Although it may not be the first film that you think of when asked to list some of the best slasher movies from the 1980s, The Slumber Party Massacre is a beloved minor classic of the sub-genre, helped by the fact that it had at least one truly whacky and memorable sequel. It didn't seem like a film dying to be remade, which can be said of many horror movies that have ended up getting remakes, and I only decided to finally give it a watch when I felt as if I had very few other options on my viewing list. I'm glad I finally got around to it. This is a fun remake that takes the essence of the original film, the fact that it was always intended to be a parody, and refreshes it for our more self-aware modern times.
It doesn't take long to get into the action. This film starts with a slumber party massacre. There's one survivor (Trish Deveraux, played by Masali Baduza), but deadly Russ Thorn (Rob van Vuuren) is killed off very early. We then cut to many years later. Trish's daughter, Dana (Hannah Gonera) is heading off for a weekend with her friends. The group includes Maeve (Frances Sholto-Douglas), Alix (Mila Rayne), Breanie (Alex McGregor), and Ashley (Reze-Tiana Wessels). Trish is worried about her daughter, but Trish is a bit more worried than most people about every situation. Understandably. She would worry more if she knew what was really planned. The girls are hoping to replicate the events of decades ago and lure a possibly-not-as-dead-as-he-should-be Thorn back into action. What could possibly go wrong?
Directed by Danishka Esterhazy (who also gave us The Banana Splits Movie just a couple of years before this), what you get here is a smart and fun horror comedy, although the comedy stems more from the use and subversion of tropes, that also delivers some fun gore gags throughout. The smart script, written by Suzanne Kelly, figures out a way to constantly homage the original film while also presenting something that hits the expected beats of a standard slasher film. It's a lot of fun, especially with the plotting allowing for more exciting close encounters with a killer than you might expect from this kind of thing (slasher movies are, after all, often a lot of stalk 'n' slash moments until the final survivors are grouped together and informed enough to start their fight back).
The cast are all easy to like, and they all have a nice and easygoing chemistry with one another. Gonera is a great lead, and the surprise of that opening sequence allows you to worry that she's far from indispensable to the main storyline. Everyone else does good work, with Baduza eventually allowed to show that she's much more than just an "overly-concerned" parent. Van Vuuren has fun as the killer, a load of young men turn up to present themselves as more potential additions to the bodycount, and Jennifer Steyn is entertaining as she appears to fulfil the role of "side-eyeing local".
The big flaw lies in the character development. There isn't really too much going on here. Where the script does so well in the exploration of the tropes and expected story beats, it is sadly unable to make most of the characters truly distinguishable from one another. That may have been a deliberate choice (judging by the small running joke about two different characters named "Guy"), but it leads to the film feeling less involving and satisfying than it otherwise could have been. And with a runtime of just over 80 minutes, although I rarely say this, it feels as if some more time could have been spent just developing our core group members a bit more.
This is fun, I would say it's even a bit better than the original film, but it just stops short of being great. Horror movie fans should definitely check it out, and those who love this series will really enjoy the more direct references to the more iconic moments.
7/10
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