Hard to Die

This mountain of melted cheddar is dumb, dumb fun. Director/producer Wynorski (who also helmed the raucously cheesy Chopping Mall) proves himself to be the unsung B-movie hero. Wynorski's films win because he creates schlock that believes in itself. This production doesn't have an air of superiority. It carries its ludicrous premise with a conspicuous joie de vivre and at a boisterous pace, all while avoiding the doldrums of self-parody. Wynorski also succeeds in that his intentionally funny and over-the-top ending is actually funny. He thus accomplishes the rather difficult task of creating a film that people will laugh at AND laugh with.

This film is actually the third entry in the Sorority House Massacre series, but stands just fine on its own (I've never seen the two preceding SHMs). It may be the best of the trilogy, downplaying the derivative slasher element that defined the first two films and instead taking an exuberant action-horror-comedy slant (the title, in case it wasn't obvious, is an obvious spoof of Die Hard). Just the image of our trashy-lingerie-wearing, bloody-breasted heroines brandishing automatic firearms is enough to alight the predilections of any cult film fan.

Pretty good, mindless fun; better than part II was.

A group of four (or three, or five, depending on the scene) scantily clad, large-breasted babes open a box from hell, and unleash a familiar demonic killer in plaid, who proceeds to wreck havoc in the high rise office building they're working in late one night. They open another crate, from which two more scantily clad babes fall out of and onto the floor. They finally realise that something isn't quite right, so turn to conveniently located high powered weaponry to stop this murderous fruitcake in plaid.

The sprinkler system goes off, just as an excuse to turn it into basically a wet t-shirt contest, and give the girls an excuse to shower. Not that there is anything wrong with that, however. The same lightning flashes from Sorority House Massacre II, which was lifted from Gilligan's Island, are reused again here for mood lighting.

This is a bit of moronic fun, better than part I and II (Sorority House Massacre I and II) were, but it still can't quite reach the same levels of high camp that it wants to, and ends up being a bit too silly for its own good. Not to mention long. But, any movie with Robyn Harris in a nightie is well worth watching.

this is quite possibly the greatest piece of american cinema to date! jim wynorski is a genius. 5 girls in a lingiure factory + orville ketchum > tons of crazy hijinks. i watch this film daily to prepare for life. wonderful acting, plot, special fx!!! who is the killer? i still don't know after 233 viewings. all i do know is that if you haven't seen this film, your an idiot. my favorite film of all time. please please make another sequel!!!! slumber 4, soroity 3, or just hard to die 2. greatest film ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(*1/2 out of *****) In a cross between Die Hard and the Slumber Party Massacre (and Sorority House Massacre) movies, a deadly spirit is released into a high-rise office building while a group of pretty female co-workers who work for the ACME Lingerie Company are staying late doing inventory on one of the upper floors (as well as showering and trying on the merchandise). As in Sorority House Massacre II (which was filmed and released roughly the same time as this one and which, with the exception of the building setting, basically follows the same plot), one of the girls becomes possessed by the demon and starts butchering her scantily-clad friends before they even get the chance to have a pillow fight. Luckily, the remaining gals find a crate full of automatic weapons and, next thing you know, bullets are flying, blood is splattering, and breasts are bouncing. I won't lie to you, T&A can often carry an otherwise lousy movie a long way, but that's hardly the case with this one (still, I went ahead and gave this turkey an extra half-star solely for its wall-to-wall display of frilly teddies and lace panties.) Orville Ketchum (as `Himself') appears as the same character he plays in SHMII, and he even narrates a near-identical flashback sequence lifted from the original Slumber Party Massacre. As a testament to the bad writing and Wynorski's equally bad direction, the tiresome and ridiculously indestructible Ketchum pops up around corners every three or four minutes and just stands there looking stupid -- a very bad idea. Seriously, he's one of the most annoying characters in B-movie history, and if he's meant to provide comic relief, it doesn't work. Joe Bob Briggs `LOVED' this movie, and it admittedly does have its charm, but not enough of it to cover up the wretched acting, writing, and directing. Low-budget and horror movie cameo king Forrest J. Ackerman has a lengthy role as Dr. Ed Newton, who sits in his office the whole time. The back of the video box shows pictures of scenes from an entirely different movie. Wynorski has the honor of being responsible for some of the worst drek the slasher genre has to offer.

Lowlight: The death scenes are laughably staged -- one girl gets pulled off-camera from behind by somebody with a hook, and then an obvious bucket-full of fake blood is splattered against a concrete wall. Stupid, stupid stuff.

Jim Wynorski's movies are, frankly, beyond criticism. They don't pretend to be anything other than what they are--an excuse to see beautiful women naked. That's it. Nothing else. No messages, no points to ponder, no pleas for peace, love and brotherhood. Just gorgeous women in varying and frequent stages of nudity. Wynorski, unlike many directors of this type of flick, actually has a sense of humor and salts his films liberally with it. This one is a bit different than usual, but not much. It has great looking women, nudity, guns, nudity, blood, nudity, a fat guy, nudity (not the fat guy's, thankfully), and, on top of all of that, nudity. If that's what you're looking for, this film delivers. The girls aren't good--or even competent--actresses, but then again, they're not supposed to be. They're there to giggle, look scared, run around in lingerie and take their clothes off, and they do all that quite well. You rent a Jim Wynorski movie pretty much knowing what you're going to get, and he seldom disappoints. Wynorski's films deliver what they promise--a characteristic many films nowadays fail to follow through on--and you can't ask for much more than that.