[Film Review] Slumber Party Massacre (2021)

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) series has always been rooted in feminism, with every entry written and directed by women, and the newest addition, Slumber Party Massacre (2021), is no different. This modern remake is a love letter to the original series that's prepared to tackle the sexist tropes of horror and show that women aren’t afraid to fight the bad guy head-on. 

The film starts in 1993, where Trish (Masali Baduza) and her friends are enjoying a sleepover at a cabin in the woods. There’s skimpy pyjamas, a disgruntled ex-boyfriend who shows up to ruin the fun, and a shadowy figure watching the girls through a window, so it all feels like a typical slasher set-up. Trish’s friends are picked off one by one by Russ Thorn (Rob Van Vuuren), the killer with a giant drill before Trish eventually defeats him, sending him and his drill to the bottom of the lake. 

In the present day, Trish (Schelaine Bennett) is all grown up, with a teenage daughter, Dana (Hannah Gonera), to worry about. And it turns out Trish has every right to be worried, as Dana and her friends Maeve (Frances Sholto-Douglas), Breanie (Alex McGregor), and Ashley (Reze-Tiana Wessels) are off to a remote house for a weekend sleepover. Maeve’s little sister, Alix (Mila Rayne), also tags along for the ride, which is the least of the girls’ worries when their car breaks down, leaving them stranded.

As they wait for the parts to arrive for their car, they rent out a lake house posted on a local store’s noticeboard. The owner, Kay (Jennifer Steyn), shows them around the property but warns them to stay inside and keep noise to a minimum. The girls settle in for the night and it seems they are intent on recreating a typical horror sleepover, as they change into their PJs, dance, laugh, and drink cheap alcohol. 

Except, this is just what they want you to think. It turns out that Dana and her friends have orchestrated the whole thing so they can return to the site of the 1993 massacre and finally take down Russ Thorn once and for all. Not only was his body never found, but women have continued to go missing in the area. Dana is out for revenge for her mother, and all the women Russ has killed in the years since. 

Dana and her friends lean into the stereotypes because they want to recreate the events that lead to the attack on her mother. Except they came prepared, drinking water to only appear intoxicated, and stashing weapons in their pillows so they aren’t caught off guard.

The 2021 remake does a good job of treading the line between horror and comedy in the same way the 1982 original did. As the girls tackle the gendered stereotypes that are so common in horror, their comments are often quite on the nose, almost as if they’re breaking the fourth wall to laugh with the audience at points. It works if you’re willing to laugh along with them, but I can see Slumber Party Massacre getting the same sort of criticism as Black Chrstimas (2019) did for not trying to be subtle while examining the sexism that can happen in slasher movies. 

In order to flip things on their head even further, we’re introduced to a cabin full of male friends, who take on the role that the throwaway female victims so often do in horror. They have pillow fights, take their tops off for no reason, and have the camera linger over their bodies slowly as they shower. These characters are so disposable that two of them are called Guy One (Richard White) and Guy Two (Braeden Buys). Slumber Party Massacre isn’t saying that these stereotypes should be pushed onto men, but instead, it shows just how ridiculous they are in general and that no one needs to be sexualised in this manner to progress the story.

Slumber Party Massacre also examines people’s obsession with true crime, and their tendency to think their knowledge of real-life murders and the horror genre would prepare them for an encounter with an actual killer. Dana listens to a podcast about her mother’s attack, obsessing over every detail and creating her plan to take on Russ Thorn in the real world. 

However, she and her friends quickly find out that you can’t predict everything, and even if you think you know what you’re doing, that all goes out the window when you’re face to face with someone who is actually trying to kill you.

Slumber Party Massacre has a tight runtime of 86 minutes, and yet it manages to throw in more than a few twists and turns along the way, meaning you’re never bored, and you never really know what’s going on. The kills are fun, despite a few happening offscreen, but there are some delightfully gory ones that balance this out. 

This remake also has just the right amount of references to the original movies so you can tell how much love went into making it, but it stands alone as its own story and manages not to just retread old ground. If you like spotting the throwbacks, there’s a Space Baby t-shirt, a ridiculous red guitar, and lots of pizza eating. There’s even a My Bloody Valentine (1981) kill scene just for good measure for any die-hard ‘80s slasher fans.

However, things start to fall apart a little towards the end. Much like I can’t forgive the bread slicing kill in Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021), the kills in the third act feel quite mean when you think you’ve figured out who is going to survive. There are also confusing elements to the ending, like how anyone knew where the girls were staying when they lied about it, and the credits roll so suddenly it’s a little jarring. 

Overall though, Slumber Party Massacre is great fun if you’re willing to laugh along with the characters and their digs at toxic masculinity and male privilege. While the characters may not be taking themselves seriously at all times, the topics the films choose to tackle are serious enough that they need to be talked about.

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