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Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: February 11th, 2014.
Director: Chris W. Freeman, Justin Jones
Cast: Kevin Sorbo, Marissa Skell, Yvette Yates, Eve Mauro
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Sorority Party Massacre starts off with a pretty great stalk and kill sequence in which a pretty young woman named Holly (Casey Fitzgerald) and her trophy dog get stuck in the middle of nowhere. Car trouble is a bitch. She's got her cell phone but is out in the sticks, there's no one around to help her but there is, so it happens, a psychotic lunatic in the area. Cue the obligatory chase scene followed by the murder, and we're off and running.
From there we meet a few more (seemingly unrelated) lovely young ladies - Paige (Marissa Skell), Brooklyn (Eve Mauro) and Sloan (Yvette Yates) - wind up at a remote island ranch where they all compete for a spot in the hottest sorority around, watched over by Stella (Leslie Easterbrook). They'll have to make it through the hazing process to get their spot and on top of that, there are the requisite interviews and other oddball tests that prospective sorority and fraternity members have had to endure for centuries. In their spare time, they pose for sexy, flirtatious pictures for no reason other than to add a bit of sex appeal to the proceedings.
Of course, once this gets out of the way, our psycho killer comes back into the picture and starts terrorizing the girls. Thankfully not too far away is a police precinct where a Sheriff (Kevin Sorbo) and some of his cops (one of whom is Ron Jeremy) keep things on the up and up. They decide to send Watts (Thomas Downey) to see what's going on out there at the ranch and look into what happened to Holly and it all ties into some crimes from the past and blah blah blah.
Billed as a horror comedy, Sorority Party Massacre is neither horrific nor comedic, and yet it somehow manages to be passably entertaining, if never actually all that good. There are some bloody kill scenes to help things along and plenty of nubile young ladies prancing about in various skimpy outfits, so there's that too. The movie goes head on into 'self-aware' territory and winds up coming across as thinking it's funnier than it actually is, however, and it plays to clichés to the point where it passes amusing and comes close to tedium.
And yet, it remains passably entertaining. We get to see Kevin Sorbo slumming and Leslie Easterbook overdoing it in the best possible way. The girls don't offer much in the way of acting but they look nice and really, if you've watched more than a few low budget slashers in your time you've definitely seen much worse. Casting Ron Jeremy as a cop is worth something on its own and there are some moderately inspired moments of tension towards the end when the story finally takes the dark turn it should have taken immediately after the admittedly impressive opening scene.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Sorority Party Massacre arrives on DVD framed at 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen and for the most part the transfer looks pretty good. The colors look nice and natural and while there are some minor compression artifacts in a few of the darker scenes detail is pretty solid for a standard definition presentation. Skin tones look lifelike and accurate and there aren't any contrast issues to quibble over. As this was shot on digital video, there's nothing in the way of damage or debris to note.
Audio chores are handled by an English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix which is properly balanced and free of any hiss or distortion. Bass response won't blow you away but the low end is there when the movie needs it to be and the score sounds fine as do the sound effects. There's some decent channel separation and everything is nice and clean sounding.
The main extra on the disc is an audio commentary track with Producer/Writer/Director Chris W. Freeman and Producer/Co-Director Justin Jones. The pair discuss their influences, their idea behind the movie, casting the picture, writing the script, some of the effects and generally just offer up a pretty detailed and thorough exploration of the story behind the movie that they made together.
Aside from that, we get a handful of Deleted Scenes and Outtakes, an amusing Paige Fight Scene clip and an equally amusing Barney Lumpkin Campaign Ad as well as the obligatory menus and chapter selection option.
The Final Word:
Sorority Party Massacre isn't going to change your life and it's probably not a movie you're going to watch over and over again but it does offer up a copious amount of babes and blood alongside a couple of creative kills. The DVD release from Anchor Bay looks and sounds fine and contains some decent extras. A minor modern day slasher but entertaining enough on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
