Saturday 1 March 2014

Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988)

AKA The Imp.

I know that Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is pretty awful, I really do. I shouldn't enjoy it as much as I do. Most sane people would give this a low rating and warn other people to stay well away from it. Well, I'm not sane and part of me will always love this bonkers film, due in no small part to some great '80s scream queens.

The plot is laughable, but I'll describe it anyway. A bunch of boys and girls end up in a bowling alley at night. It's one of those initiation type of deals, all being overseen by the sadistic Babs (Robin Stille). The whole night soon becomes a fight for survival, however, when a bowling trophy is knocked over that releases a mischievous imp. The imp pretends to grant wishes, but all it really wants to do is collect some souls and cause some havoc.

I'm not going to pretend that I enjoyed the script by Sergei Hasenecz, which is full of horrible one-liners and generally risible dialogue, but it does have its tongue in cheek throughout, which is a big plus. Some of the laughs may be unintentional, but a lot of them are deliberate. Well, I like to think so.

The direction by David DeCoteau is fine for the material. He's not going to be troubling Scorsese any time soon, but he gets from one scene to the next with the camera pointing in the right direction, the set having just enough light to make out everything (just), and an attempt to keep things moving briskly enough that the complete lack of logic doesn't sink the whole thing.

Andras Jones gets the lead male role, and he's lucky enough to get plenty of screentime with the lovely Linnea Quigley, playing a thief who ends up caught up in the whole imp-centric scenario. As if that wasn't enough onscreen goodness, male horror fans also get to enjoy the presence of Michelle Bauer and Brinke Stevens, with the former particularly memorable when affected by the dark magic of the imp. There are other people in the movie, including Hal Havins, Kathi O'Brecht, John Stuart Wildman and Carla Baron, but it's Quigley and Bauer who make the biggest impression. Oh, not including the legendary George 'Buck' Flower, who has a few amusing scenes as the janitor, and one person who knows the background of the imp.

I expect most people to either dislike this one or just dismiss it, but I'll always have a place for it in my schlock-loving heart.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Sorority-Babes-Slimeball-Bowl-O-Rama/dp/B00ARWWUYA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392384661&sr=8-1&keywords=sorority+babes+in+the+slimeball+bowl-o-rama



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