Kid You're a Case
The Slumber Party Massacre (1986)
directed by Amy Holden Jones
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
The 76-minute Slumber Party Massacre was written by Rita Mae Brown as a parody of the slasher genre but filmed by Jones (at the behest of her producers) straight down the line. It begins with a tracking shot along the length of a palm tree while a kid delivers papers at sunrise. The protagonist - one of two - stands naked in front of a mirror, then puts the stuffed animals from her bed into a plastic bag to take out to the trash.
Women occupy the usual men's roles, as coach, telephone repair technician, or jack of all trades. The killer is a man whose identity is revealed early on but proves irrelevant. He is persistent and matter-of-fact with his work; the body count is unusually high.
I think this is what I wanted Jennifer's Body - another horror film written and directed by two women - to be. The girls are flirtatious, but beyond their outrageous talk about basketball ("I love all those great big guys in their little shorts!") or breast size ("You know, I think your tits are getting bigger!") they converse in a casual way that feels completely genuine to the adolescent experience. If there is a hook beyond the promise of nudity and ongoing gore, it concerns the new girl at school, who is pretty but despised by her teammates and elects to stay at home with her sister, conveniently next door to the all-night soiree.
Val and her sis read fashion and gossip magazines, then take turns scaring one another with the same set of trash cans outside. Each girl's jealousy or resentment cuts deeper than the usual small talk ("You were beating off boys in the fifth grade!"), and the speed with which they turn from enemies to partners rings true as sibling rivalry. I don't want to make too much of it, and my enthusiasm might be what a month away from a month's worth of horror films does to a guy in late November, but I wish that more movies were just like this.
Take the neighbor, Mr. Contant, who certainly looks scarier than the killer. An average creep with an "easy living" California quality about him, he's done in by the guy with the power drill while hunting snails with a cleaver in the dark. The actress who played Val is beautiful and died young, but don't let a sad story dissuade you.
"Since I'm the only one dressed, I'll go get wood for the fire!"
directed by Amy Holden Jones
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
The 76-minute Slumber Party Massacre was written by Rita Mae Brown as a parody of the slasher genre but filmed by Jones (at the behest of her producers) straight down the line. It begins with a tracking shot along the length of a palm tree while a kid delivers papers at sunrise. The protagonist - one of two - stands naked in front of a mirror, then puts the stuffed animals from her bed into a plastic bag to take out to the trash.
Women occupy the usual men's roles, as coach, telephone repair technician, or jack of all trades. The killer is a man whose identity is revealed early on but proves irrelevant. He is persistent and matter-of-fact with his work; the body count is unusually high.
I think this is what I wanted Jennifer's Body - another horror film written and directed by two women - to be. The girls are flirtatious, but beyond their outrageous talk about basketball ("I love all those great big guys in their little shorts!") or breast size ("You know, I think your tits are getting bigger!") they converse in a casual way that feels completely genuine to the adolescent experience. If there is a hook beyond the promise of nudity and ongoing gore, it concerns the new girl at school, who is pretty but despised by her teammates and elects to stay at home with her sister, conveniently next door to the all-night soiree.
Val and her sis read fashion and gossip magazines, then take turns scaring one another with the same set of trash cans outside. Each girl's jealousy or resentment cuts deeper than the usual small talk ("You were beating off boys in the fifth grade!"), and the speed with which they turn from enemies to partners rings true as sibling rivalry. I don't want to make too much of it, and my enthusiasm might be what a month away from a month's worth of horror films does to a guy in late November, but I wish that more movies were just like this.
Take the neighbor, Mr. Contant, who certainly looks scarier than the killer. An average creep with an "easy living" California quality about him, he's done in by the guy with the power drill while hunting snails with a cleaver in the dark. The actress who played Val is beautiful and died young, but don't let a sad story dissuade you.
"Since I'm the only one dressed, I'll go get wood for the fire!"
posted by NPK at 12:16 AM
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