Today it isn't nearly as easy anymore to remake a slasher classic from the 70s or 80s than it was, say, in the early 2000s. I bet you also know why. These days nothing can be offensive or provocative anymore, and everything must be so-called Woke. Beautiful blond women cannot be portrayed as dumb or as sex-objects anymore. Vicious killers aren't allowed to be physically deformed or mentally handicapped anymore. People of different color or race can't be murdered anymore, or at least not as the first victims. Let it just so happen that all of these were "trademarks" of the slasher. Why bother to make anymore remakes then?
Luckily, within every generation of horror directors and writers, there are a few gifted prodigies that find workarounds. And some people are even so bright and gifted that they manage to create an enjoyable blood-soaked slasher AND a playfully clever parody at the same time! For their re-imaging of the 1982 semi-classic "Slumber Party Massacre" (which already was sort of a feminist slasher, as it was directed by a woman), writer Suzanne Keilly and director Danishka Esterhazy masterfully depart from all the original slasher clichés and turn them upside down. The hot young girls are utmost lethal and relentless, while the males are disposable eye-candy, and the killer is an insignificant side-character!
"Slumber Party Massacre" can still be considered as an old-fashioned slasher, plentiful of gory kills and inventive murdering methods, but it's also an admirably slick and tongue-in-cheek spoof. The scenes with the hysterically pillow-fighting and gratuitously showering boys are formidable, and the simple fact that two of them are so redundant they are simply named Guy 1 and Guy 2 is downright brilliant. Oh, and one extra point for the (albeit predictable) "Friday the 13th" homage during the climax.
Luckily, within every generation of horror directors and writers, there are a few gifted prodigies that find workarounds. And some people are even so bright and gifted that they manage to create an enjoyable blood-soaked slasher AND a playfully clever parody at the same time! For their re-imaging of the 1982 semi-classic "Slumber Party Massacre" (which already was sort of a feminist slasher, as it was directed by a woman), writer Suzanne Keilly and director Danishka Esterhazy masterfully depart from all the original slasher clichés and turn them upside down. The hot young girls are utmost lethal and relentless, while the males are disposable eye-candy, and the killer is an insignificant side-character!
"Slumber Party Massacre" can still be considered as an old-fashioned slasher, plentiful of gory kills and inventive murdering methods, but it's also an admirably slick and tongue-in-cheek spoof. The scenes with the hysterically pillow-fighting and gratuitously showering boys are formidable, and the simple fact that two of them are so redundant they are simply named Guy 1 and Guy 2 is downright brilliant. Oh, and one extra point for the (albeit predictable) "Friday the 13th" homage during the climax.