Non entrate in quel collegio

Do pranks every go right in slasher movies? They always seem to leave someone injured, traumatized enough to turn into a murderer, or stone cold dead. In that grand tradition, The House on Sorority Row presents this well worn chestnut, but it's served up with a reasonable amount of style and even class.

The graduating class of a college sorority has had it up to here with their bossy and moody housemother, Mrs. Slater, after she says that they will not be throwing a graduation party at the sorority house. To get back at her, they devise a prank to scare her into letting them go ahead with the party, but it backfires when the blanks they loaded the gun with turn out to be real and, now, they have a dead housemother in their muddy, unused swimming pool. They go ahead with the party and keep trying to keep people away from the pool as someone starts killing them off one by one.

The House on Sorority Row feels more polished both in terms of script and production values than just about any other slasher film of its time. There's some gore, but it's a mostly restrained affair with only a few notable blood-soaked set pieces. Each of the sorority girls has their own personality, which makes it easy to tell them apart and most of the performances are better than what you'd usually find in a film of this type. Eileen Davidson really shines as the queen bee and Richard Band's lush, orchestral score sets a nice mood.

The House on Sorority Row is formulaic, but I'm sure it only feels that way because so many slashers have taken its template and mined it for their own use. We follow the good girl, the girl who is sure to be our final girl, and we're introduced to the other characters who all reveal flaws that will surely lead to their deaths at the hands of our killer.

In this movie, the first act introduces a motive for our killer, and we spend the rest of the movie trying to guess who it might be, while also wondering when and where our next victim will be offed. Some kills are better than others, but that can be said for all slashers.

Unlike the best the genre has to offer, the movie never makes you truly care for any of the victims, they all played a part in a crime early in the movie, and that hinders the movie's ability to get you invested in their fates, but it's still a fun time. I enjoyed the scenes at the party, particularly one scene where the camera in one smooth shot follows each of our sorority sisters as they try to act naturally as they keep a terrible secret.

For any slasher fan this is a can't miss. For anyone looking for something more, you can probably do better elsewhere.

Great little slasher flick! The soundtrack stands out. Very memorable. The characters and actresses are much better than many other 80s horror movies. Good amount of suspense.

The main drawback is the ending. It's abrupt and less satisfying than everything that came before. It feels like they just ran out of money and threw together something quickly. I wanted something more from the ending.

You have to respect The House on Sorority Row. It's trying that whole "when you go low, we go high" thing, but it'd be so much more fun if it just let its hair down and kicked someone into the mud every now and then. It's way better shot and acted than just about any other slasher movie from this time and it's not like it's super chaste and gore-free, but you just get the feeling that it's a little too scared to really dip into the sleaze pond.

Better than average slasher flick about a group of sorority babes who accidentally kill someone during a prank and try to cover it up. Later they're murdered one by one by until the inevitable 'final girl vs the killer' showdown all these things seem to have. It's a good movie of its type with some humor and gore (although probably not enough to appeal to gore hounds). Starts out with some Miss Marple-type music that, back in the day, had me double-checking the VHS label to make sure I had the right movie. The cast is pretty good, with early roles for Eileen Davidson and Harley Jane Kozak, and a nice leading role for Kate McNeil. My favorite scenes are Eileen Davidson showing off her breasts and the Sea Pig scene. Given her age you would assume Lois Kelso Hunt (playing the sorority's house mother) was a seasoned pro, but her acting is so bad that she's outshined by everyone in the cast. Even the Sea Pig. There's also a corny band that screams 1980s. It's a fun movie, if you like '80s slashers (which, I assume you do or else why would you be watching this). Might lose a little punch if you've seen a lot of similar movies that came after. Oh, and avoid the 2009 sort-of remake at all costs. It's garbage.