Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Awesome Movie

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's been eight years since I watched the original "Slumber Party Massacre" and I must have seen another couple of hundred worthless slasher movies in between then and now, so I can't really remember a whole lot about it, except that it was decent horror from the Roger Corman stable; written and directed by feminist ladies. The opening sequences of this sequel immediately somewhat refreshed my memory, though, as we start with a compilation of grisly images of the original during a nightmare flashback and the revelation that the lead girl is the younger sister of the soul surviving heroine. All ready and set for a mindlessly entertaining slasher sequel you'd think, right? Wrong! Incomprehensibly enough, writer/director Deborah Brock totally messed up the easy success formula and delivered one of the most irritating, retarded and pointless horror movies of the 1980's. Instead of visiting her older sister in the asylum, Courtney understandably prefers to spend her birthday weekend with the fellow members of her all-girls pop-rock band at a remote condo. And you know, of course, the first thing a bunch of girls do when they're all alone: dance, pour cheap champagne over each other and take off the bras! Then the insufferable prankster boyfriends show up and one girl struggles with a fiendish facial pimple. But the one major and unforgivable blunder of the film is the absence of - OR – the absurd persona of the killer. I specifically emphasize the word "or" because it's debatable whether the killer is for real or only existing in Courtney's troubled little mind. For nearly three quarters of the running time, the only "horror" situations occur in Courtney's imagination. She sees blood pouring out of the bathtub, severed hands in sandwiches, dead chickens attacking from inside the refrigerator (I kid you not) and an Elvis Presley type of maniac with a drilling tool attached to his already ridiculous guitar. Then, all of a sudden, he actually does step into the room and starts killing off Courtney's friends. If he's real, where did he suddenly come from and why? If he's hallucinated, why does he perform stupid dance rituals and sings lousy songs? Whatever he is, he simultaneously is the most irritating and the least menacing killer of the entire decade. The few good gory murders and above average make-up effects can't rescue this film from sheer idiocy. For some incomprehensible reason, the prettiest (and bustiest) girl of the bunch always keeps her clothes on, which is weird because she – Kimberly McArthur – apparently was a former Playboy Playmate of the Month. Doesn't this title imply guaranteed boobs? I wouldn't go as far to label "Slumber Party Massacre II" the poorest slasher of the eighties, since there's so much irredeemably crap out there ("Appointment with Fear", "Blood Lake", The Stay Awake" …"), but it's definitely bottom 20.

Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) * 1/2 (out of 4) Courtney, the youngest survivor of the first film, finds herself being haunted by dreams of a mysterious killer who is stalking her sister who just happens to be in an insane asylum. The teen decides to getaway for a weekend with her friends but soon their slumber party turns into a bloodbath as yet another killer with a drill shows up. SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II is best remembered for being one of the worst horror movies ever made and it easily lives up to that reputation but at the same time it's quite an original piece as there aren't many films that use a 50s rock and roller as a killer and give him a guitar with a drill on the end as a weapon. There's really nothing "good" about this film as everything is what you'd expect out of a direct-to-video release from this era. In fact, there's very little to connect this film to the first one, although they make it clear about Courtney being one of the survivors from the first film. Writer-director Brock does very little to try and build on anything from the first film and in the end it really comes off as if she was forced to connect the films in any way possible so that she could use footage from the first film here to add up some gore. The gore in the film is pretty much lacking and the most graphic scenes are clips from the first movie. The murder weapon here is just downright silly and you can't help but ask logical questions like how on Earth is the drill able to work. I'm not sure whose idea it was to put a drill on a guitar but it's certainly one of the dumbest weapons in horror history. Another really bad thing is the music, which we sadly get quite a bit of. There are several songs in the film but they're horrible and even worse are the songs that the girls sing throughout. The film runs 77-minutes and not much really happens until the fifty-minute mark and that's when the film goes into overdrive to make sure all the characters are killed off. The film is all over the place so it's hard to keep up with what's going on and it appears that the kids are all killed off without much thought. The majority of the running time has Courtney having dreams or seeing various strange things including one scene where a frozen chicken attacks her! The most notorious scene has one of her friend's face explode due to an extra large pimple. The performances are all pretty bad with Crystal Bernard really coming off silly and it's easy to see why she refuses to admit that she was ever in the movie. As horrid as this film there's still no question that it's mildly entertaining just because of how bad it is. I can't imagine anyone not watching this thing with their jaw not on the floor and in shock just waiting to see what happens next. The movie is one of the strangest and most bizarre films from its era and that's saying quite a bit considering how weird movies were hitting video shelves back in the day.

It's rare that I'm stunned to silence, but SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II was able to do just that. It's bizarre right from the word go and we are never fully certain if any of what is shown is real or the product of a very disturbed mind. Crystal Bernard(..of the television hit "Wings" fame) stars as the troubled Courtney, a teenager who escaped from a murderer and has never fully recovered from the incident(..incidentally, her sister is in an institution). She is having nightmarish visions of her friends being butchered by this leather jacket, slick-haired reject from the 50's using a tripped out guitar with a power drill at the end. Courtney convinces her mother to allow her to go with girlfriends(..the four girls make up a band)to a pal's summer beach house. This is where some boyfriends show up for some laughs and giggles, but Courtney continues seeing her nightmare drill-killer, along with other weird, freakish images(..such as her girlfriend's face yielding a massive, puss oozing pimple, and a chicken that attacks her from the fridge!), really bringing a serious drag to the festivities. Soon, the killer manifests, it seems, in reality, and begins terrorizing everyone close to Courtney..attempts to flee fail as the drill-killer pops up magically as if there's no escape. That's about as vivid an explanation as I can possibly whip up. It's really quite a wacky, gory ride with some very impressive make-up effects as victims are bored right through by the power drill. Atanas Ilitch, who seems to be an inspired variation on Freddy Kreuger, has a field day with his role, dancing and grinning, even stopping for a musical interlude before using his drill to penetrate the chest of another victim. Very attractive cast who die horribly. Some effective camera angles as director Deborah Brock distorts what we see visually, with the film always questioning Courtney's sanity. I think it would be best to approach this daffy slasher with the right kind of attitude, because it's very strange stuff. What a crazy weapon!

The Plot = After Vicki's friends were brutally murdered at a slumber party a couple of years ago she was admitted to an asylum. Her younger sister, Courtney is all grown up now though and is getting ready to leave for a slumber party weekend with her girlfriends. What she doesn't know is that someone is all ready there, waiting for them... or is it all in Courtney's mind?Naked girls in pillow fights, a killer with a drill at the end of his guitar and weird hallucinations, wow did this sequel change the story completely or what. The first "Slumber Party Massacre" was good, this sequel however is just too strange, It definitely ain't as good as the first one, I mean the dream sequences are just weird and the killer is far from scary to be honest I found him rather stupid He looks like he was pulled out from some 80s rock band with his leather jacket and very customised guitar. I guess they tried to make it a bit more original than the first one. Either way, It's is still a very entertaining movie and if you liked the first one, you will definitely like this one as well.