Slumber Party Massacre(1982) Friday at Midnite

Besides the classic standards (Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street), I'm not as well versed in the 80's slasher films as most of my compatriots in the horror community are. I don't think this makes me any worse of a person, but there are a shitload of trashy slasher flicks out there that I could have been renting in the 80's instead of the same kung-fu flicks over and over. Over the last several years I have been a bit obsessed with Giallo, and because of this interest I have found myself going back and watching the slashers I didn't get a chance to see 20 years ago. One I have been meaning to see for a long time is Slumber Party Massacre(1982). Not as much for it being a missed part of my movie-watching childhood. but more for the fact that it's a Roger Corman production, and I love the shit out of that guy. Thankfully Spectacle Theater is giving it a Midnite Screening this Friday, so not only do I finally have an option in front of me, I have an option with beer, popcorn, and a big screen.

Spectacle Theater says - "One of the great vintage cocktails of 80s horror is mixing in Roger Corman's school of budget filmmaking with some feminist horror and you come up The Slumber Party Massacre. 1982 brought many classic genres films, and the first of The Slumber Party Massacre trilogy is definitely one of them. This film starts out looking like your standard exploitation flick with gratuitous shots of T&A captured in a high school girls' locker room. Some middle-aged maniac with a jean jacket and an overly phallic drill is killing off these nubile LA suburban specimens as they frolic around during a slumber party one evening, doing the usual hijinks that middle-class girls do like smoke pot and eat pizza. The psycho killer's identity is never a mystery and his motivation is never really clear, except that he loves his female victims.

What makes this film unique in slasher film lore is that not only was it written by a feminist, but helmed by a young lady who turned Steven Spielberg's offer to edit E.T. She certainly chose wisely by accepting Mr. Corman's offer to make her directorial debut with The Slumber Party Massacre, a vintage 80s slasher horror film with gory kills, cheesy dialogue and future Scream Queen, Brinke Stevens, but that makes it much more satisfying than today's post-modern, ironic attitude towards Reagan-era horror fodder. Damn Hollywood if they ever decide to do a remake!
-- EME"

Did you know: Rita Mae Brown wrote a screenplay for a parody of teen/slasher flicks and titled it "Sleepless Nights". However, when she submitted it to the producers, they filmed it as if it weren't a parody and retitled it "Slumber Party Massacre". As a result, the movie displays a lot more humor, both intended and unintended, than others of this genre.(courtesy of IMDB)

Friday, June 17th at Midnight @ Spectacle 124 S. 3rd St., (at Bedford Ave.)Williamsburg, Brooklyn

First Friday at home in a loooong ass time..

I realize that most of the people I associate find the idea of New Years resolutions complete and utter bullshit, but a great deal of us still make them in secret. Hell, I'll be the first person to tell you that they only work for me for so long, but I still make the attempt. One of the promises I made to myself as soon as 2009 started was to stop going out to the bar so much. i have other hobbies that I should really be focusing on rather than looking down into an empty can of PBR wondering why it's 2 AM and I'm still sitting on a bar stool. I have plenty of movies to watch, and plenty of time to do it. And, truth be told, it's a helluva lot cheaper and less dangerous to my health. Yes, I am single and there really aren't members of the opposite sex randomly popping in my room for a drink, but based on the last couple of times I've met girls in bars, I am pretty close to saying "all set wit dat".

To get back to the reason I created this blog..movies. Last night I watched several in between naps and interwebby addiction. Let me go down the list with a brief summary for each.

Garo: hyper midnight action drama. Pretty much live action anime. From what I've read, this was actually a televsion series in Japan aimed towards a young adult crowd. I would hope so, considering the special I saw was full of death, blood, and sexual innuendo. Not that I'm trying to sound like a crabby old man, but young people should only be seeing this behind there parent's back. Modern-day super knights fighting demons. I can't believe they even brought out the Final Fantasy-style giant sword. It was quite amazing. The CGI wasn't exactly cutting edge, but when you mix it with the wire-fu and wholesale slaughter, it's a fuckin' blast.

Black Samson: I'm a huge fan of blaxploitation. Give me something with Pam Grier or Fred Williamson any day and you will see a very happy man. This movie didn't make me that happy. This was one of those many of cheaply made movies where the neighborhood hero spends the entire time pushing out the racist, mafia honkeys trying to take control of the black community by pushing junk in and harassing local business. Black Gestapo was much more entertaining and followed the same basic premise. Although Samson did have a pet lion and a bad ass staff, I new how the story was going to end. It is worth watching all through, especially during the ending action sequences.

Rock All Night: It's no secret I love Roger Corman's movies. Especially those starring Dick Miller. In this 1957 classic, Dick Miller plays a small fry with a napolean complex the size of mainland China. While hanging out in his local rock bar, he steps on the toes of most of the patrons coming in, even the gun-weilding killers who take the bar hostage midway through the movie. Even though Corman was the master of the low budget movie, this, and many others, has a good story and fun dialogue, at least from Dick Millers character. Plus performances from the Platters and the Blockbusters.

Lone Wolf and Cub:Sword of Vengeance:The coup de grace of my evening. I love japanese cinema, bar none. Especially the early seventies shit with all kinds of katana-play ending in decapitations and other dismemberments on a lager-than-life scale. When I get into to watching a Pinky Violence movie, and other exploitation from this era, you can be sure I'm not getting up, even for a piss break. this is the first installment of several movies based on the early manga comic of the same name. The former executioner for the Tokagawa Shogunate, now ronin samurai, travels the countryside pushing a baby carriage carrying his motherless child and taking jobs that require his expertise unitl the day he can avenge his family. Fairly basic revenge shit, like any good martial arts movie, with great direction,camera work and effects for the time. Iw ill be getting more into this series of movies over the next couple of days, since I plan on watching them all by next week. What a great end to the evening, I tell you.