Horror Movie Review: Scary Story Slumber Party (2017)

With one of the most ‘on the nose’ titles seen in a while, Scary Story Slumber Party is a horror anthology that sees three friends throw a slumber party and tell each other scary stories. With several directors, several writers and a big cast spread across 11 shorts, Scary Story Slumber Party is an ambitious offering.

Of course, like most anthologies, it suffers from ‘hit and miss’ syndrome. Where some shorts are thoroughly enjoyable and others are a waste of time. Making the overall product hard to talk about as a full-feature film. In these cases, you’re probably better off finding the good individual shorts and enjoying them in that way.

Take your pick. The stories are as follows:

Bashed – a dull and uneventful tale that struggles to rise above mediocre. Backstabber – one of the best as it plays around with misunderstandings and how that can lead to really unfortunate events. The Pledge – entertaining if not a bit predictable. Imaginary Fiend – Another good one with some of the best atmospheric horror moments. Event Invitation – Slow and overly long. The Dare – Tighter but still uneventful. Unlucky Night – Worth watching for the payoff alone. Valentines Prey – Seen it all before. Capture & Kill – Picks up nicely but it’s initially a bit of a slog. Noise Complaint – A solid closer with one of the more disturbing stories.

Of course, there is also the wrap-around of the sleepover, which is neither good nor bad. It sets things up nicely and ends in a gleeful way.

There are a lot of stories here, perhaps too many, but most come in at around the 5-minute mark so are very digestible. The acting in most of them holds up, aside from some iffy dialogue here and there, and some cringy reactions. The visuals are solid, surprisingly so considering the low-budget nature of the anthology, and the reliance on atmosphere over blood and guts works in its favour.

Putting it simply, Scary Story Slumber Party surprises because it’s a solid and entertaining anthology with a mix of strong and weak tales to tell. The potential shown suggests with a bit more money, those behind this could do something pretty special.