On The House on Sorority Row - A Review

The House on Sorority Row had this mystic status for me because it was often referenced by others as a mainstay of the slasher sub-genre, yet I had not seen it. It deserves its cachet, as it is certainly one of the frontrunners in its group, but I think the conceit was used more than the concept in most of the similar films that followed (Slumber Party Massacre, et.al.). The House on Sorority Row has little nudity and one sex scene, both early-on in the movie, but literally every other slasher trope is present.

HSR brings all of it, from the overly-wrought childhood psychology to the domineering, old woman authority figure, to a medical conspiracy plot that would have been at-home in any Devil Flick. This is a good film to watch to learn the Horror Movie "Rules" before they became cliches. It also brings the requisite gore one expects from the Slasher, though it lacks a handful or two of boobs.

Don't we all, though?

A lot of these progenitors of the form were actually shot as Scooby and the Gang-type mysteries; the gore was added later to appeal to current market trends. Most of the archetypes for the slasher involve the overwrought childhood psychology angle, and HSR is no exception, but this one -- like The Silent Scream -- is far more invested in its plot than its characters or special effects, and just barely misses its mark because of that. It appears a lot of these early slashers were similarly retooled before release, which explains why a lot of them could have been pretty good, but... weren't.

The Gothic angle is steep in The House on Sorority Row -- which makes perfect sense and is actually fairly well-executed -- so steep that, once you think about it, the gore sticks-out as an obvious afterthought, though I don't remember thinking that the first time through. You get the feeling that something is not "clicking," but it isn't that obvious. This is one slasher flick that could truly be argued to have been hurt by the gore, but I don't want to be in that argument.

The kills are pretty effective and the reveal works well, and The House on Sorority Row has a pretty kick-ass ending, so even though it's uneven, it deserves its place as one of the "forgotten" slasher classics.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010