[Editorial] Feminism in The Slumber Party Massacre Series, Part 1: Sex, Snacks, and Friendship

This piece contains spoilers for The Slumberparty Massacre (1982), Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), and Slumber Party Massacre III (1990).

The Slumber Party Massacre (SPM) series is full of feminism. It’s also full of blood, naked breasts, and 1980’s hair, but there is a surprising amount of pro-woman messaging. In all three films - released in 1982, 1987, and 1990 - a man with a power drill is hunting and killing young women having slumber parties.

The setup of a man with a weapon killing young people one by one is, of course, the slasher formula. The SPM films use that formula to tell unique stories with much to say about women, particularly white American women in the 1980s. 

Every film in the series is written and directed by a woman, and mostly produced by men, notably Roger Corman. At times, the audience can see the different goals of the writers/directors and producers clashing. For example, amidst all the positive friendships and realistic dialogue, each film has a scene in which the women suddenly take off their tops. I can’t say for sure, but they feel like scenes inserted to keep producers and certain audience members happy. 

Still, the writing and directing give the films a distinct style, and the women seem more realistic than other slasher characters of the era. The women in these films enjoy sex, snacks, beer, friendship, sports, and music - in other words, they are well-rounded characters, and possibly condensed versions of people you know. Each slumber party includes a smorgasbord of snacks, including chips, soda, pizza, Easy Cheese, cookies, brownies, corn dogs, beer, champagne, and pot. Never once do we hear a comment about dieting or body-shaming. In fact, in the third film, they crack open their beers and make a toast to “beer bellies and beer thighs.” These are women who want to relax and have fun with one another in a comfortable environment, free of judgment.

The genuine friendships are refreshing to watch, especially in a slasher series. Often in slashers, the group of friends is unlikeable, or seem to dislike each other. But in the SPM movies, the women are meaningfully bonded. They complement each other, ask each other for help, and believe one another when someone raises concerns. In the first two films, the women are connected by their hobbies and interests. In The Slumberparty Massacre , the women are all on a basketball team together while in Slumber Party Massacre II, the group of friends form a band.  There is not a unifying hobby in the third installment, but the friends seem just as interested in each other’s lives. Each film easily passes the Bechdel test, because there is more to their friendships than their opinions about men. 

Each movie makes a decidedly clear point about sex: women like sex, and that’s normal and good. The women who choose to have sex enjoy it, and are not coerced into it by men. Not every female character chooses to have sex, but none are shamed for being virginal. The women do tease each other about their sexual appetites, but the teasing feels like realistic dialogue for a young group of friends. Unfortunately, the films are heteronormative, and only show women interested in men, so they are by no means a perfect representation of sexuality. But to see young women owning their sexuality and taking control of it can be a positive message. Sex isn’t just for men in these films.

The SPM trilogy rode the second wave of feminism, which ended in the mid-nineties. Women at this time were establishing themselves as having sexual freedom without being sex objects, and this is certainly represented throughout the film series. The second wave empowered women to create their own spaces because different dynamics could be established when they did not have to compete with men for space. This idea is represented in the basketball team in the first movie, the rock band in the second, and by the parties that start as “girls only” in each film. Eventually the men show up to participate, in one way or another, but only get to stay when invited by the women. Another hallmark of the second wave was that women were casting off patriarchal oppression in visible ways, and breaking out of gender norms. This is when we saw women throwing bras, high heels, and makeup into trash cans or bonfires, literally casting off their gendered chains. In the SPM franchise, the female characters are in stereotypically feminine boxes, but they are individualized with different styles and preferences. As accurate as an ‘80s slasher can be, these films reflect the culture they emerged from, and still have relevance today, as women continue to fight for spaces to be themselves. 

The women are the most important factors in these films, but also important are the male killers. Though the killer is a different person and differently motivated in each film (and particularly interesting in the second one…), using a power drill as the murder weapon stays consistent throught the trilogy. You don’t have to stretch your imagination far to see what a phallic instrument that is, and that men drilling women to death is a blatant symbol of male violence against women. In the first film, the killer hardly speaks at all. Most of his lines come near the end of the film, in a stream-of-consciousness string of threats disguised as compliments: “You’re pretty, all of you are very pretty. I love you, it takes a lot of love for a person to do this. You know you want it, you’ll love it, yes.” No matter how many times I watch The Slumberparty Massacre, these lines always send a chill down my spine. Anyone who has ever been the target of threatening compliments knows how quickly they can turn into violent rage. The killer in the first film is a template for any harm that men can bring to women, and he is bland so that the audience can project fears onto him. The killer in Slumber Party Massacre II is so silly, he almost escapes analysis. But he represents the irreverence some abusers display, and how people can dismiss the seriousness of abuse if they don’t want to confront the reality of it. The killer in the third film is possibly the scariest. He masquerades as a regular, friendly, good-looking guy. But he takes out his childhood trauma on the women around him, and makes each kill personal. 

There is a feminist point examined through the realistic actions and motives of the killers, about the dangers women have to face by simply existing each day. The Holy Trinity of classic slasher killers (Freddy, Jason, and Michael, of course) are scary in their own ways, but they don’t so clearly reflect the dangerous reality of the world. In the first film, women are killed because they are pretty and simply there. In the second, the killer is taunting his victims, playing with his food and laughing. In the third, we have an angry white man taking out his childhood trauma on the women around him. It’s horrifying that we can still point to crimes against women committed for all those reasons, and The Slumber Party Massacre series was brave enough to talk about it thirty to forty years ago. 

Taken one at a time or as a series, the celebration of women and the addressing of their issues is the foundation of the trilogy. In part one of this article, I generalized the themes across the films. In part two, coming soon, I will give specific examples and take a deeper look at each film.

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