KILLER PARTY

Killer Party

If you were an under-sexed, ultra-hormonal teenager in the 1980s, chances are your movie diet contained copious amounts of two sub-genres: slasher films and teen sex comedies. Both sub-genres propagated like bunnies, flooding cinemas and video stores with dozens of titles every month, feeding on your hard-earned cash, satisfying your base desire to see hoards of naked girls running, panting and heaving on screen. Dozens of VCRs across the country worked hard to keep up with the constant rewinding and fast-forwarding. You could hear the collective sighs of frustration fill the air as hundreds of teenage boys tried their damndest to correct the tracking and steady a section of film that had been worn and stretched out from being played over and over again. I don't know how many times I watched a film on VHS only to have it become jumpy and barely watchable whenever bare breasts flashed on screen. Somebody had gotten to it before I did. And someone clearly liked what they saw.


The brand of slasher film that tried to marry the two sub-genres rarely worked. Films like NIGHTMARE SISTERS and SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA came close to working, but failed. They simply couldn't get the balance right. It's a lot harder than it would appear. Never mind the fact that so many slasher films were ridiculous and hilarious on their own (usually unintentionally), there were some films that really wanted to imbue their horrors with more than just a dash of the typical college-set sex comedy.


Killer Party

KILLER PARTY comes pretty damn close. It's not the most nudity-filled slasher around (much of the skin is shown within the first half hour), but it contains numerous scenes that feel ripped from your standard teen comedy of the time. The characters are all stock stereotypes, obnoxious but likeable, and the script allows them time to either grow on you or test your patience. The majority of the violence occurs in one big spurt near the films finale while the comedy slowly (and depending on your reaction to it) ropes you into the meager story. It feels a bit like NIGHT OF THE DEMONS except KILLER PARTY, for all its bloodletting and supernatural goings-on, doesn't really have a mean bone in its body.


The story is rather simple. The film begins with a film-within-a-music-video-within-a-film false opening that actually manages to out-do the "gothcha" opening of the recent SCREAM 4. A group of sorority girls are planning to throw a party in an abandoned (and supposedly haunted) house. A boy named Allan had died in an accident at the house years and years ago and when the girls enter the home, they set in motion a series of murders, possessions and other nefarious events. As the party begins to wind down, things start to get really out of hand as one of the girls begins to feel the effects of Allan's angry spirit.


Killer Party

Now that only covers the last half of the film. The majority of the first half is given over to the comedic elements of the script. Various pranks, some PG hanky panky and sorority hazing occurs as we get to know the trio of protagonists, Jennifer, Vivia and Phoebe. We get a couple of murders thrown in, but they're short scenes with little build-up. They're just there to remove the adults from the film. The thing about this first half of the film is that it largely works. There are more than a few laugh-worthy scenes (most of them coming courtesy of the always enjoyable Paul Bartel) and some genuinely well-written, snappy dialogue exchanges. If the whole thing feels clichéd and overdone, it's because you're probably seen this kind of thing done hundreds of times. Personally, I enjoyed my time with the characters and if KILLER PARTY had stayed the course and just became a full-on comedy, I would have been more than happy to see it through to the end.


Killer Party

But this is really just a set-up for the finale of the film. The final twenty minutes contains a dozen or so death scenes, none too graphic, before the final chase between the two remaining girls and their demon-possessed friend. While the death scenes are all short, tame and ultimately disappointing, the final chase scenes are surprisingly well done. Clearly inspired by EVIL DEAD but lacking that films ferocious energy, these final scenes are effective in their simplicity. They get the job done with little muss and fuss. Just a lot of screams and some clever camera work. Don't get me wrong. This is not a scary film in the "scream out loud" vein, but the horror elements, silly as they may be, work and work well.


I actually feel slightly embarrassed to say this, but I had a helluva lot of fun with KILLER PARTY. It brought back all the right feelings of nostalgia. It reminded me of why I loved these kinds of films. It's stupid and cheesy all the way through, but it's the right kind of stupid and cheesy. It actually has a peculiar kind of charm to it. I watched it with a big, dumb grin on my face. It's harmless, unadulterated 80s fun.


Recommended.