Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama

Year: 1988
Genre: Horror
Directed: David DeCoteau
Stars: Andras Jones, Robin Stille, Hal Havins, John Stuart Wildman, Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer, Kathi O'Brecht, Carla Baron, George 'Buck' Flower, Michael Sonye
Production: Empire Pictures

All is not well at the local Bowl-O-Rama when a group of twenty-somethings bust into the venue after hours as part of a sorority prank. The story largely follows three unique troops; the Tri-Delt sisters led by the sadomasochistic Babs (Stille), Lisa (Bauer) and Taffy (Stevens) their most recent pledges and a trio of dorky dudes led by Calvin (Jones), who tried and failed to spy on the initiation. The horny teenagers descend on the bowling alley on a mission to spend the night. Unwittingly they release a wise-cracking imp who grants wishes with terrible consequences. 80's scream queen Linnea Quigley co-stars as Spider, a leather-clad burglar at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Well at least this movie isn't a walking stereotype

Very, very, VERY loosely based on W.W. Jacobs' short story "The Monkey's Paw," Sorority Babes predates the thematically similar and gleefully morose Leprechaun Series (1993-2014) by about five years. Much like that series of schlocky comedy-horror, the proceedings of Sorority Babes center around a small mythical creature on a quest of mischief and can't ever seem to shut up about it. Yet what this movie looses in Jennifer Aniston's pre-Friends (1994-2004) allure, it more than makes up for it with gratuitous nudity across the board. Those looking for overt objectification of the fairer sex mixed with an obtuse, watered-down appropriation of Giallo visual motifs look no further than Sorority Babes.

However those looking for psychological intensity, a logically progressing story, sly humor or lacking that the theatrical splatter gore we've all come to expect, you are in for a disappointing hour and twenty minutes. The moments most in need of show-stopping violence are the moments that show Director David DeCoteau at his most amateurish. The film shows so little actual blood, you'd swear the creators were making a Pee-Wee Herman Halloween special instead of a redeemable horror-comedy. Unlike Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) (which famously used only two ounces of fake blood), Sorority Babes doesn't supplant the gore with creepiness or the cautious building of tension. While some may find the lack of gore a respite, others may be attributing the lack of blood to a very prudent Bowl-O-Rama GM who demanded the floors be kept clean so the place can still operate during the day.

To give credit where credit's due, I heard about this movie through the whimsical prose of Vent Scene and not from a random glimpse at a "Worst Movies" list. The author of the article made the film sound like a misjudged masterpiece doomed into obscurity by bad distribution and a radical approach to mis en scene. I can certainly relate to the magnetic charm of certain low-budget features; arguably the works of Troma Productions being the most merited. Yet there's an easily identifiable audience for these kinds of films, most of which will sit down to watch Sorority Babes and be mightily disappointed by it's corny humor and cheap, clean carnival-ride horror.

At no point will any discernible viewer be scared for any of the characters. On the contrary, most will by checking the victims off, hoping that once all the annoying clowns, waifs and perverts are disposed of the movie will finally end. If a little funnier, if a little bloodier, if a little more coherent, the movie could have been for somebody. Unfortunately, with little going for it other than small precious flashes of originality, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is conclusively for no one.

Final Grade: F