Pledge Night

The producers Shapiro/Glickenhaus, who were also responsible for one of my all time-trash favorites (Frank Henenlotter´s "Frankenhooker") made another "Friday"-rip off possible, which is better than most of the reviews say about it (What does not mean that "Pledge Night" is a good film!)...

The story is about a sadistic student´s establishment-ritual, where the newcomers have to drink from toilets or get branded... (That´s the first half of the film..!). One night however the monstrous Acid Sid, who looks like Alice Cooper with a cauterized face, returns and starts to take bitter revenge, because the trick they played on him about twenty years ago has been a little bit too deadly!

Probably the most interesting fact is that Joe Belladonna, former vocalist of the US-Speed Metal-Band Anthrax, has a small role. The rest is business as usual: some dumb youths get killed one by one, just with the difference that you mostly don´t see the murder, only the results... The most grotesque death is when a guy is strangulated by a spine.

It´s okay to watch "Pledge Night" one time, if you haven´t seen it you won´t miss anything!

A frat house is attacked by the ghost of a pledge that was accidently killed years ago during a prank on pledge night. Never has homosexual undertones ran so rampant in a slasher film. The guys are given spankings throughout, forced to particpate in all kinds of sadomaschtic activity, wear jockstraps, and have various objects put up their anus. Anyway, back to the film's merits, which it doesn't have any of. It doesn't have scares, the humor falls flat and despite attempts to be creative with the murder sequences, the lackluster direction stops them from working.

Pledge Night isn't even a B-movie. It's worse. Apparently, the writer had only written porn before and it shows.

I watched it for two reasons: the setting and the soundtrack.

As a "townie" and Rutgers alum, I appreciated the scene in Greasy Tony's, a now gone New Brunswick, NJ landmark. It was cool knowing they filmed it right down the road from me, although I knew nothing about the movie until now.

Anthrax providing the soundtrack was my other reason for watching. There were a few familiar tunes and I enjoyed lead singer Joey Belladonna's cameo as pre-acid Sid.

Need 22 more characters......

Pledge Night (1988) is a really good cult horror movie.The film is about Larry Bonner, a young college kid trying to get into this fraternity. He becomes friends with the other pledges as they all go through "hell week", but once Larry's mother finds out that her son is being hazed, she tries to tell him to leave the fraternity. Larry's mother tells us her boyfriend, Sid, died in a hazing over 20 years earlier. Larry does not listen to his mother, until the ghost of Sid returns to wreck havoc on the fraternity. See, you should always listen to your mother! The first 45 minutes are very funny as the pledges have to do very "entertaining" games and rituals, such as the "cherry race". As I said, the first 45 minutes of the film are amusing, it's like watching Animal House or Revenge Of The Nerds. But, after the 45 minute mark, the film turns into your typical 1980's slasher film (which is just fine!)complete with fairly gory special effects. This movie is hard to track down on vhs, but you can find a so called "uncut" copy on pal dvd through Dragon Entertainment.

I played Chip and as bad - so bad it's funny - as this movie is I can't believe people are still talking about it. On the other hand it does have some of the best/worst lines ever. One complaint even thou my death scene had the blood cut out of it I believe the acting is more than bad enough to entertain. who knew people would talk about this film for so long.