La maison de sang

Routine slasher about college kids working on boarding up a college dorm that is about to be demolished and being killed by an unknown, hiding in the shadows killer. Made on a budget of only $90,000 and featuring an unknown Daphne Zuniga at the time this is a lot better then I expected. Sure it is inept at times, but this film manages to be exciting, creepy and scary throughout. That's more then you can say about a lot of the other films in this genre.

Rated R; Extreme Violence & Profanity.

College students, who are clearing out a condemned dormitory, are stalked by an elusive killer.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood (aka Pranks) is a bit of a mixed bag for slasher fans. The movies production values are pretty low and the story for the most part is pretty routine, there's even a creepy bum hanging around for a red herring. In fact much of the story's build-up is pretty forgettable, save for one or two brutal murders. But the movie is really made better by its surprisingly intense climax (in an atmospheric setting) and one fairly bold, unconventional conclusion.

The cast is lackluster for the most part. Stephen Sachs is the best of the lot as he does a pretty nice turn in character. Also look for a young Daphne Zuniga as an ill-fated student.

Over all this is a pretty standard B slasher effort, but the finale is well worth savoring and for this viewer saved the movie from being a complete ho-hum.

** out of ****

Must give Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow credit for having the guts to go against established slasher formulas to create something different. There's definitely an attempt to set atmosphere over numerous scenes of gore. There is attempt to develop the characters. The ending is what makes the film memorable. Maybe the motivations for the killings isn't original, but it doesn't have to be. Sometimes in life bad people win. It sucks. It's infuriating, but sometimes that's how it goes. I applaud the writers and directors for going against the grain with this one.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood has a chip on its shoulder. A big one! If you're looking for your run of the mill "tits and blood" slasher, this might not be the one for you. It's darkly lit, creepy, and the film stock is grainy, making it feel more like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Last House on the Left than a Friday the 13th sequel.

The story is nothing special. A group of college students (some of whom look a bit too long in the tooth to be college kids) stay over a holiday break to take inventory in an old dorm and are stalked and killed by someone who will be revealed during the shocking climax.

The cast is decent if a bit dull, but they do a decent enough job and there's not a lot of suspense or scares, but The Dorm That Dripped Blood stands out from the pack by the sheer mean spiritedness of its death scenes and unpredictable kill order. It doesn't play nice or by the rules and there's something sort of exciting about that. The ending is an especially shocking downer.

It's also the feature film debut of Daphne Zuniga, so that's kinda neat. She doesn't have much screen time, but she does a decent job and is featured in one of the wildest and most mean spirited moments of the film.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood might not be a genius work of art, but it has enough interesting moments to make it worth a watch.

College girl Joanne Murray takes on the unenviable job of readying the student housing building to become apartments,which includes selling the unneeded furniture This takes place during a break,so a mysterious psycho is stalking the nearly-empty premises on campus."Dorm that Dripped Blood" is a low-budget slasher flick that is quite entertaining.The acting is pretty bad,the plot is predictable,but the gore effects are quite good.The film was made by UCLA film students Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow for next to nothing.Soon a dreamy ambiance kicks in,very similar to the enveloping forests of Jeff Leiberman's fantastic "Just Before Dawn".7 out of 10.It's great to see Daphne Zuniga of "The Initiation" fame run over few times by a car.