Horror Movie Review: Slumber Party Massacre – Remake (2021)

The Slumber Party Massacre was a 1982 slasher horror movie and the first in the Slumber Party Massacre trilogy. It, and the two films that followed it, was notable for being the first horror movie series to be directed exclusively by women.

While that is very cool, the original 1982 movie was just an OK movie. It’s not a bad film, there is a fair amount to enjoy if you watch it in a bubble. Try and forget that we’ve had a bazillion slashers both before and after, then we have a decent movie with flaws that aren’t easy to overlook. You can read our full review here.

Do you need to watch it before seeing this remake/reimagining? No, not really. However, it is recommended. Simply because the references and general tone of this one might confuse if you haven’t. For example, Slumber Party Massacre 2021 is more of a slasher parody than an outright horror.

This tone was how the original 1982 film was written to be. When it came to shooting, it ended up being a traditional slasher horror with some humour elements here and there.

This parody idea, mixed with modern thinking and plenty of blood and gore, is what we get here. At times, it’s brilliant and hilarious. At others, it tries a little too hard and fails to sustain interest. Black Christmas 2019 this is not though.

Continuing the trend of the original trilogy, Slumber Party Massacre is directed by Danishka Esterhazy and written by Suzanne Keilly. It stars Hannah Gonera, Frances Sholto-Douglas, Alex McGregor, Mila Rayne, Reze-Tiana Wessels and Rob Van Vuuren.

It begins in 1993 as a group of teenage women are attacked and killed while staying in a cabin on a lake in Holly Springs. One named Trish manages to survive, fighting off the power drill wielding killer known as Russ Thorn and leaving him for dead at the bottom of the lake. His body is never found though.

Many years later, Trish has her own teenage daughter named Dana and is worried about her going away for the weekend with her friends. Under her daughter’s insistence and her desire to move on from what happened to her, she relents.

Dana, Maeve, Breanie, Ashley and stowaway sister of Maeve, Ashley all head off for a slumber party weekend at the same lake where the murders happened. The plan seems to be all about drinking, dancing and maybe even some action too, as across the lake, a group of boys are also there for the weekend.

Russ Thorn has other ideas though. Returning to end the revelry with his massive power drill. It’s almost too easy and the most basic slasher movie storytelling you could ever see. However, Slumber Party Massacre throws a major curveball and turns the entire film’s direction on its head. The clues are there but subtle enough to still make the shift so surprising. Clues such as the boys not being a bunch of frats, having a better slumber party than the girls and even having two of them named ‘Guy’ meaning they refer to one as ‘Guy 2’. That’s funny stuff.

There’s a lot of this slasher poking and it is all mostly funny and clever. What each person finds amusing will differ but personally scenes like a sexy, slow shower for one of the men was genus. It’s super-titillating, the music is porn-esqe and it’s shot up close to his naked body. How many times have we seen this exact scene done with a woman?

The same goes for the modern ‘woke’ aspects. Where, unlike Black Christmas, here they used for laughs and character connections rather than horrid jabs at one sex over the other. Another great scene involves one of the boys accuse the girls of being man-hating feminists, apologise and realise she is strong and fine on her own, so drives off. Much to her utter dismay!

Why? Well, the final third of the movie switches direction again and introduces a new killer who cuts a bloody path through much of the remaining cast. After spending so much time parodying slashers, it ends up becoming one fully with plenty of blood, guts and cool deaths.

This is where the film does lose momentum though and reverts to doing much of what it mocked before. It’s still very watchable, thanks to the fantastic cast, but it’s not quite as memorable.

It’s so rare to see a film like this. A remake/reimagining that is better than the original. Yes, it is being said. This is better than the 1982 original. That was a carbon copy of slashers we had already seen. This is too, but knows it, and plays up to it in excellent fashion. Highly entertaining, strongly-acted, paced well enough and with plenty of horror (though not scary at all) to sate thirsts.

Many who suffered through the ‘modern reimagining’ of Black Christmas will likely dread pressing play on this movie. Take our word for it though, this is a winner.