Ah, the 80s! It was all about feathered hair, designer jeans and maniacs who've escape from nuthouses seeking revenge on large groups of teenage girls that are having unsupervised sleepovers. Wha? I admit it was a kooky time…

Even the most diehard horror fan sometimes gets tired of the clichéd 'unstoppable maniac' subgenre, but I'm a sucker for it every time. Luckily, Slumber Party Massacre has some great moments and lots of humor to make it stand out from the pack.

We begin our tale with a girl on the eve of her 18th birthday. She's throwing away all the remembrances of her childhood as she hears a report of an escaped mental patient over her radio. She then kisses her parents goodbye as they head off for the weekend. She invites over a few friends to help her enjoy the next 48 hours of independence. But the killer has an eye on her already. So, she takes a shower. Makes perfect sense to me!

Ever wonder why so many corpses land upside down in these movies?

Written and directed by women, Slumber Party Massacre is an interesting take on the slasher genre. Famous author Rita Mae Brown wrote the script and claims along with Amy Jones that the project was mishandled by the powers that be. Regardless, there is still a glimmer of what they were trying to accomplish. Although it never really turns the tables on men completely, the female stars are strong. Robin Stille (a.k.a. Robin Rochelle) is a knockout as Valerie, the statuesque beauty who holds her own against the killer. She leaves her mark in this film.

Let us not forget that Scream Queen Brinke Stevens made her auspicious debut here as she shrieks her way into history! Robin and Brinke would appear together again in Sorority Babes at the Slime-Ball-Bowl-a-Rama before Robin tragically committed suicide in 1996. Sigh, it's always the good who die young.

If you're a fan of the slice and dice and you haven't seen Slumber Party Massacre yet, crawl out from the rock you've been living under and pick up this sucker. Released on DVD by New Concorde under their "Massacre Collection," it's not given much in the way of extras, but having this cult classic readily available should be enough for most of you horror nuts. And remember, the underlying message of these films is 'never bathe under any circumstances!' Hey, I just calls them like I sees them!

Dirt Cheap DVD alert: Slumber Party Massacre $6.41
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