#193: Slumber Party Massacre

Release Date: November 12th, 1982

Format: Streaming (Tubi)

Written by: Rita Mae Brown

Directed by: Amy Jones

3 Stars

Slumber Party Massacre is good, dumb (compromised?) fun. 

Written by Rita Mae Brown as a feminist satire on the slasher genre, the production was financed by Roger Corman - noted cheapass - who backed director Amy Jones with a $220,000 budget.

Corman’s frugality and Jones’ inexperience - this was her first film - seem to steamroll many of the ideas and nuances that may have been in Brown’s script. Jones’ film gets right to the point: a serial killer has escaped prison and is on the loose in southern California. His weapon of choice? A large drill.

Does the drill bit symbolize his penis? Yes, definitely. But that’s about where the intellectualism of the movie ends…I think.

I did find it interesting how Jones shot the movie. The requisite female gaze and gratuitous nudity are present (both staples of the slasher genre), but Jones presents them as lazy afterthoughts. Her camera seems to be saying, “Here, here are some tits. Here’s a closeup of a girl’s ass as she walks to her car. Happy now?”

Is she presenting these images ironically? Were they intended to be ironic in Brown’s script? Or did Roger Corman insist on these obligatory shots to boost the box office, and knew he had a young female director on the payroll who wouldn’t push back? 

I’m not sure. It makes Slumber Party Massacre an interesting discussion piece for what would otherwise be a simple, above average slasher.