Early 80s Slashers

The Slumber Party Massacre

Prom Night

On the eve of October, I thought it’d be apropos to pregame for spooky season with some campy 80s horror rife with unfettered teenage degeneracy, wanton violence, and fearless final girls. Every double feature in October will be a horror film, so let’s ease into the scary vibe with some lovably corny, but sordidly suspenseful movies that remind us just how much fun there is to be had within this genre. Slashers can come in many forms, but the foundation of this sub genre is built upon the killing of youth, particularly teenagers—especially those who party. Many who have dissected and analyzed slasher movies have come to the conclusion that they represent a release of sexual tension, a game of power shifts, a performance of gender and reproduction, and even expression of the darkest parts of our psyches. What I’ve found is that slasher movies mostly boil down to kids getting cut, sluts getting slashed, and an overall smattering of gory, merciless, sometimes creative murders. The Slumber Party Massacre, a rare female-written and directed horror film of the early 80s, is a colorful, chaotic, solidly stupid, unexpectedly brilliant display of slasher cinema. This film was shot in three weeks by a small film crew and a producer who, like every other producer of the 70s and 80s, demanded female nudity and a more gruesome ending—the latter of which proving to be a real benefit. Despite its era-ingrained male gaze, The Slumber Party Massacre was the little feminist horror movie that could: sneaking in bits of female empowerment and bold displays of male emasculation amid the titties and turbulence. Rita Mae Brown’s original screenplay was an outright parody of teen slashers, titled “Sleepless Nights”, but eventually became edited and interpreted as the accidentally-on-purpose tongue-in-cheek horror that we now know as The Slumber Party Massacre. As a blueprint of the Western slasher canon, this film has been ripped off by Brian De Palma and Quentin Tarantino, had multiple sequels and remakes, and is so beloved today because of its subtle but satisfying direction and sense of humor that is both genius and very very dumb. Starring a cast of nobodies that acted the hell out of this ridiculous script, and featuring truly some of the best screams in scream queen history, I was completely sold on this slasher. Amy Holden Jones’ direction made this film shockingly tense, implementing creeping moments of suspense amid the buffoonery. Above all else, the feminine power and slant to this entire movie made it an even more enjoyable experience, one that any slasher stan and feminist horror aficionado must see. The same could be said for Paul Lynch’s 1980 slasher Prom Night. Post-Carrie but pre-every other teen dance massacre, Prom Night delivered another exciting and silly slaughter of high schoolers, this time with less intentional laughs. OG scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis skillfully led this film, despite Leslie Nielsen appearing as the top-billed cast member, and kicked a typical amount of ass (AND did her own stunts!!) in one of the ugliest prom dresses I’ve ever seen. As much as I loved watching Prom Night, in its artfully-shot and ambitiously gruesome glory, reading the imdb fun facts page about it was equally as captivating, because the making of this film (as well as the recasting of Eve Plumb to Jamie Lee Curtis [Marcia Marcia Marcia much?]) was just as insane as the random five minute disco dance sequence forced into the middle of the movie. (This scene alone makes the movie worth the watch.) There was plenty of weirdness to this franchise-starter, but the goofiness and the gore were too good to ignore. An even more disturbing I Know What You Did Last Summer-esque premise and another set of brutally innovative slashings allowed me to see past all of the shortcomings of Prom Night, just as the humor, charm, and scrappy feminism distracted from the default male gaze of The Slumber Party Massacre. Perfect by no means but entertaining just the same, The Slumber Party Massacre and Prom Night are messy, memorable thrill rides that feel like the perfect intros to Halloween season. Brace yourself and stay tuned, dear readers, for there is more horror on the horizon. 🎃