Day 20: Slumber Party Massacre 2

  The original Slumber Party Massacre was written to be a parody film of the slasher genre. It was written by feminist writer Rita Mae Brown to mock the misogyny in slashers. It ended up being shot as a typical genre film. The results had more humor than most slashers of the time. Slumber Party 2 takes the franchise to a whole new level of humor with tons of over the top subject matter.

    Valerie Bates is now in a mental institution following the events of the original movie. Her younger sister Courtney is now in an all girl Pop-Rock band with her friends. Courtney still dreams about the events that took place during Slumber Party 1. The members of the band plan a getaway over the weekend to have an unsupervised Slumber Party. After inviting some boys the slumber party is a go! Unfortunately for Courtney, she continues to dream of a new Driller Killer complete with a power drill guitar to shred on!! Her visions become even more real with each passing dream until people actually start dropping dead.

     Those who are looking for a plot will be sorely disappointed. Sure I just gave a synopsis but I'd be lying to you if I said I knew what the hell actually happened in this film. Who is this new Driller Killer? Where did he come from? Is he real? Why hasn't this guitar been utilized by every Thrash and Death Metal band ever? NONE of these questions are answered by the end. Does it really hurt the movie? Not really.

    Slumber Party 2 is so full of cheese, rock n' roll, gore, and intentional humor that it doesn't really need it's plot to make much sense. It's so entertaining that when it's all said and done you've had enough fun to not really care for explanations. I'm not the type of guy who rides a roller coaster and then wonders all day how it works. I just ride the damn thing and have a blast. Slumber Party Massacre 2 is a roller coaster.

     One of the great things about Slumber Party 2 is it's very thin line between dream and reality. Much like Nightmare on Elm Street (which was at it's peak popularity at the time. Coincidence?) Massacre tricks viewers constantly as to whether they're witnessing a dream or something that's really taking place.Even some of the camera angles have a strange dreamlike vibe to them. Characters are often seen directly facing the camera when delivering dialogue during a conversation. It's very unusual but it helps the feel of the film. This theme opens the door for a bunch of over the top moments. An enormous pimple that explodes all over the place and a rotisserie chicken coming to life spraying blood both come to mind.

    Slumber Party Massacre 2 won't please everyone. There isn't much in the form of actual frights. The killer is just a Rockabilly with a cool guitar and awful rock song one liners. The lack of answers to storyline questions is sure to drive casual viewers up a wall. Like a roller coaster, it's a short burst of fun that really isn't going to stick with you for the rest of your life. If you need an entertaining horror film to occupy your time, this is it.

Body Count:6
Side Note: I'm becoming more and more obsessed with band jam scenes in horror films. It always gets me hyped.