#setting: school

Girls Nite Out (1982)

On the slightly higher end of campus slashers, which is to say that it’s kinda okay. The characters are mostly annoying, and for the most part the going on don’t really matter, but they do at least try to sow some seeds of suspicion as to who the killer is. Of course then that’s all thrown out the window in favor of a big shock reveal at the end that honestly raises more questions than it answers, while also drawing on an overused inspiration in this particular subgenre.

Overall this is a movie that’s only really remarkable for one thing. Fortunately that remarkable thing is a killer dressed in a bear mascot costume. But without that it mostly just fades into the dozens of other college slasher films pumped out in the 80s. So it really comes down to how much you want to see that one specific thing.

Author: ingberry

Rating: Explicit 

Setting: ModernAU

Word Count: 8k

Summary: Camelot – the town where mansions are ten a penny, the town that welcomes film stars, famous authors, an ex-Spice Girl and the IT-investors of the 90s.

The home to sixth form parties that cost enough to feed a whole family for months.

Also home to Hunith Emrys Investigations, Camelot's only private detective agency.

Fatal Pulse (1988)

A straightforward pseudo-slasher about sorority girls getting murdered with their tits out. Now, I’m generally a fan of movies where sorority girls get murdered with their tits out, and if nothing else I do have to respect this movie’s dedication to making sure each set of tits are unleashed before or during the death scene, but unfortunately this is a movie that even a comical amount of tits can’t save. As the murders occur, everyone just kinda fails to react for the most part, the entire sorority gets killed, and yet the final girl is still in the house where it keep happening. The leading man is also aggressively unremarkable, with stiff wooden acting and motivations that make no sense. It’s not even clear if we’re supposed to suspect that he’s the killer, other people suspect that he’s the killer because he can't account for his whereabouts during the murders, but neither can the audience. He is a character that only seems to exist when he is on screen, and then just kinda despawns whenever he’s not. So overall just not worth the time to watch it.

A very solid slasher with such good pacing that you barely notice that the first kill doesn't happen until an hour in. However, there is something of an overuse of red herrings throughout. Like to the point that you suspect the killer is anyone other than who they seem to want you to think is the killer. Overall, just another entry in the freakishly-specific genre of "Genre-defining slashers staring Jamie Lee Curtis."

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)

Quite a shift from the previous film—which will be something of a theme for this franchise—this entry drops the slasher subgenre in favor of possession, focusing on the vengeful spirit of a murdered prom queen. It's kinda unfortunate that it was released as a sequel in name only, because it really is a strong enough movie that it could have been successful without slapping the "Prom Night" title on it. A decision that may have actually been detrimental in the long run.

The Prowler (1981)

Great slasher from beginning to end, with very high quality in the effects—the numerous pitchfork kills are neat, if not thematically odd. It is also a movie that tells you the whodunit, but makes you figure out the whydunit yourself.

7/10

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

First entry, but also part 3 in the “H20 Timeline,” picking up 20 years after the events of the first two movies. It’s far from perfect, but definitely a better Halloween 3 than Halloween 4 (this is a weird series). It gets a little bit into the meta quality of the post-modern slasher era, but not so much as to feel like it's just trying to be another Scream.

6/10

The House on Sorority Row (1982)

Pretty good "college girls get murdered after doing bad thing" movie with some unexpectedly high-aesthetic visuals. Although the mystery element does basically dare you to not figure it out halfway through

6/10