DVD Review: Killer Party is a slasher horror comedy gem

Killer Party is a one-of-a-kind horror comedy about three friends—Vivia, Jennifer, and Phoebe—who want to pledge a sorority, Sigma Alpha Pi. The initiation is held at an abandoned fraternity house where twenty-two years earlier, a guillotined pledge named Allan lost his head in hazing gone terribly awry. The night of the initiation, Vivia plays an elaborate prank on the sorority sisters while the three girls are being initiated through a hazing ritual. Although the all three girls are accepted into the sorority, Vivia learns that her prank was the only reason for her acceptance. She is tasked with executing her gimmick at the upcoming April Fool’s party—also being held at the abandoned fraternity house. Unfortunately, the spirit of the vengeful pledge returns from the grave, and the guests are killed off one-by-one. There is suspenseful editing, a great soundtrack, and likeable characters. This remastered edition DVD from the Warner Archive Collection has outstanding picture quality.

One of the great things about this movie is the editing. The director, William Fruet, has a real flair for the dramatic as there are a lot of interesting narrative devices employed throughout the story. The opening is an amazing music video performance of “April (You’re No Fool)” by ‘80s hair metal band White Sister. It is very original and unexpected. Immediately you feel like nothing is as it seems in this film. In the scenes leading up to the April Fool’s party, there are many twists and curveballs thrown at the viewer. The camera switches to first person killer perspective—similar to Friday the 13^th—when a character is about to get killed, or to toy with the audience’s expectations. For example, when the house mother of Sigma Alpha Pi enters the abandoned fraternity house to make sure it is safe prior to the night of the initiation, she repairs a loose banister. She looks up and says “What are you doing here?” The killer responds by violently striking her to death with a paddle. After the scene in which Vivia performs her prank during the night of the initiation, there is a clever transition to the following scene. A knife is cutting up a piece of sausage on a cutting board as the three girls are eating breakfast prepared by Phoebe’s mother.

In addition to the cinematography, the music really makes this film fun to watch. Besides “April (You’re No Fool)” by White Sister, there are several other great songs rounding out the soundtrack of this film. The song playing during the main titles is “Best Times”, which wonderfully encapsulates the solidarity of the three girls and the college life adventures that await them. Later, in a sex comedy inspired scene, the sorority sisters are relaxing outside the Sigma Alpha Pi house, clothed only with bath towels. KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Give It Up” is heard playing in the background. This is when the sorority sisters are convincing the house mother to allow them to use the abandoned fraternity house for the initiation. Suddenly, the fraternity brothers play a prank by throwing an open jar of bees into the back yard of the Sigma Alpha Pi house. Since one of the frat brothers infiltrated the house and removed the door knob of the back door, the girls to have to run around the house to the front. This gives the frat boys the opportunity to capture lots of camera shots of the scantily clad girls. Fast forward to the April Fools party at the abandoned frat house. During the revelry, we hear Laura Branigan’s “The Lucky One”.

Another aspect of this film worthy of praise is the acting. There is a great cast of characters here, with an appearance from Eating Raoul’s Paul Bartel as Professor Zito. His scenes in the movie are very entertaining and his performance lends credibility to the college setting. There is also the debut of Joanna Johnson as Jennifer. One year later, she would go on to land her longtime best-known role on the Bold and the Beautiful. The romance of the film centers around Jennifer and Blake, played by Martin Hewitt. He is known for the film Endless Love (1981). Interestingly, Sherry Willis-Burch, who played Vivia, was also in the college slasher film Final Exam (1981). Elaine Wilkes (Phoebe), Alicia Fleer (Veronica), and Woody Brown (Harrison) round out the key players of the cast. The actors do a good job of playing the material straight. Even though there is humor, the film never feels campy.

What could be better than a slasher-horror-musical-sex comedy? Killer Party has the right mix of laughs, suspense, terror, and fun. Although the story is back-loaded with almost all of the kills happening at the April Fool’s party at the end, it is an amazing build-up, and there are a couple of kills along the way. There are lots of college hijinks, plot twists, and red herrings to keep the viewer entertained. This long-awaited DVD release from the Warner Archive Collection debuted in 2011. It is a remastered edition of the film and the picture and sound quality are excellent. You really could not ask for a better DVD transfer of this film. However, there are no bonus features on this disc. It would be nice to have some behind-the-scenes content such as cast and crew interviews, a commentary track, and a trailer. One can only hope that a special edition Blu-ray release is in the works.