The House on Sorority Row

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.

House on Sorority Row is not just some of the some ol', same ol' as we've seen before with sorority slasher movies.

The movie is based on a group of seven sorority sisters who are all just about to graduate college and they come up with the idea of throwing an illicit party at the sorority house. If the girls just could have gotten the blessing from their sorority mother, who is Mrs. Slater, this party would have worked out. Instead, Mrs. Slater won't allow any such party under her roof. Mrs. Slater wants the house to be vacant during that weekend- and you'll find out why later.

The girls decide to rebel against Mrs. Slater's wishes, particularly Vikki, who is played by Eileen Davidson. By doing so they all participate in a prank targeting Mrs. Slater. However, this prank takes a turn for the worst. Soon thereafter, these college babes come up missing. It then turns into a tale of whodunit. Solid direction, which is done with such finesse by Mark Rosman.

I liked the idea of the killer in this one, who uses a sharp cane for the weapon of choice. Some memorable death scenes are a decapitated head found in a toilet bowl and various stabbings with that cane that I had just mentioned.

There are plenty of genre flicks that deal with this same topic. Those that I am referring to are: PROM NIGHT, SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE, SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE and THE INITIATION. The House On Sorority Row isn't anything groudbreaking, but it does still satisfy us bloodhounds out there. The script is original, the suspense scenes are built up with the proper tension and there is a satisfactory amount of blood; however there could of been more. In addition, I thought that the cast did a better then decent job on the acting duties.

The budget DVD is worth getting. The uncut version is now available for the first time in the U.S., which does include the extra cinema shots of Vikki getting stabbed to death. Previously, this was unattainable in the U.S.

I give it 7/10

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.

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.

I will always have a special place in my heart for The House on Sorority Row. Back in 1982, my father was vice president of a small company in Washington, D.C. called VAE (Visual Aids Electronics). They had contracts with all the major hotels in D.C. to provide their audio visual equipment for all the meetings and conferences that were held there (microphones, TV's, overhead projectors). The company was doing so well, that the president of it (John Ponchok) wanted to branch out and try different things. They started a record company (which failed miserably), and then wanted to try their hand at producing movies. Their first (and only) project: The House on Sorority Row. Filming took place during the summer of 1982 in Baltimore, MD. One day during the summer, my father drove me, my sister, and my mom out to Baltimore for the day to watch them film the movie. I was 7 at the time. We watched them film the scene where they had just shot Ms. Slater, and they were trying to revive her by the side of the pool. I had a blast. I remember meeting some of the girls, and the lady that played Ms. Slater. Later in the afternoon, my family and I were taken up to the attic where the final scene takes place (I'm not sure if it was Mark Rosman or not that took us up there). While my parents were talking with whoever took us up there, I was cruising around the attic on a toy pedal tractor that was up there. In the movie, that same tractor that I rode on is used by the character Peter. One more thing. When they are trying to revive Ms. Slater by the side of the pool, one of the girls screams "Oh my God, the band's here!" A shot is then shown of a station wagon and a white truck coming up the driveway. That white truck was actually one of VAE's old company trucks that they lent them for the scene. After they were done using it in the film, my father bought it from VAE to use as a moving truck for my family's move to Northern Virginia that summer. After we were done with the move, we parked the truck in the woods below our house where it rotted away for the next 15 years, before it was finally towed away to the junkyard.