BY TODD GARBARINI
We all know the old saying that hindsight is 20/20. When it comes
to slasher films from the 1980s, movies that were released during that time
were very often dismissed by critics – and rightfully so. Audiences, on the
other hand, had a great time experiencing arguably the cinematic equivalent of
riding a roller coaster. Following the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween
in 1978 and its most closely related “holiday†second cousin, Sean Cunningham’s
Friday the 13th in 1980, movie studios were
falling over themselves to come up with the next big horror hit in much the
same way that the spate of killer fish and outer space movies followed the
success of Jaws in 1975 and Star Wars in 1977, respectively.
Unfortunately, for us, often this resulted in some terribly silly and cookie
cutter films that were nothing more than derivations of superior slasher films
from years past.
The
House on Sorority Row
(1982) is a film that didn’t exactly set the
box-office on fire during its initial release. To be fair, it didn’t receive a
huge theatrical distribution deal. It was shot on a small budget, starring a
cast of relative unknowns at the time. In keeping in slasher film tradition,
the film begins, as so many other films of the day do, with the typical opening
sequence that takes many years prior to the film’s start wherein something
quite awful happens before bringing the viewers to present day. In this case, House
begins with a soft filter which is generally used to imply a flashback. The
trick is remembering this prologue as it will answer the question as to what is
happening for the rest of the film. This is a familiar trope that can be seen
in everything from Paul Lynch’s Prom Night (1980) to his own Humongous
(1982).
Written and directed by Mark Rosen in the summer of 1980 and
released in New York in February 1983, House concerns seven sisters of a sorority – Katey (Kathryn McNeil), Vicki
(Eileen Davidson), Liz (Janis Zido), Jeanie (Robin Meloy), Diane (Harley Jane
Kozak), Morgan (Jodi Draigie), and Stevie (Ellen Dorsher) – whose graduation
celebration is interrupted by their house mother, Mrs. Slater (Lois Kelso
Hunt), who throws cold water on their plans for a party. In retaliation, the
leader of the pack, Vicki, devises a prank to play on Mrs. Slater which
involves submerging her cane in the outdoor pool (which is full of muck) and
forcing her to retrieve it at gunpoint! The gun is supposed to be loaded
with blanks but accidentally fires and hits Mrs. Slater, who collapses.
Shocked, there is a mad dash by the sisters to hide her body in the pool and go
through with the party and pretend as though everything is status quo.
The bulk of the film revolves around the party and the sisters
trying to keep up a good-natured charade, though some of them have more
difficulty than the others. None of these characters are especially interesting
and the actresses portraying them do their best to remain interesting enough to
parlay their actions into suspense, however in the hands of another director,
the film could just as easily resemble a comedy, something along the lines of Weekend
at Bernie’s (1989). The ending may have been a bit of a shocker at the
time, however nearly forty years hence it’s old hat and has been echoed in many
better slashers, in particular Michele Soavi’s 1987 directorial debut film Deliria
(StageFright).
House made its home video debut on VHS, Betamax, CED and laserdisc in
1983 (wow – did I really just type that??) and then surfaced on DVD in 2000,
2004, 2010 and 2012(!) in varying special editions. Scorpion Releasing brought
the film to Blu-ray in 2014 and 2018. Now, MVD has reissued the film on Blu-ray
as part of its MVD Rewind Collection in a slipcase edition wherein the
cardboard cover is made to resemble a worn VHS rental that needs to be returned
to a video store. If you don’t own the 2018 Scorpion Releasing version, this
new MVD release contains all the extras from that Blu-ray and is the most
comprehensive release to date.
The first interview is with actress Harley
Jane Kozak (Diane) who went to New York University and was waiting tables while
trying out for the role of Diane. She says that the cast saw the film at the only
theater in New York City that was showing it. She also recalls how Eileen
Davidson (Vicki) wore her gym shorts in the film. Strangely, the house mother
was dubbed! Harley also describes the party scene as “slogging through cementâ€
as they had to dance with no music playing while speaking their lines. This
interview lasts a whopping 42 minutes.
The second interview is called “Kats
Eyes†with Eileen Davidson, who went on to a successful career in soap operas, and
runs just over seven minutes. The third interview is with Kathryn McNeil (Katey)
and runs about 14 minutes. She discusses how she got the audition through
Backstage magazine (the old-fashioned way!). She had no agent; the cast helped the
crew set up the scenes; she was paid $50.00 per day; she was scared by The
Wizard of Oz when she was a child and is amazed how young kids now tend to
see the more violent films (I was always freaked out by the boat ride sequence
in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!).
The
fourth interview is with writer and director Mark Rosman, running about 21
minutes. He had the great opportunity to work on Home Movies by Brian De
Palma as a first assistant director on the campus of Sarah Lawrence!
The
fifth interview is with composer Richard Band and is the most in-depth, running
45 minutes. The score was recorded in London; he grew up in Rome, which I never
would have assumed; he talks about many other aspects of his career and his
website.
The
sixth interview is with composer Igo Kantor and runs 10 minutes.
The
additional extras consist of:
Original
pre-credit sequence – this runs just over two minutes and is bathed in a blue hue.
Alternate
ending storyboards and runs just over seven minutes.
Alternate
monoaural audio version with re-timed pre-credit sequence
There
is a feature-length audio commentary with the director, and a secondary feature-length
audio commentary with the director and Eileen Davidson and Kathryn McNeil.
There
are trailers for this film, Mortuary, Dahmer, Mikey and Mind
Games.
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