Movie) have done with the slightly shorter-titled Slumber Party Massacre.
After a 1993-set prologue sees a trio of teenage girls fall prey to Russ Thorne (Rob van Vuuren, Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell), aka the Driller Killer, the film flashes forward to present day Los Angeles when Trish Devereaux (Schelaine Bennett), the sole survivor of the 1993 massacre, is now the overprotective mother of teenage Dana (Hannah Gonera, Spell). Dana is going on a weekend trip with her friends: ditzy Ashley (Reze-Tiana Wessels), responsible Maeve (Frances Sholto-Douglas, The Kissing Booth trilogy) and horned-up Breanie (Alex McGregor, Vagrant Queen). Unfortunately, when they discover that Maeve’s younger sister Alix (Mila Rayne) has stowed away in the trunk, their car breaks down in the very same town where Trish once fought the Driller Killer. After securing a last-minute rental house in the isolated town, the girls must come face-to-face with the man who has haunted Dana’s mother’s life for the past 30 years.
Like the original film, Slumber Party Massacre prioritizes the relationships among the girls first and foremost. They’re not exactly the most three-dimensional characters, but the film devotes quite a bit of time to them outside of the carnage, allowing them to break free of their aforementioned archetypes. Slumber Party Massacre is a film that’s part straightforward slasher, part satire, part parody, and a lot of subversion. Tonally speaking, it has a lot in common with films like The Final Girls (review) and Tragedy Girls (review), with a dash of The Cabin in the Woods thrown in for good measure.
The new film adapts and modernizes the feminist aspects of the 1982 film for a 2021 audience, from the ridiculously visual (a can of clam chowder ejaculating on the killer’s face) to the thematic (it’s not the girls who get in a half-naked pillow fight this time, gents). Often, Slumber Party Massacre feels like the film that 2019’s Black Christmas remake wanted to be, but whereas that film stumbled in its heavy-handed messaging, Slumber Party Massacre dips into parody so often that it makes its sporadic heavy-handed moments forgivable. The film tackles the male and female gazes, the true crime podcast phenomenon and even anti-feminists head-on (“you’re just part of some feminist plot to get rid of all the men,” one unlucky guy exclaims). It doesn’t all work, but when it does it really does. Plus, when a film is this much fun it’s difficult to hold a grudge.
Esterhazy keeps the color palette nice and bright, switching it as the film swiftly changes narrative directions. It’s these changes in direction that shouldn’t be spoiled, thereby making this review somewhat difficult to write. Suffice it to say that Slumber Party Massacre is not the film you think it’s going to be, and that’s what makes this such a pleasant surprise. That being said, the third act does revert back to the standard slasher formula, which dilutes some of the effectiveness of the first two acts. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but one wishes it had kept the clever subversions of genre tropes going until the credits rolled.
Lest you think that the SyFy release means a watered-down version of the gore inherent to slasher films, rest assured that Slumber Party Massacre is plenty gory, with the Driller Killer, well, drilling into a lot of bodies. We do get some other murder weapons thrown into the mix as well, making for a nice variety of murder set pieces.
Slumber Party Massacre is a welcome addition to this new wave of modern slashers (Initiation, Fear Street, etc.). It’s gory, funny and filled with likable characters. While it’s inevitable that this review will be flooded with comments of the “stop inserting social commentary into my horror movies!” ilk, those who can stomach such a wild concept will find much to enjoy in a movie that’s this much goddamn fun.
