User reviews

The House on Sorority Row is formulaic, but I'm sure it only feels that way because so many slashers have taken its template and mined it for their own use. We follow the good girl, the girl who is sure to be our final girl, and we're introduced to the other characters who all reveal flaws that will surely lead to their deaths at the hands of our killer.

In this movie, the first act introduces a motive for our killer, and we spend the rest of the movie trying to guess who it might be, while also wondering when and where our next victim will be offed. Some kills are better than others, but that can be said for all slashers.

Unlike the best the genre has to offer, the movie never makes you truly care for any of the victims, they all played a part in a crime early in the movie, and that hinders the movie's ability to get you invested in their fates, but it's still a fun time. I enjoyed the scenes at the party, particularly one scene where the camera in one smooth shot follows each of our sorority sisters as they try to act naturally as they keep a terrible secret.

For any slasher fan this is a can't miss. For anyone looking for something more, you can probably do better elsewhere.

"The House on Sorority Row" an 80's slasher flick has now become somewhat of a cult classic and midnight viewing event, and it does entertain and give chills in typical 80's manner. It has all the common things from the 80's horror films sex, nudity, blood, gore, and a past secret that twist. The story is pretty simple young college sorority girls who are just days away from graduation set out to throw one last surprise party and celebration, however the old lady the matron of the old house hides a horrible secret long buried away in memory. After a freak accident one by one bodies and deaths start to happen all are on the brink of madness and decay! Overall okay 80's horror film that flew under the radar give it a watch if you like that decade and the genre of skin and gore.

I will always have a special place in my heart for The House on Sorority Row. Back in 1982, my father was vice president of a small company in Washington, D.C. called VAE (Visual Aids Electronics). They had contracts with all the major hotels in D.C. to provide their audio visual equipment for all the meetings and conferences that were held there (microphones, TV's, overhead projectors). The company was doing so well, that the president of it (John Ponchok) wanted to branch out and try different things. They started a record company (which failed miserably), and then wanted to try their hand at producing movies. Their first (and only) project: The House on Sorority Row. Filming took place during the summer of 1982 in Baltimore, MD. One day during the summer, my father drove me, my sister, and my mom out to Baltimore for the day to watch them film the movie. I was 7 at the time. We watched them film the scene where they had just shot Ms. Slater, and they were trying to revive her by the side of the pool. I had a blast. I remember meeting some of the girls, and the lady that played Ms. Slater. Later in the afternoon, my family and I were taken up to the attic where the final scene takes place (I'm not sure if it was Mark Rosman or not that took us up there). While my parents were talking with whoever took us up there, I was cruising around the attic on a toy pedal tractor that was up there. In the movie, that same tractor that I rode on is used by the character Peter. One more thing. When they are trying to revive Ms. Slater by the side of the pool, one of the girls screams "Oh my God, the band's here!" A shot is then shown of a station wagon and a white truck coming up the driveway. That white truck was actually one of VAE's old company trucks that they lent them for the scene. After they were done using it in the film, my father bought it from VAE to use as a moving truck for my family's move to Northern Virginia that summer. After we were done with the move, we parked the truck in the woods below our house where it rotted away for the next 15 years, before it was finally towed away to the junkyard.

Great little slasher flick! The soundtrack stands out. Very memorable. The characters and actresses are much better than many other 80s horror movies. Good amount of suspense.

The main drawback is the ending. It's abrupt and less satisfying than everything that came before. It feels like they just ran out of money and threw together something quickly. I wanted something more from the ending.

RELEASED IN 1983 and written & directed by Mark Rosman Stoller, "The House on Sorority Row" chronicles events at a sorority house outside of Baltimore where seven girls responsible for an accidental death start dying one by one during their graduation party.

The film borrows elements from "Black Christmas" (1974) and the French horror "Diabolique" (1955), like the unused swimming pool to conceal a body that later disappears. The first act is quite good, particularly the accidental death scene, which is well-acted for no-name actresses. Only two of the seven went on to a career in acting: The protagonist who plays Katie (Kate McNeil) and the slutty girl, Vicky (Eileen Davidson). Speaking of the girls, they present a realistic feminine smorgasbord with Morgan (Jodi Draigie) arguably being the most attractive. None of them, however, are anything to go gaga over (looks-wise, that is).

What marred the film for me was the dubious writing. For instance, wouldn't the girls be perplexed at how a dead body mysteriously made it to the attic? What caused it to suddenly fall down the trap door? Why don't any of the girls look at the face of the corpse to verify its identity? Would a couple of girls who know very little about guns seriously enact a prank using a questionable mixture of bullets and blanks? If you can get past these issues, "The House on Sorority Row" is a decent early 80s' slasher with a worthy plot and pretty good production values.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 31 minutes and was shot at Eltonhead Mansion in Pikesville, Maryland, with establishing shots done at University of Maryland, College Park. ADDITIONAL WRITER: Bobby Fine.

GRADE: C

Better than average slasher flick about a group of sorority babes who accidentally kill someone during a prank and try to cover it up. Later they're murdered one by one by until the inevitable 'final girl vs the killer' showdown all these things seem to have. It's a good movie of its type with some humor and gore (although probably not enough to appeal to gore hounds). Starts out with some Miss Marple-type music that, back in the day, had me double-checking the VHS label to make sure I had the right movie. The cast is pretty good, with early roles for Eileen Davidson and Harley Jane Kozak, and a nice leading role for Kate McNeil. My favorite scenes are Eileen Davidson showing off her breasts and the Sea Pig scene. Given her age you would assume Lois Kelso Hunt (playing the sorority's house mother) was a seasoned pro, but her acting is so bad that she's outshined by everyone in the cast. Even the Sea Pig. There's also a corny band that screams 1980s. It's a fun movie, if you like '80s slashers (which, I assume you do or else why would you be watching this). Might lose a little punch if you've seen a lot of similar movies that came after. Oh, and avoid the 2009 sort-of remake at all costs. It's garbage.

This film has a very nostalgic place in my heart from my childhood. There is an actual plot, some good surprises, and yes some great screams. If you are having a fright night or scary movie night...I highly recommend that you include this film. This film seems to stand the test of time in the horror genre.

Do pranks every go right in slasher movies? They always seem to leave someone injured, traumatized enough to turn into a murderer, or stone cold dead. In that grand tradition, The House on Sorority Row presents this well worn chestnut, but it's served up with a reasonable amount of style and even class.

The graduating class of a college sorority has had it up to here with their bossy and moody housemother, Mrs. Slater, after she says that they will not be throwing a graduation party at the sorority house. To get back at her, they devise a prank to scare her into letting them go ahead with the party, but it backfires when the blanks they loaded the gun with turn out to be real and, now, they have a dead housemother in their muddy, unused swimming pool. They go ahead with the party and keep trying to keep people away from the pool as someone starts killing them off one by one.

The House on Sorority Row feels more polished both in terms of script and production values than just about any other slasher film of its time. There's some gore, but it's a mostly restrained affair with only a few notable blood-soaked set pieces. Each of the sorority girls has their own personality, which makes it easy to tell them apart and most of the performances are better than what you'd usually find in a film of this type. Eileen Davidson really shines as the queen bee and Richard Band's lush, orchestral score sets a nice mood.

I caught this movie on VHS in the early 90s, having Missed it in the 80s I don't know how? I just re-watched it tonight, and I must say YES its a typical 80s slasher movie but it has great Humor and great suspense and A really creepy Killer.The music just adds to the suspense and mood. And you have to love 4 out of 5 Doctors, the house band at the girls party! Just check out that dudes hair!If you like your Horror served straight up ...and you are tired of what Hollywood has been releasing as suspense/horror these days, go rent HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW, pop some popcorn, turn out the lights, and put on some candles, just don't watch it alone,especially on a College campus!

Another slasher movie in which a bevy of beautiful sorority girls are diced and sliced and all because of something that happened 20 years previously. It's hardly "Halloween"; it's not even "Friday the 13th" but "The House on Sorority Row" is a suitably sleazy creep-fest nevertheless. Of course it's also totally predictable right from the pre-credit sequence. The acting is terrible and the script is no better and sometimes it's hard to tell if the laughs are intentional or not but that's all part of the fun where trash like this is concerned. This is strictly Midnight Movie material; seeing it in the cold light of day may not really be such a good idea.

Entertaining slasher film with good production values.

It blends various ideas that had already been copied several times before, but it is still effective. The prologue is a standard slasher trope, as is the mysterious revenge killer idea.

After Friday the 13th and sequels many slashers added a who's who/whodunit aspect and that is represented here too. It lifts from Prom Night the 'picking off the group with a guilty secret' bit, plus that film's 'chase scenes and kills intercut with a happy party' style. Then there's the swimming pool element used in Les diaboliques then in Scream of Fear...

The prank element is well developed. Other films have the prank in the prologue but here it is in the present day part of the story.

It is all quite effective with a charismatic believable cast, good pacing, and effective suspense. Apparently the brief gore glimpses were added later at the distributor's request and some do look slotted in plus they weren't needed.

Some parts of the story make little sense. There is a huge party hosted by the sorority whose members are acting jumpy and do odd things like run out to the pool in a panic then disperse to be mysteriously killed one by one. The party plays out and winds down and the huge crowd and band apparently disperses while the main sisters (and one stray party guest) are being slaughtered in the house and the yard but no one notices the bodies or notes that their party hosts are all missing. But you can ignore those bits.

After a prologue set in June of 1961 in which a woman gives birth to a seemingly stillborn, we fast forward to present day of 1981. At a sorority house thats closed for the holidays, six sorority sisters decide to stay to party. When the elderly owner (the woman from the prologue) returns expecting an empty house, she warns them no sex, no parties. After they pull a prank on her, for chiding one of them for having sex, inadvertently leading to her death, someone starts picking them off one by one. When I was growing up, I used to see this on the shelves of the local mom and pop video store. And while the scantilizing cover for some reason always beckoned me, I never got around to seeing it until recently. While it was one of the better Slasher films that I've seen and contains an alright story, however predictable, it's still nowhere near any of the classics of the sub-genre.

My Grade:B-

Eye Candy: Eileen Davidson as Vicki shows breasts and ass, Jodi Draigie (in her sole acting credit) goes topless

This tedious slasher flick has received a certain amount of hype on this page, and I wonder why: it's poorly acted, poorly directed, poorly lit, and even the killer's identity is easy to guess halfway through. Some (unconvincing) gore - less nudity - even less suspense - absolutely no interest. Only for the most undemanding slasher fans. (*1/2)

After a prank goes wrong a group of sorority girls end up killing their domineering house mistress and are forced to hide the body. Soon after the girls start being systematically dispatched by an unseen murderer.

The premise may not be particularly original and the film adds nothing special to the horror genre, yet strangely the film is extraordinarily captivating and stands up well against the flood of similar films from the Eighties. Without attempting to over-complicate matters with preposterously impractical plot-twists unlike so many other slasher films, writer and director Mark Rosman seems to be completely aware of the limitation of the material. He obviously sought to provide genre fans with a simple slasher based more on character development/interaction rather than an overly implausible storyline and, one can argue, that he accomplished almost everything he set out to do. Granted, the characters were nearly entirely clichéd and there were sporadic moments of insignificant dialogue but even so, there are no more faults with this slasher than with one of the other supposed elites of the sub-genre - 'Friday the 13th' (1980). In fact, one could even be of the point of view that 'Friday the 13th' is made to look inferior by 'The House on Sorority Row'. 'Friday the 13th', although fairly unnerving in places, was always rather slow and attempts to build tension occasionally fell flat because the direction and excessively methodical approach to building this tension forced the movie into featuring inherently tedious sequences. On the other hand, 'The House on Sorority Row' may be lacking in any real scares, but the movie is paced and directed well meaning that there are very few scenes that end up being tiresome. It is doubtful that anybody would be immersed in this movie to the degree that one could become engrossed in Bob Clark's 'Black Christmas' (1974) or Michele Soavi's 'StageFright' (1987) but there are certainly enough pleasant aspects for the average slasher fan to be impressed to some extent.

The acting performances, while of no real distinction when compared to similar movies, were of a high enough quality as to not negatively affect the movie in any real way. The performances were all of standard B-movie quality but helped to make the movie nonetheless. Despite a silly plot-twist towards the end, 'The House on Sorority Row' is recommended to slasher fans and casual horror fans looking for something a little obscure. An impressively written and directed slasher film which despite a run of the mill premise and occasional flashes of scrappy dialogue is able to impact on the viewer and become an enjoyable experience. My rating for 'The House on Sorority Row' - 7/10.

Back in junior high , we love sneaking in to R movies especially slasher films. I remember this one because my older sister and her friends were hooked on the Young and the Restless, me and my annoying little friends couldn't give a sht about the drama, but being 12 & 13yrs olds we sure did love the women in that show, particularly "ASHLEY" in YR. Well to make a long story short, we(my friends & I) heard Ashley from the YR (Eileen Davidson) was starring in this movie and get this y'all was naked that's right Naked in a love scene. No big deal right, WRONG to 5 boys going thru this stage in life was about as good as it gets!! Since then I've become a horror/slasher movie junkie and I've seen them all and this movie was pretty good, there have been many since that have stole the plot, better production but this one can stand on its own and is a lost gem, besides it didn't disappoint us (5 young boys) to witness what at the time was one of the "finest" LOL girls in the world in her birthday suit. Now that I'm older and feel even older I've seen this movie many times and even added it to my collection, but this movie still takes me to a special place in my life and though it's not a well known slasher film it's one I remember fondly and takes me back to the good ole days.

Although this film was released in a later year in the 80s, were the slasher films boosted. This is probably one of the better ones. Tho the last 10 mins of the movie could have been done better. I do think it keeps you on the edge of ur seat to see who done it.