La iniciación

This is one of those slasher films from the 80's that I love to watch. When it comes to good horror ideas, nothing gets better than a bunch of sorority girls being killed at a mall after midnight.

There are few things in this movie that are funny. It's mostly scary. And it has a nice twist at the ending. Rent it a your video store; if you can find it.

Finally caught this sorority themed slasher. Kelly (Daphne Zuniga, who gets an "introducing..." credit despite having been in films - including THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1982) - prior to this) is pledging a college sorority and part of her initiation is to break into the upscale shopping mall owned by her father (Clu Gulager) and mother (Vera Miles). The bad news is that someone has escaped from a local insane asylum and is stalking her every move. This is a decent slasher that benefits from an unusual location (the Dallas International Market). Unfortunately, they don't get to the mall until the 50 minute mark and a lot of the time leading up to that is spent with a university teacher delving into Kelly's nightmarish past (she has a recurring dream where a man is burned and can't remember anything before age 6). Director Larry Stewart was a TV vet and never really gets too much suspense from the proceedings.

Allright so "The Initiation" isn't on the same level as "Carrie", "The Stepford Wives" or "Rosemary's Baby" but it is very good compared to other sorrority girl movies like "Blood Sisters." The Initiation is fun, fast paced, and has a great cast including Vera Miles (PSYCHO), Clu Gulager(A Nightmare on Elm Street 2) and Daphne Zuniga(Melrose Place) Not oscarworthy but deffinetly allright

Have you ever had dreams that were so scary that you wished they would just stop. You don't really tell anybody about them because after all, they are just dreams and you don't want to sound silly. But that dream is just so intense that it really gets the best of you.

So is the premise for this film. What is kind of fascinating is to see Daphne Zuniga in a pre-Sure Thing role. When I think of Daphne, even all of these years later, I think of her as the prude Allison from The Sure Thing. But she is not a prude in this film. Quite the contrary. Here she gets naked, has blood as a part of her waredrobe and she has a great scream.

What is memorable about The Initiation is that it is quite scary and it is filled with blood and gore. This is a typical 80's slasher flick but it is fairly well done. And the end of it will scare you, at least the end of it will. But I feel the film does a great job of making us scared and that adds to the intrigue for the last fifteen minutes. Check this one out. It may surprise you. Believe me it is better than almsot any horror film that "graces" our screens today. But then again, all 80's horror films had that feel to them. And sadly the modern era of horror films is lacking. The Initiation is at least a good horror film. And it is from the 80's to boot. That makes it worth looking at.

Sorority girl Kelly Fairchild is troubled about some unanswered questions from her past. But that's the least of her worries now that she and her friends are pledging to a college sorority. The initiation involves the girls breaking into a shopping mall, but having a homicidal escaped murderer locked in with them wasn't part of the plan!

The Initiation is a slasher flick that delivers the "goods" for horror fans. Plus, there's some plot twists, a few veteran actors, and a higher-than-average budget to boot!

With a fairly solid cast, fiendishly good murder scenes, some tight suspense (especially in the climax), and a bit of style The Initiation is one of the stronger slasher films of its time. Along with Hell Night (1981) and House on Sorority Row (1983), Initiation also remains one of the more memorable college-themed splatter flicks of the 80's.

An entertaining treat for slasher fans.

*** out of ****