Reviews

"The House On The Sorority Row" came in the right moment; the early 80's.

The "Friday the 13th" franchise commanded the slasher explosion by 1983.

Tons of slasher movies were released but only few are still in the memory of horror fans. "House On The Sorority Row" may be one of those films that are still remembered and recurred for some slasher fun.

The plot is somewhat inspired by Friday the 13th. The movie starts with Ms. Slater giving birth to a boy... Sadly, she has to abort due to some difficulties. Twenty years later (or more)Ms. Slater -now the owner and director of a sorority house for girls-is killed by the sorority girls. The girls killed her accidentally as they were planning a prank on her. These girls try to hide Ms. Slater's dead body outside the house. Unfortunately to them, the body disappears and suddenly these girls and their boyfriends start to disappear. One by one, these teens are brutally murdered inside and near the Sorority house. Katie Rose (one of the girls that had to do with the murder) finds 2 dead people and believes that Ms. Slater didn't die and now is doing the murders. Katie goes with the Doctor that 20 years witnessed Ms. Slater's abortion. To Katie's surprise, the Doctor confessed that the child didn't die and probably is living inside the house.

Katie and her boyfriend especulate that Ms. Slater's son watched her mother being killed and now is taking revenge. Katie realizes that her friends are still on the house and their lives are in risk. Could it be that Ms. Slater came from the grave and is taking revenge? Is it possible that Ms. Slater's son is alive? Katie and her boyfriend return to the house to solve the mystery and stop the killing spree. Witness one of the most shocking and terrorific endings in slasher cinema.

"House On The Sorority Row" delivers a great slasher experience as it's gory, suspenful, and very well directed. The acing and fun factor are interesting as you can imagine the outcome of the movie but you're never sure about it. The best thing about the movie is the creepy atmosphere. You can say the girls are terrorized while being inside the dark, big house.

This movie was the producer's first and last experiece in the industry. I think these people had a good potential in the genre. This movie is buried in the slasher cementery, just behind the precursor franchises of the genre.

4/10 Overall. On the slasher rating: 7/10

The first half hour of the movie is not that bad, I kinda enjoyed it. After the first hour, the movie turns terrible and boring. The acting is quite good, and that may be the best thing about this terrible werewolf movie. *Spoilers* The ending is as cheesy as possible, I mean how could the dog beat the hell out of the big bad hungry werewolf?! Beyond reason. I guess that the mom shooting at the werewolf would've worked as a better ending.

*End of spoilers* Watch BADMOON for some mindless entertainment, if y watch it do it at midnight or past it when your brain cells are about to get some rest so you'll forget about this one...

2/10 -After watching it, immediately boot it to the trash can!

"Hide And Go Shriek" is by no means a good slasher film. In fact, it doesn't stands out of the pile of late 80's slashers. The film starts in a very creepy way... You have to watch it to believe it. After the suggestive beginning, we get to know the victims, I mean the main characters. These teens celebrate their graduation spending the night at a furniture store. They plan to get some drinks and of course! have pre marital irresponsible sex. Great fun!.

*SPOILERS* The security of the store is in charge of Fred, an ex con with intentions to start a new life. As the night avances, one by one this horny and dumb teens start to disappear one by one. These teens are killed by a lunatic maniac that after murdering them, uses their clothes to add more confusion.

Four of these teens discover their dead friends and by casuality find Fred, which leads them to suspect of him as being the murderer. Anyone wouldn't trust in Fred's looks! One of them physically beats Fred while the others tie him. Anyways at the end of the night these teens find themselves against Zack, the killer. Zack turns to be Fred's ex boyfriend, they met and started their twisted relationship while they were on jail. Fred took care of Zack in jail. Now Zack started a killing spree because he thought these teens would interpose between himself and his ... man.

Zack is a very disgusting character, just look at him he's as creepy as Michael Myers! Take my word. *END OF SPOILERS*

Watch "Hide And Go Shriek" for some fun. Bunky Jones is hot as hell by the way. This fim is filled with bad acting, bad f/x, and terrible acting. Just don't take the film seriously and you'll enjoy it.

2/10 -After watching it, immediately boot it to the trash can!

Decent slasher? Depends on your cheese factor likes. Credited as an inspiration to the "Blair Witch Project", this movie tries to stand out of the slashers garbage of the early 80's. Actually, the direct inspiration for the Blair Witch mess, is the 1979's carnage "Cannibal Holocaust", by Ruggero Deodato. That's another topic.

*SPOILERS* Some students led by their professor start a trip to investigate about the truth about the Big Foot. They get testimony from people that claim to have past encounters with the blood thirsty monster. These explorers get deep in the woods and discover a terrorific fact about the Big Foot. They find a girl that was raped in the woods by a horrible monster and in consequence (?!) she had the monster's baby. Her father, a lunatic religious fanatic killed the baby. This woman (Wanda) reveals that she burned her father; after revealing such a horrendous fact, the Big Foot comes into the house and brutally murders these dumb students. The professor survives the attack, but he is marked for life as he suffered 3rd. degree burns in his face. The scars will always remind him about that horrendous day when he was attacked by the Big Foot. Ok that's about what happens in the movie, as the professor's story is told in slow and boring flashbacks. The movie gets quite interesting towards the ending. The expedition turned to be a horrible and bloody massacre in the woods. Something to forget, for sure.

*END OF SPOILERS* "Night Of The Demon" is very gory; in fact it's one of the goriest film of the 80's slasher glory. All the murders are extremely graphic, and are shown in slow motion. The film is disturbing, the grizzly deaths and the good make-up f/x used in the film are outstanding, and look good for an early 80's B-movie.

And yes the film is as cheesy as you can get, sometimes it's unintentionally funny. So no, there's no fear factor. Check out this movie, it has some good moments and the gore factor quenches your slasher thirst. I suggest you to watch the video version of the film, the t.v. version is heavily cut. I don't know if it's still available, I bought this hidden gem 5 years ago when my local video store was selling their old horror titles.

I recommend "Night Of The Demon" to all of you, slasher addicts! Watch it with very low expectations.

4/10 -Mediocre fun!

First, newcomer fans of the FRIDAY THE 13TH films have been very unfair with this 5th. installment. Die hard fans usually try to point the best moments of the movies (sometimes a hard task) and of course making emphasis on the worst things.

The good things about A NEW BEGINNING. Okay, the murders and the body count. Before JASON X this film had the highest body count. There's plenty of gore and some of the deaths were improved though the last 5 deaths were performed by the old machete. So A NEW BEGINNING succees in being a good slasher flick. Just take away the FRIDAY THE 13TH label and this would've worked. Another thing. Bringing back Tommy Jarvis was a clever decision. He's the favorite character of the fans (besides Jason) and he's still haunted by the remember of that horrible night when he killed Jason Voorhees for the 1st. time. Sadly, his character didn't have an evolution in this film. Another good thing, Tiffany Helm. Seriously, A NEW BEGINNING shouldn't be bashed if you watch it objectively.

Think about this, it's good that this film didn't feature Jason Voorhees doing the killings as the storyline and the situations weren't the best in the series. In JASON LIVES, Jason Voorhees gets a great and deserved return as the #1 maniac killer.

The bad things about A NEW BEGINNING. Where to start? First of all, the acting. This film has the worst acting in the series! The worst actors in the movie are Junior and his mother. Honorable mentions include Jake, Robin, and the guy who asks for a meal. Second, Tommy Jarvis' character is useless, and his storyline does not evolve during the film. Third (sorry if it took very long), Jason is not physically present on this film. Besides the opening dream sequence, Jason just appears in Tommy's hallucinations. Jason is present in the whole movie, at least the idea of him. The direction is terrible, the film is dull. It gets boring as there aren't any camera improvements.

And the worst thing about the film... ***SPOILERS*** As everyone knows, Roy Burns takes Jason's role in the killings. The ending. What the hell? Tommy murdered Pam? It's never explained.

Tommy escaped from the hospital? The opening sequence of JASON LIVES happens immediately after his escape? It's obvious that not, but if he murdered Pam then how could he escape and manage to return to the institution and meet Hawes? Too good he killed Roy Burns, because his character didn't do a single thing in the whole movie! And John Sheperd was awful. Too good Thom Matthews took the role of Tommy in JASON LIVES. If you want Jason then watch Friday 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, X, or FVSJ. Don't bash this film just because he isn't the killer. Other thing, it's clear that Roy started the killing spree because his son has murdered and he knew about Jason's legend. He killed the innocent people in the institution but he didn't avenge the death of his son. What if Vic did some of the killings? Nevermind...

***END OF SPOILERS*** Give a chance to A NEW BEGINNING, it's a decent slasher film. It ha some likeable characters as Tommy, Pam, Violet and Reggie. I felt sorry for Reggie, I mean his grandpa and his brother killed in the same night. Watch this film with low expectations, and you'll be kind of surprised at how this movie tried to be a decent addition to the series. Surely it's not the best but deserves a watch as it has to do with Jason Voorhees.

THE FINAL CHAPTER. Back in the 80's I guess that everyone didn't believe about the title. A Friday movie for every year since 1980 (expect 1983) making millions... why would Paramount kill their golden cow?. THE FINAL CHAPTER is not the best addition in the series, even though it features a gory and creepy death for Jason. Oh man, Jason what are we gonna do with you?!

*SPOILERS** The characters are kind of likeable, but their development is just non existent. Rob was a potential character, he seemed tough and obsessed with Jason. BUT NO, he just let himself die without using his hands when Jason attacked him. Trish was a good lead, she was brave enough to fight with a weak and tired Jason. That's the next complaint. Ted White gives the worst performance of Jason in the series. This time, Jason looks scared, vulnerable, and weak. He is not half as brutal as he was in part 3, or scary and clever as in part 2. In THE FINAL CHAPTER, Jason just appears about 15 minutes in the entire movie! What? It was supposed to be his last film (where have I heard this? Mmm JGTH?). Jason is half the man he used to be in this film. THE GOOD STUFF. Tommy Jarvis is introduced as Jason's worst enemy. This character was featured in 3 Friday films. Sara! Wow she was pretty and hot at the same time. She seemed shy and cute, but she ends the night being a big seductress. Barbara Howard is very hot. Nevermind...

Jason's death is great, gore at it's best. Thanks Tom Savini.

Joseph Zito's direction is acceptable, though it's not as good as Miner's in part 2.

*SPOILERS* One a day after the Higgins Haven grizzly events, Jason's "dead" body is translated to Crystal Lake's morgue. There, he manages to escape and kills Nurse Morgan and Axel. You can imagine Jason's next route. You guess right! Camp Crystal Lake, Jason's favorite place. On his way to it he kills a female hitchhiker, and he watches and memorizes his next victims on a van.

His killing spree begins at night where he murders Paul and his girlfriend, Ms. Jarvis, Tina, Terri, Jimmy, Ted, Sara, Doug , Gordon the dog!, (I recovered my breath) and finally Rob. Just as quickly as you can imagine. The end ends with Trish and Tommy running for their lives.

Tommy finds newspapers about Jason in Rob's camping bag, and he dresses and cuts his hair as the 11 year old Jason that drowned in Crystal Lake. Jason is haunted by that day where he died and when he's about to get to Tommy, Trish takes off his mask with a machete revealing his horrible face. Jason (madly in anger) walks towards Trish, but Tommy takes the machete and stabs it on Jason's head. When Jason falls to the floor, the machete slices his head. Apparently, the machete passed through his temple, then his left eye, finally to his brain. Gory, yes. Satisfying, yes.

*END OF SPOILERS* This addition to the series is probably the least mentioned. Besides Jason's death, there's nothing good about this film. Jason is featured until the end, and the plot is just a mix of part 1, and 3. Tom Savini's make up saves this film from being the worst in the franchise. Anyways, it's a decent slasher film. Recommended for newcomer fans of the series. Die hard fans have to agree that this isn't by any means the best in the series. We all knew this wouldn't be the final chapter! The producers prepared us for the great JASON LIVES. THE FINAL CHAPTER just ended with Jason's humanity, leading to a brand new Jason.