[Fantastic Fest 2021 Review] Slumber Party Massacre is the Way You Do a Remake

The original The Slumber Party Massacre was an anomaly when it was released in 1982 because it was a slasher film written and directed by women, Rita Mae Brown and Amy Holden Jones, respectively. The Roger Corman-produced original was a slyly and quietly subversive film, but still had its share of male gazey moments, including an eye-rolling shower sequence where the camera ignores the woman speaking to trail down to her ass. It was a flawed feminist film that felt as if it needed to cater to a straight male audience and, as such, doesn’t quite stick the feminist landing it wanted to. Because of this, it’s actually the perfect film to be remade in 2021, and Slumber Party Massacre manages to take the themes explored in the original to new heights while further enhancing the satire with a splash of hilarious parody. 

Writer Suzanne Keilly’s adaptation begins in 1993 where a group of women are...well, having a slumber party. Their revelry is soon interrupted by a creeper who watches them while touching himself and a killer who...well, we’ll get to that. Already director Danishka Esterhazy and her cinematographer Trevor Calverley quietly insert some social critique through the way it stages Chad the Creeper (Arthur Falko) and Russ Thorne the Driller Killer (Rob van Vuuren). Chad leers through one window as the women dance to music and catches Russ staring through the other window. “Damn pervert,” he says, completely oblivious to the fact he is literally masturbating while watching his ex and her friends. Chad goes to investigate the “real” creep and, as the film’s poster says, “you know the drill.”

Fast forward to today and Trish (Schelaine Bennett), the only survivor of the massacre, is now a traumatized mother who barely leaves her triple-bolted house. She’s visibly worried when her daughter Dana (Hannah Gonera) heads out on a slumber party trip with her friends Maeve (Frances Sholto-Douglas), Ashley (Reze-Tiana Wessels), and Breanie (Alex McGregor). As the trio head towards their destination, they realize they’re not alone when Maeve’s sister Alix (Mila Rayne) pops up in the trunk of their SUV. Maeve is visibly upset that her younger sister tagged along, but the others convince her to let Alix stay because they’re already well on their way. But then their car dies and they end up stuck at a gas station filled with kitsch items. Making matters worse, not only are they stuck in Holly Springs, the same place where Dana’s mom faced the Driller Killer years ago, but the only rental property they can secure for the night is across the lake from the infamous spot where Dana’s friends were brutally murdered. 

That’s all of the plot details I’m willing to divulge because part of the surprising joy of Slumber Party Massacre is the way Keilly’s script begins to subvert expectations almost immediately. Once the narrative enters the second act, it completely pulls the rug out and I found myself literally gasping at the way it played with slasher tropes. The film works as a slasher, with Rob van Vuuren turning in a pitch perfect homage to Michael Villella’s original driller killer. His wide-eyed performance is one of the subtle Easter eggs Danishka peppers throughout.

Watching the original The Slumber Party Massacre recently, I realized that the problem with the original film was probably the push/pull of different desires. It felt like a film that wanted to be a satirical parody but was also forced into genre expectations. This 2021 remake balances the satire and parody but also provides a slick slasher film at its base. Rob van Vuuren turns in a pitch perfect homage to Michael Villella’s original driller killer. His wide-eyed performance is one of the subtle Easter eggs Danishka peppers throughout. The kills are appropriately brutal and inventive and the special effects look really good. But Slumber Party Massacre also embraces the more satirical roots of the original and creates something that is bloody and violent, but also disruptive with its comedic moments.

At one point in the narrative, the narrative introduces group of guys staying across the lake from the women. They’re having their own slumber party, of sorts, and the camera lingers low and hard on one of the guy’s asses as he’s introduced. Later, in a beautiful slow motion shot, the men try to break open a feather pillow and end up, shirtless, pillow fighting each other as the women peer in through the window. “Are they out-slumber-partying us?!” Breanie asks. “Is this what guys do when they’re alone?“ It’s a hilarious moment that informs the characters but also pokes fun at the way women are sometimes portrayed in horror films. It’s the male fantasy turned on its head. And, if you’re curious, that shower scene from the original? This one inverts it in a hilarious way that’s unfortunately ruined with pixelation because it’s a TV movie…but it still completely works. 

Slumber Party Massacre works because it has a fundamental understanding of the 80s slasher as well as the feminist roots of the original film and its resulting sequels. It continues The Slumber Party Massacre franchise’s legacy of being the only slasher series that’s fully written and directed by women, but analyzes the genre through a 2021 lens. It’s a surprisingly funny, gory and subversive film and one I absolutely recommend.