On the evening of Saturday, October 13th I will be presenting The Slumber Party Massacre at Facets Multimedia as part of their annual “Fright School” series. This will include a short talk about the film as well as a Q&A afterwards. Any of my students who attend the screening can earn up to TWENTY points extra credit. Refer to the extra credit page of your course website for the exact details. Admission is FREE for Facets members and a lowly $5 for non-members. More information, including directions and ticket info can be found here:
Here is the description of the presentation I wrote for the Facets website:
Drilling Into The Slumber Party Massacre
Produced by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in 1982 during the height of the original slasher movie boom, The Slumber Party Massacre has developed a well-deserved cult following over the past three decades. Some commentators have dismissed it as just another low-budget horror quickie, while many fans enjoy it as a “so bad it’s good” B-film. Others see it as an intelligent deconstruction of the slasher subgenre while some, including director Amy Jones, view it not as a horror movie at all but as a comedy instead.
The story is certainly familiar: a sexually frustrated, power drill-wielding mass murderer escapes from prison and terrorizes a group of high school-aged girls over the course of one long night. This presentation, however, will take a close look at how Jones and feminist novelist Rita Mae Brown, who wrote the original screenplay, slyly serve up the gore and nudity quotient required by Corman while also subverting the genre’s more disturbing ideological implications through careful choices like showing the killer’s face at the film’s beginning and studiously avoiding subjective shots from the killer’s point-of-view. Currently unavailable for rental through Netflix or Facets, this is a rare opportunity to see this horror/comedy gem.
Hope to see you there!
White City Cinema 
September 28th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Ah yes. The familiar story of “a sexually frustrated, power drill-wielding mass murderer escapes from prison and terrorizes a group of high school-aged girls over the course of one long night” never gets old, no matter how many times we see it.
September 28th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Heh. I think you mean it frequently gets old until someone comes along and DRILLS new life into it!
September 28th, 2012 at 11:05 am
This looks amazing.
September 28th, 2012 at 11:50 am
This sounds awesome. I plan on being there.
September 28th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Glad to hear it. I wish I could give you extra credit for it!