Killer Party

I stumbled onto Killer Party while looking for April Fool’s day themed horror movies. A slasher movie check. An 80’s horror movie check. Sounds like a good time. Right? Sigh.

<img src="killerparty.jpg" alt="Killer Party.">

Photo Credit: Polar Entertainment

Released: May 9, 1986

Runtime: 91 mins

Director: William Fruet

Writer: Barney Cohen

Actors: Martin Hewitt, Ralph Seymour, Elaine Wilkes

PLOT

Three college friends rush a sorority, and must survive a night in a house where an evil spirit has been awakened.

MY THOUGHTS

The potential for the kills could have been good. But no. We don’t get to see the kills. They are mostly off screen and most of the kills are in the last twenty minutes or so. Not a lot of blood either. Though I did like the two fake out starts of the movie. We get to see some zombie-like action while a band is playing.

Acting isn’t that bad. The character that stands out the most for me is Sherry Willis-Burch (only known for Final Exam) who plays Vivia, the horny, nerdy, and special effects friend. However, Joanna Johnson (known for nothing in horror and only for being in The Bold and the Beautiful) plays Jennifer, our supposed main character. She is the only one who seems hesitant to first pledge the sorority and then she doesn’t want to go into the house for the party.

Elaine Wilkes (known for just tv shows, nothing genre related) plays Phoebe the third friend who just kind of blends in with the other sorority sisters. Alicia Fleer (known for a couple of tv shows. Again, not genre related) plays Veronica, the mean girl, sorority sister. She at least dies by a trident stabbing.

Killer Party starts with a horror movie playing, and then cuts to a couple making out in a car at a drive in theater. The girl stops him and goes off to get popcorn. She comes back to discover everyone is a zombie while a band is playing. This turns out to be a fake out. Another movie.

We learn three friends are rushing a sorority. The night of the initiation strange occurrences happen which turn out to be pranks. All is good and they are accepted into the sorority. Soon it’s April 1st and their sorority is hosting an April Fool’s day party at that house. This time the pranks do go so well. As the night goes on the tricks are not pranks. Something is killing the partygoers. Who will survive? Who is killing everyone? 

============================================================

I wanted to take a quick break to let you know I found these great deals on Amazon for Killer Party  merchandise. I’ve applied to Amazon’s affiliate program and if I can get three purchases I will be accepted into the program. This will be of tremendous help with starting my small business.

============================================================

Killer Party suffers one of the worst crimes of an 80’s slasher: Being boring and the kills are mild, off screen. And you pretty much can figure out who the killer is before the end of the movie. For me, I was really only rooting for one character and I shouldn’t have rooted for anyone. If you’re bored and you like slashers you can put this on while doing other things. Just go in with low expectations.

And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:

  • The film suffered severe cuts by the MPAA. As a result, most of the murders occur off-camera and feature little to no gore or violence. Because of this, the filmmakers edited the film in such a way that the murders seem to happen immediately after each other in quick succession. When the film was originally shot, more time had passed between each murder, which included special effects and on-screen violence.

  • When released in 1986 the title was changed from The April Fools to Killer Party because the distributors feared that it would be confused with the film April Fool's Day.

  • Professor Zito is named after Joseph Zito, who directed Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which was also written by Killer Party screenwriter Barney Cohen.

Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl

Let’s get into the rankings:

Kills/Blood/Gore: 2.5/5

Sex/Nudity: 2.5/5

Scare factor: 2/5

Enjoyment factor: 3/5

My Rank: 2.5/5

IMDB: 5/10

Rotten Tomatoes: critics:  –/10  audience:  3.8/10

Letterboxd: 2.8/5