72 reviews
The Driller Killer Returns!
The Slumber Party Massacre series will never be known as one of the most life changing horror franchises of all time. They're mindless fun at best and Slumber Party Massacre III attempts to do something slightly different by keeping the gratuitous boob shots and gore, but taking away a lot of the fun.
The basic set up is typical slasher stuff with a group of girls hanging out on a beach and getting ready for a big sleepover at one of their parents' houses that night. They're semi-stalked by a creepy guy and, on the way back to the house, one of the friends is murdered. Obviously, once the party kicks off, a few boys show up to crash the party and check out the girls dancing in their underwear (and less) and the killer decides to crash it, too.
Unlike the first two films in the series, there's an element of whodunit mystery here. Could the killer be the aforementioned creepy beach guy with the ponytail? Perhaps the nosy neighbor across the street who spies on the girls with a telescope and seems really interested in checking out the house to see if he wants to buy it? Or maybe it's one of the goofy guys who have showed up to crash the party? This element does help it stick out from the other two films and keeps things pretty fun at first.
It's only once the killer is revealed that things take a slightly darker turn and it begins to feel more home invasion than slasher. If you're into that sort of thing, maybe you'll enjoy it, but I found it left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.
The basic set up is typical slasher stuff with a group of girls hanging out on a beach and getting ready for a big sleepover at one of their parents' houses that night. They're semi-stalked by a creepy guy and, on the way back to the house, one of the friends is murdered. Obviously, once the party kicks off, a few boys show up to crash the party and check out the girls dancing in their underwear (and less) and the killer decides to crash it, too.
Unlike the first two films in the series, there's an element of whodunit mystery here. Could the killer be the aforementioned creepy beach guy with the ponytail? Perhaps the nosy neighbor across the street who spies on the girls with a telescope and seems really interested in checking out the house to see if he wants to buy it? Or maybe it's one of the goofy guys who have showed up to crash the party? This element does help it stick out from the other two films and keeps things pretty fun at first.
It's only once the killer is revealed that things take a slightly darker turn and it begins to feel more home invasion than slasher. If you're into that sort of thing, maybe you'll enjoy it, but I found it left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.
- ginnymason
- Sep 7, 2019
- Permalink
Dance for me, baby.
I love the first SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE partially for nostalgia value but mostly because it's a genuinely fun movie, so I figured I'd give a go at this one, ignoring warnings such as the 4 Star Joe Bob review on the front of the video box. I watched it with several friends, and I'll tell you what, we never had such a good time making fun of a brain-dead exploitation movie before. This one really does reach new depths of stupidity, and for that reason alone I adore it!
The plot is basically summed up in the title - Jackie (Keely Christian, whoever she is) throws one last sleepover party for her giggly high-school friends (who look no younger than 25), some dumb guys sneak over and try to scare them and a psycho killer shows up with his portable electric drill and starts laying into these idiots. Apparently the ladies in the house don't know how to open a door or window to escape, which becomes almost a running gag after awhile. They also hilariously fail to subdue the killer despite being given half a dozen chances to do some serious damage. The list of possible suspects is pretty ridiculous, especially the peeping tom next-door-neighbor, who spies on the girls dancing topless with his telescope, and "The Weirdo," a mute voyeuristic albino who earlier in the day was caught staring at the girls during their beach volleyball game.
There's one moment of sheer hilarity when the psycho surprises a guy at the door with his large, high-powered drill, sending a half-dozen lingerie-clad babes shuffling back and forth in front of the camera in a panic. Another highlight is Maria Ford's gratuitous bare-ass shot as she tries to escape up through the basement window but keeps falling. And we've all seen the standard electrocuted-in-bathtub death scene countless times before, scene, though instead of the usual hair dryer or radio being tossed in the tub, this time it's caused by a vibrator that one character plugs in and leaves sitting on the sink while she's taking a bath. A guy who gets his feet cut off with a chainsaw manages to crawl all the way back across town to the house in a matter of minutes. The acting (aside from the guy who plays the killer, who's awful) really isn't too bad for this type of film, some of the songs on the soundtrack are pretty good and if you like your movies trashy, bloody and silly, you'll find a lot to enjoy here. For sheer entertainment it gets a 7 out of 10 but playing by the rules of movie reviewing (i.e. quality), it's about a 3. I'll go ahead and give it a 4.
The plot is basically summed up in the title - Jackie (Keely Christian, whoever she is) throws one last sleepover party for her giggly high-school friends (who look no younger than 25), some dumb guys sneak over and try to scare them and a psycho killer shows up with his portable electric drill and starts laying into these idiots. Apparently the ladies in the house don't know how to open a door or window to escape, which becomes almost a running gag after awhile. They also hilariously fail to subdue the killer despite being given half a dozen chances to do some serious damage. The list of possible suspects is pretty ridiculous, especially the peeping tom next-door-neighbor, who spies on the girls dancing topless with his telescope, and "The Weirdo," a mute voyeuristic albino who earlier in the day was caught staring at the girls during their beach volleyball game.
There's one moment of sheer hilarity when the psycho surprises a guy at the door with his large, high-powered drill, sending a half-dozen lingerie-clad babes shuffling back and forth in front of the camera in a panic. Another highlight is Maria Ford's gratuitous bare-ass shot as she tries to escape up through the basement window but keeps falling. And we've all seen the standard electrocuted-in-bathtub death scene countless times before, scene, though instead of the usual hair dryer or radio being tossed in the tub, this time it's caused by a vibrator that one character plugs in and leaves sitting on the sink while she's taking a bath. A guy who gets his feet cut off with a chainsaw manages to crawl all the way back across town to the house in a matter of minutes. The acting (aside from the guy who plays the killer, who's awful) really isn't too bad for this type of film, some of the songs on the soundtrack are pretty good and if you like your movies trashy, bloody and silly, you'll find a lot to enjoy here. For sheer entertainment it gets a 7 out of 10 but playing by the rules of movie reviewing (i.e. quality), it's about a 3. I'll go ahead and give it a 4.
Cheesy conclusion to the cheesy trilogy!
If you made it this far, I'm sure I don't have to explain it too much. Mindless, poorly acted and thought out and of course; cheaply made. But it has it's charm! It's corny to the maximum and you should watch it without thinking too much and enjoy it for what it is. Mindless fun! Naturally, that doesn't mean it's a masterpiece. It's basically like the other two, just retold with a new cast and a few tweaks. You can notice the pattern easily. With all that in mind, I give it 6.5/10 because of the cheese. Enjoy! :D ;)
- markovd111
- May 11, 2019
- Permalink
This is the kind of movie you would expect it to be, just from watching the tittle and seeing the poster...
- StinnerMatjest
- Feb 1, 2022
- Permalink
Nothing memorable and absolutely no tension n suspense.
I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs.
Revisited it recently.
This is the third and final installment in the series. It is better than part 2.
This one has dumb fellas who wanna close a glass window of the basement so that a killer doesn't enter. Why cudnt they jus close the door of the basement which connects the house.
It has a lil bit gore n nudity but absolutely no tension or suspense.
There is lousy scene where one girl keeps the killer busy, two other girls rather than taking advantage, stays in one corner just to scream later. They cud have run away or attack the killer.
So the conclusion is that part 1 is way much better than part 2 n 3.
Revisited it recently.
This is the third and final installment in the series. It is better than part 2.
This one has dumb fellas who wanna close a glass window of the basement so that a killer doesn't enter. Why cudnt they jus close the door of the basement which connects the house.
It has a lil bit gore n nudity but absolutely no tension or suspense.
There is lousy scene where one girl keeps the killer busy, two other girls rather than taking advantage, stays in one corner just to scream later. They cud have run away or attack the killer.
So the conclusion is that part 1 is way much better than part 2 n 3.
- Fella_shibby
- Jun 18, 2021
- Permalink
Funny
This movie was so hilarious. The guy who wore all black was really weird. I never thought that I would be surprised at who the killer really turned out to be. The title of this movie does have a significance to it, that this is a movie made not only for slumber parties (very much so it is), but also for people who love slasher flicks (like myself). On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this movie an 8 (good enough to view).
I can see why it turned out like this
This is a great example of why you should always try to hire fans. Watching behind the scenes interviews, it's clear that the director didn't really want to be apart of this, leading to a bland and uninspiring film.
Kind of what you might have pictured the first looking like (before it surprised in being decent)
Slumber Party Massacre III's gravest sin is that it lacks what made the first two special. It doesn't even attempt at subverting the conventions of what it is (the first one started as a satire and got trashier in production but stuck to enough of its original intent to be unique) or be really out-there in its badness (the second one, which may be one of the most entertaining rockabilly slasher neo- surrealist movies of 1987). All this is is exactly what you might expect, and yet it only puts in the minimal amount of effort possible in its run- time (ironically the longest of these movies).
Corman sold out with this one - not surprising he would do this of course, but at least this series, all helmed by women, had some teeth and, you know, *ideas* - and either didn't allow the filmmakers to get more creative or never hired anyone good in the first place. Its just a dumb, tired slasher with a final 20 minutes filled with such dumb and *mean* stuff (why do the girls stand by while that one kill happens that could have been stopped in the five real time minute lead up?)
It's only for genre completists, or those who might dig watching what is in effect everything that made Scream necessary, from its "twist" third act reveal (think you know who the killer is? F*** off, like I should care) to the inane conversations the characters have are meant to make them sound like real people and not types; its not really fun enough to be a guilty pleasure or something to put on at a party (like, again, the second one was), and its 350 grand budget feels as cheap as that sounds. Its also not a total crime or offensive (hey, it could be worse - imagine Eli Roth putting his taint all over this), but you could be doing better things with your time.
Corman sold out with this one - not surprising he would do this of course, but at least this series, all helmed by women, had some teeth and, you know, *ideas* - and either didn't allow the filmmakers to get more creative or never hired anyone good in the first place. Its just a dumb, tired slasher with a final 20 minutes filled with such dumb and *mean* stuff (why do the girls stand by while that one kill happens that could have been stopped in the five real time minute lead up?)
It's only for genre completists, or those who might dig watching what is in effect everything that made Scream necessary, from its "twist" third act reveal (think you know who the killer is? F*** off, like I should care) to the inane conversations the characters have are meant to make them sound like real people and not types; its not really fun enough to be a guilty pleasure or something to put on at a party (like, again, the second one was), and its 350 grand budget feels as cheap as that sounds. Its also not a total crime or offensive (hey, it could be worse - imagine Eli Roth putting his taint all over this), but you could be doing better things with your time.
- Quinoa1984
- Aug 10, 2017
- Permalink
Slumber Party Massacre Part III
- Scarecrow-88
- Jul 5, 2009
- Permalink
Campy and sometimes surprisingly grim
"Slumber Party Massacre III" is the third installment in the "Slumber Party Massacre" series, and, well, you guessed it--it follows a bunch of nubile young women being slaughtered at a slumber party.
Where "Slumber Party Massacre II" went the outright bonkers route with the guitar/drill weapon brandished by a rockabilly killer, this third sequel is more akin to the original film, though it has a strong late '80s flavor to it. At times, it seemed to recall a "Friday the 13th" sequel, with the group of young people anchored to a house where they are picked off systematically.
There are absolutely ridiculous things about this film--probably more than there are not, including an electrocution death by sex toy-- but where "Slumber Party Massacre III" surprises is the subtext regarding the motives of its killer, which, though wholly underdeveloped, are disturbing in implication. The acting here is largely bad, but the characters are likable despite it, and the film ramps up to a manic final act that, though over-the-top, has surprising moments of realism.
Though it's not high art, I personally found this to be an admirable entry into this series, and a bit darker than it's given credit for. The camp factor is very much present, make no bones about it, but it's considerably less tongue-in-cheek than the second film, which errs on the side of pure absurdity. "Slumber Party Massacre III," though ultimately frivolous, is peppered with grisly violence and unexpectedly dark subtext. 6/10.
Where "Slumber Party Massacre II" went the outright bonkers route with the guitar/drill weapon brandished by a rockabilly killer, this third sequel is more akin to the original film, though it has a strong late '80s flavor to it. At times, it seemed to recall a "Friday the 13th" sequel, with the group of young people anchored to a house where they are picked off systematically.
There are absolutely ridiculous things about this film--probably more than there are not, including an electrocution death by sex toy-- but where "Slumber Party Massacre III" surprises is the subtext regarding the motives of its killer, which, though wholly underdeveloped, are disturbing in implication. The acting here is largely bad, but the characters are likable despite it, and the film ramps up to a manic final act that, though over-the-top, has surprising moments of realism.
Though it's not high art, I personally found this to be an admirable entry into this series, and a bit darker than it's given credit for. The camp factor is very much present, make no bones about it, but it's considerably less tongue-in-cheek than the second film, which errs on the side of pure absurdity. "Slumber Party Massacre III," though ultimately frivolous, is peppered with grisly violence and unexpectedly dark subtext. 6/10.
- drownsoda90
- Feb 18, 2020
- Permalink
Boring and tedious and how many hits does it take?
Suspenseful, gory and exciting.
- slasherfan
- Oct 2, 2000
- Permalink
While the parents are away, the kids will play. And the killer will slay.
Screenwriter Catherine Cyran isn't about to muck with the formula established in previous slasher flicks. So what we get is a pretty standard issue entry for the genre, but one that is still pretty enjoyable, because it gives the fans what they want. A bunch of incredibly hot young babes all come to party in their friend Jackies' (Keely Christian) house. Before the viewer has to wait too long, a sadistic psycho party crasher will come along and make mincemeat out of the gals and their male counterparts.
"Slumber Party Massacre III" does go on about ten minutes longer than the previous two flicks, with a tiny bit more story than usual. There might not be enough bare flesh to suit some people in the audience, but SPMIII makes up for that with its wonderfully tacky gore and reasonably high body count. Fortunately, it does also have decent enough characters. Sometimes, though, you can't help but want to yell at the screen for these girls to just HELP whoever's currently being threatened. Functioning as a whodunit, the movie does reveal its killer about a half hour before finishing. At that point, it pulls out all the stops.
The performances are certainly adequate for this kind of material. Christian is a personable heroine. Hope Marie Carlton and Maria Ford are among the hotties flaunting their bodies, getting annoyed with their guys, and being terrorized by our villain. Experienced horror fans will note the presence of people like Wayne Grace ("Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter"), as a desk sergeant, Yan Birch ("The People Under the Stairs"), as an obvious red herring, and Marta Kober ("Friday the 13th Part 2"), as a pizza delivery girl.
If you're looking for pretty straightforward slasher film style thrills, you could do a lot worse than this.
Seven out of 10.
"Slumber Party Massacre III" does go on about ten minutes longer than the previous two flicks, with a tiny bit more story than usual. There might not be enough bare flesh to suit some people in the audience, but SPMIII makes up for that with its wonderfully tacky gore and reasonably high body count. Fortunately, it does also have decent enough characters. Sometimes, though, you can't help but want to yell at the screen for these girls to just HELP whoever's currently being threatened. Functioning as a whodunit, the movie does reveal its killer about a half hour before finishing. At that point, it pulls out all the stops.
The performances are certainly adequate for this kind of material. Christian is a personable heroine. Hope Marie Carlton and Maria Ford are among the hotties flaunting their bodies, getting annoyed with their guys, and being terrorized by our villain. Experienced horror fans will note the presence of people like Wayne Grace ("Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter"), as a desk sergeant, Yan Birch ("The People Under the Stairs"), as an obvious red herring, and Marta Kober ("Friday the 13th Part 2"), as a pizza delivery girl.
If you're looking for pretty straightforward slasher film style thrills, you could do a lot worse than this.
Seven out of 10.
- Hey_Sweden
- Feb 25, 2017
- Permalink
Slumber Party Massacre III
While I do believe the third installment in the SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE series is an improvement over the second part I still do not believe this to be a good horror flick and really nothing new is brought to the audience.
A group of young ladies (including beauties Hope Marie Carlton and Maria Ford) have decided to have a slumber party. They do, the boys come over and bodies start piling up. One interesting note is that the movie goes back to some of the original slashers in that we do not know who is committing the murders. For a while anyways. They give it all away far too soon, but that aspect could have worked well.
There is an audience out there for this film though. If you like women running around in their underwear, T&A and a power drill as the villain's weapon of choice have at her. Others beware.
A group of young ladies (including beauties Hope Marie Carlton and Maria Ford) have decided to have a slumber party. They do, the boys come over and bodies start piling up. One interesting note is that the movie goes back to some of the original slashers in that we do not know who is committing the murders. For a while anyways. They give it all away far too soon, but that aspect could have worked well.
There is an audience out there for this film though. If you like women running around in their underwear, T&A and a power drill as the villain's weapon of choice have at her. Others beware.
- ryan-10075
- Nov 18, 2019
- Permalink
Not as good as the first two.
This movie seemed like a completely separate film. I don't why, it just feels like it. Well, It's still a good slasher though! You have 6 beautiful women running around in their underwear with no way of protecting themselves. What more could you want? The killer turned out to be predictable. But I guess it's because I've seen too many slashers. This one had more T&A than the other two. Although I'm not complaining. It's still a good movie. 6 out of 10.
Ugh
- BandSAboutMovies
- Oct 19, 2021
- Permalink
Enjoyable gorefest delivers
Slumber Party Massacre III (1990) C-87 min. D: Sally Mattison. Yan Birch, Brandi Burkett, Hope Marie Carlton, Keely Christian, Maria Claire, Alexander Falk, Maria Ford, Brittain Frye, Ron Smith, David Lawrence. Enjoyable gorefest delivers exactly what is expected of it: big-breasted bimbos get stalked by a maniacal killer with an electric drill. Lots of blood, breasts, gore
for slasher fans only (especially fans of the direct-to-video grade-Z slasher shlock). Surprisingly, not a lot of terrible acting either, which certainly is a change of pace (and also doesn't follow the clichéd `last girl vs. killer' formula of just about every slasher film imaginable. Rates a 5 only because it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is. RATING: 5 out of 10.
You know the drill.
- BA_Harrison
- Sep 5, 2008
- Permalink
Well for what it's worthy, it's better than the previous movie.
This is still a pretty bad and silly simplistic typical slasher but when being compared to the previous sequel "Slumber Party Massacre II" this movie is a step up from that one.
What is mostly silly in the Slumber Party Massacre movies is that it features always a different driller-killer but things just never get explained why and how. Yes, this movie does provide a bit of an explanation but its not a particular good or credible one. It's the foremost reason why the Slumber Party Massacre movies are pretty simplistic in their form and concept. The only thing the movies are somewhat original in is that it features girls in the main roles and the movie is somewhat of an horror-chick-flick.
The first killing occurs pretty fast into the movie, just as was the case with the original, which keeps things going pretty fast from the start on and doesn't make the movie drag as much and be such a total bore as "Slumber Party Massacre II". As a matter of fact this movie is just very similar to the first movie. Very similar indeed. It perhaps seems more like a remake, or update with more nudity, than an actual sequel. So don't expect this movie to be a terribly original one.
The gore compensates a lot however. The previous Slumber Party Massacre movies weren't that really gory but this movie knows to throw in a couple of good gory sequences. Nothing the genre fan couldn't handle but it's all good enough.
The story gets basically thrown overboard when the killer makes his entrance to the party. It makes it a pretty dumb movie to watch but it of course is all mostly consistent with other genre examples. The story just isn't the foremost important thing in a teenage-slasher flick.
As you would expect, the acting also really isn't much special and the characters all remain terribly flat but it sort of all adds to the camp and status of the entire movie.
Oh well, it's all watchable enough for the true fans of the genre and for the people who gave up watching Slumber Party Massacre movies-series after the previous sequel, give this movie a change, you might up liking this movie. For people who just want to see a good slasher-flick, just skip this one.
4/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
What is mostly silly in the Slumber Party Massacre movies is that it features always a different driller-killer but things just never get explained why and how. Yes, this movie does provide a bit of an explanation but its not a particular good or credible one. It's the foremost reason why the Slumber Party Massacre movies are pretty simplistic in their form and concept. The only thing the movies are somewhat original in is that it features girls in the main roles and the movie is somewhat of an horror-chick-flick.
The first killing occurs pretty fast into the movie, just as was the case with the original, which keeps things going pretty fast from the start on and doesn't make the movie drag as much and be such a total bore as "Slumber Party Massacre II". As a matter of fact this movie is just very similar to the first movie. Very similar indeed. It perhaps seems more like a remake, or update with more nudity, than an actual sequel. So don't expect this movie to be a terribly original one.
The gore compensates a lot however. The previous Slumber Party Massacre movies weren't that really gory but this movie knows to throw in a couple of good gory sequences. Nothing the genre fan couldn't handle but it's all good enough.
The story gets basically thrown overboard when the killer makes his entrance to the party. It makes it a pretty dumb movie to watch but it of course is all mostly consistent with other genre examples. The story just isn't the foremost important thing in a teenage-slasher flick.
As you would expect, the acting also really isn't much special and the characters all remain terribly flat but it sort of all adds to the camp and status of the entire movie.
Oh well, it's all watchable enough for the true fans of the genre and for the people who gave up watching Slumber Party Massacre movies-series after the previous sequel, give this movie a change, you might up liking this movie. For people who just want to see a good slasher-flick, just skip this one.
4/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
- Boba_Fett1138
- Feb 4, 2008
- Permalink
almost 1h 50m of film for this??!!
Pick stupid characters you won't care about, weak actors, a cliché full of scripts.. ops! I mean, a script full of clichés and a not really charismatic killer, mix it all up, bake it for 1h 48m, and BOOM: Slumber Party Massacre III. Follow me for more critic/realist review recipes. XOXO
- Fernando-Rodrigues
- Feb 23, 2021
- Permalink
I wish it was better...
This is the third and final film in the slumber party massacre series and by far the weakest. I don't know what the thought was trying to mix the first and second but whatever it was doesn't mix well. For a brief synopsis, actually forget that there's a major lck of plot without revealing spoilers and I'm going to keep this review spoiler free so instead I'm going to go over what this film succeeds at and fails at. First this film has the most even and best flow out of all of the films in the series, though at times it feels like other slashers. Next the film still does succeed in undertones of feminism like the rest without it feeling too overpowering and the gender flips are still unique. The film also has some really good gore like the rest, but in this one it's a bit cheesy. The film does fail at a lot though. First the characters are the weakest in this one and fall into the most tropes. The actors are also somewhat subpar. Did i mention tropes this film came out in 1990 and follows every slasher trope you can think of. This film also fails a bit at being a slasher focusing more on a who dunnit and mystery aspect in the first half which felt weird. This film also tried to mimic the second one throwing in comedy but most of it falls flat. One of my biggest gripes is that in every version I've seen of it even my favorite version it still has very grainy footage that seems to have never been cleaned up. If you do want to view this movie its the hardest to find of the series with the least amount of versions but my favorite is the 3 film collection with the other 2 included the only problem is it's out of print and on amazon will cost you 70 dollars and ebay at least 35 dollars, I would still recommend the collection since its the best it has ever looked and has some cool extra features that other releases don't include. Overall recommend it if you like the first 2 and are a completionist
- thetheonly
- Oct 7, 2019
- Permalink
Average by-the-numbers teen slasher.
- poolandrews
- Aug 26, 2006
- Permalink
Great Slashfest.
This flick is loaded with those great ingredients that make a great slash flick. But this flick actually has moments of intensity with a truly insane psycho driller killer with some hilarious dialogue. This flick also has the dumbest slash victims in slash history. These girls are trapped in their own home. They have about 100 chances to escape and yet they stick around and run upstairs to hide. Awesome! I want extra cheese on my slash flicks. This flick has a big body count, a truly crazy killer, and a dozen red herrings- oh yeah and these girls are in their underwear for most of the flick. You got to love these type of flicks.
The Worst of the Series
Slumber Party Massacre III doesn't have the jokey, satirical edge of the first film nor the absolutely bats#@t insanity of the second film. It feels mostly like a typical late 80's/early 90's straight to video slasher flick with very little imagination.
In spite of this, there's still fun to be had.
In spite of this, there's still fun to be had.
- meghancoker
- Sep 11, 2019
- Permalink
One of the worst slashers ever made!
- callanvass
- Jan 6, 2015
- Permalink