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'Massacre': Cheap Kills
Washington Post, The (DC) - September 6, 1982
Author: Richard Harrington
"The Slumber Party Massacre," a despicable stalk-and-slash exercise currently at a dozen area theaters, proves not only that blood tends to flow more freely than fresh ideas in that genre, but that an equal-opportunity employer can also be an equal-opportunity exploiter.
"Massacre" was written by feminist writer Rita Mae Brown and directed by Amy Jones, moving behind the camera for the first time after editing several Roger Corman features. One hopes Brown did it for the money, because there is not a single line or plot device in the film that suggests a feminist viewpoint or intelligence. Even the title sets up a typically misogynist mentality: Because it's a slumber party, most of the victims will be women.
"Massacre" was reported shot for $250,000 -- less than most half-hour TV shows -- and it shows in the bare-bones plot, the minimal acting abilities of an unknown cast, and the repetitive methods of dispatch.
As the opening credits unfold, a newspaper headline blares "Mass Murderer of 5: Russ Thorn Escapes," a high school girl's parents leave for the weekend and she decides to have a slumber party. Meanwhile, Thorn (played with bug-eyed somnolence by Michael Vilella) warms up with a couple of killings and then parks himself under the front porch and starts working on a new record. His principal weapon is an electric drill with a three-foot bit -- a piece of phallic symbolism somewhat lacking in subtlety. Thorn eventually kills six girls, four boys and one man before several nice-girls-as-vengeful-survivors get even; like the Shape that won't die in "Halloween," though, it's not over without two or three false endings, all badly conceived. And we never do learn Thorn's motive.
There's abundant nudity in the film's early setting in a girl's shower room, where the basketball team looks like it was recruited from the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. There's a lot of casual conversation hinting at violence ("Oh, she'll just kill me," etc., etc.). There's even some humor, but precious little of it.
Otherwise, "Massacre" is a formula slasher film, with more false startles than most, segues that make no sense, below-average gruesome effects and every cliche'd encounter imaginable. There's even a weak rip of the "Halloween" musical theme, but "Massacre" is all trick and no treat. The whole thing is a bit we've seen before, dulled by uninspired writing and directing.
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SOME ARE HORRIFIED SHE WROTE THIS FILM
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - September 25, 1982
Author: GAIL SHISTER
Inquirer Staff Writer
Don't look now, but the screenwriter for The Slumber Party Massacre, the latest horror film to feature violence against women, is feminist author Rita Mae Brown.
Brown, 37, whose first novel, Rubyfruit Jungle, became a lesbian cult classic in 1973, never considered using a nom de plume for the film, which opened here yesterday. Indeed, she readily accepted the assignment from executive producer Roger Corman , for whom she had written an earlier screenplay, which was never produced.
"Look, (directors) Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola both started at the bottom of the barrel with Roger. Me, too," said Brown yesterday from San Francisco, where she is working on a screenplay for Disney Productions. She will return to her 21-acre farm in Charlottesville, Va., on Monday.
"You look at their early work, working on practically a zero budget," the women's activist continued. "The important thing is that it got their foot in the door. I want my name out there. It's the only way I'll get to do other things. In this business, you do what you have to do. Nobody will let me write what I want to write until I go through the steps."
The outspoken Brown - whose affair with and split from tennis star Martina Navratilova was widely publicized - said she had already received flak from women's groups about the film, which has been playing for several weeks in other areas of the country.
"I'm not making any apologies," she said. "Women's groups complain that women are victims in the movie. My answer to them is that the women in the movie save themselves.
"Besides, nobody will pay much attention to this movie. There's nothing particularly significant about it. It's just another horror movie."
Brown's latest novel, Southern Discomfort, hit the stands last spring, and her teleplay for Norman Lear, I Love Liberty, was nominated for a 1982 Emmy. Slumber Party, which she wrote in three months, had a total production budget of $250,000 ("You can't even buy a (Rolls-Royce) Corniche for that") and marked the debut of director Amy Jones.
The film revolves around a "typical" high school girls' slumber party in Sacramento, Calif. A grizzly killer terrorizes the group, murdering some of the girls and all of their boyfriends. Eventually, three of the girls escape.
At least that's what Brown thinks. She hasn't seen the movie, her fourth screenplay, and she has no intention of seeing it. "I hate horror films," she said. "Real life is scary enough. Why pay money to be scared?"
Besides, there were many changes made in the screenplay. Corman - whose reputation and fortune were first established by such low-budget horrors as She-Gods of Shark Reef and A Bucket of Blood - gave the killer a power drill as the murder weapon. (Advertisements for the movie have featured the slogan, ''He's dressed to drill!") Brown had merely envisioned him "using anything he could get his hands on" to do his dirty work. Her original title, Sleepless Nights, was also changed.
"Screenplays are never your own," she sighed. "You do it, and when it leaves your hands, God knows what will happen to it. You must maintain a great emotional distance from it. You can write a great screenplay and it can be a terrible movie. You can write a terrible screenplay and it can be a great movie."
Novels, on the other hand, "are always within your control," Brown said. Which is, in part, why she has no intention of abandoning her first love. Although she said she finds screenplays exceptionally easy to write, she will continue to create novels. Her next book, Sudden Death, about a reporter covering the women's professional tennis circuit, is to be released next spring.
In her 40s, she said her goal is to write a film about a contemporary man and woman who are friends, despite everyone's attempts to sexualize their relationship.
As far as her own relationships these days, Brown isn't talking.
"I'm feeling pretty good," said the woman who was reared in rural Florida. "My life is full of adventure. I get along with everybody. I don't expect life to be easy, so I'm not surprised by adversity. I stay to myself. I'm a country person and always will be. I'll go back to my farm for a couple of years and work. I'm
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