User reviews

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.

The Initiation (1984) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a sorority hazing ritual that is being performing in a warehouse after hours; little do they know a killer is stalking them...but why?

This movie is directed by Larry Stewart (director of a few episodes of The Bionic Woman) in his lone major motion picture project. This picture stars Vera Miles (Psycho), Clu Gulager (The Return of the Living Dead) and Daphne Zuniga (One Tree Hill).

This is a fun slasher that felt more like a 70s movie than an early 80s picture. The horror elements are uneven with some kill scene better than others. I will admit some kills scenes are great, but most of them are very average. I did enjoy that they used a different instrument for each kill scene. The cast is well selected with gorgeous ladies and cliche shower scenes 🚿. The storyline is very straightforward with a fun unveiling of who the killer is at the conclusion.

Overall, this is an above average addition to the horror genre that I would score a 6.5/10 and recommend seeing once.

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.

A group of sorority pledges sneak into a mall overnight to pull off a prank that will get them initiated. Tasked with stealing the security guard's uniform, it shouldn't be too hard since Kelly Fairchild's father owns the mall, and she's one of the pledges. She has keys to get in and knows where the spare uniforms are kept, so no problem. Someone else is in there with them though, and it isn't long before bloodshed ensues.

This is actually one of my favorite slashers, a large reason for that being the creepy atmosphere of the mall at night. It has multiple levels and is unlike any mall I've ever been to. We also get a few instances of characters catching a glimpse of the killer lurking about, something that I'm a sucker for. Getting that eerie look at something out of the corner of your eye, not sure if you really saw anything at all. The killer's POV shots were extremely well-done, especially the very creepy bit of the killer observing Dwight Fairchild as he's loading his car. The score certainly helps the mood, as does some of the dreary photography in certain scenes.

Daphne Zuniga plays the lead, and I've always found her appealing even if she's not the greatest actress. Vera Miles and Clu Gulager are also on hand to add some class to the proceedings. As for the kills, they're not the bloodiest, but they get the job done just fine. The most notable death sees one of the pledges stabbed repeatedly as she holds the PA systems microphone, her screams echoing throughout the mall. On my initial viewing, I didn't see the ending coming, though there are some blatant clues when re-watching.

About half a reel into the film I was asking myself "Is this 'Sorority House Massacre'"? Mix parts of "Sorority House Massacre","Chopping Mall",and "Hell Night" and you have "The Initiation".I'ts not a bad film, but we've seen it all before.It's one of those films where you sit and think: OK they think they are safe now.... when is the killer going to jump through the wall, window,door,etc..? It's almost like the fine folks at New World Pictures where recycling their own material this time.Folks who are fans of the cookie cutter "slasher" movies (like myself) will have fun playing the "find the cliché" game.Of course there is the required skin,but the gore is rather lacking for my taste.It's a bit tame as if not to be offensive or over the top.That's always a bad idea in my book. Recommended for slasher/body count fans only.

5/10 on the Drive-in-Freak-O-Meter...Not bad but we've seen it all before.

Oh here we go again. A college slasher… from the 80s. But hey, "The Initiation" was surprisingly an effective and playful little slasher item and delivered on what you look for in these ilk of presentations. While nothing groundbreaking, I thought it stood out. It has some clever touches, adds moments of mystery, tension, ominous atmospherics, and the ghoulish violence has a real nasty streak, a Burt Reynolds poster pops up and the characters are resilient. You got some veteran actors in Vera Miles and Clu Culager. Likable teens played by Daphne Zuniga, Frances Peterson and Hunter Tylo. Then there's good support from James Read, Paula Knowles and Robert Dowdell.

What takes a while to get going, only does so to build-up its story arches and characters before reaching its outrageous stalk and slash traits when everything erupts in its creepily daunting after-hours shopping mall setting. It does have a soap-like quality, where it does get silly when it comes to the end with a shockingly hysterical revelation. The first half of the film sets itself up by concentrating on our heroine's (an affable Zuniga) traumatic recurring nightmare, where she goes about trying to understand it with the help of an assistant professor (Read). While her parents are trying to keep her past secret, which only comes to the forefront when they're told of a breakout of a patient from an asylum. But also Kelly and a few friends are about to undertake a sorority pledge, involving sneaking into a shopping mall one night to steal the security guard's uniform where everything comes together.

The direction is durably crafted with style and a budget to boot. Slick photography and numerous killer POV shots. Even the music score keeps the mood spot on. Traditional, but entertaining.

"There's nothing to be afraid of."

A reviewer said, "What is memorable about The Initiation is that it is quite scary and it is filled with blood and gore."

Trust me, it is neither.

If you're looking for a fright, or even for entertainment, or 'so bad it's good', look elsewhere!

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 ****

Oh yeah,this one is similar to "Happy Birthday to Me"(I'm talking here especially about the ending),which I reviewed some months ago,but definitely not better.The acting is rather lame,the disco/party scene is cheesy and amusing(one of the guests is dressed in a giant penis costume-woah!),and the film is quite suspenseful at times.Only a little bit of gore,so gore-hounds will certainly be disappointed.However if you consider yourself a rabid slasher fan give this one a look!Love that axe in the head scene!

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.

This film is one of the more obscure 80's slashers with a sight twist to it that make it stand out! The kills are great with a decent amount of violence and blood. The killer uses a wide range of weapons of opportunity. This movie involves a family at turmoil, an unknown killer, a red herring or two, romance, great kills, and escaped maniacs! All tied together with a sorority type haze.

So i decided that this October i'll be watching 80s slashers, but since I've watched so many already I seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. Fortunately i misjudged this one based on the marketing which made it look a lot worse than it really is. The story is tight, it's cheesy in all the right places but still manages to be scary in all the right places too. Definitely one of the better ones. Don't put this one off.

A smarter than usual college slasher with an actual plot and mystery to solve this time around. Usually, it seems like these movies start off by listing out all the possible death scenes and building the film around those, but this movie takes the opposite approach. It's well plotted and classy, but the murder scenes feel more like an afterthought which might explain why horror fans aren't as keen on this one as they should be. It's also mostly shot in a boring, flat way without much style. A rare case of a good script slightly brought down by the other aspects around it (although a lot of the acting is pretty good).

"The Initiation" is definitely one of the better slasher movies. It has a budget that can cover different locations, particularly a shopping mall, and Daphne Zuniga. It also has a surprising and well handled twist ending.

The first act, though, is kind of a loss. It's not bad, but it feels like the movie doesn't really come together until the final moments.

The movie also has more nudity than most slashers. They almost always have flashes of breast, but this one has a couple of full frontal shots.

I say check it out.

I watched this one last night on DVD, was sure that I had seen it on VHS back in the day but no, I hadn't. There is quite a lot of plot so I'll skip my usual summary, it was written by somebody who went on to do TV soaps and that does show here, not necessarily in a bad way. The Initiation was made at the tale end of the period known as the Golden Age of the Slasher Movie and it has all the ingredients that we love - good, imaginative kills (these include garden claw, axe and bow and arrow, etc), gratuitous nudity, sorority babes and frat boys, nerds, pranks galore, etc. The last part of the film takes place in a large shopping centre, closed for the night, and this is very well done, mixing suspense and kills. I did feel let down by the rather silly, unexpected twist at the ending, but such things were quite common amongst slashers at this time. Aside from the ending and a slightly slow first half The Initiation still delivers the goods to us stalk and slash fans.