Slumber Party Massacre - Scream Factory Blu-ray Review

Director: Amy Holden Jones (as Amy Jones)

Writer: Rita Mae Brown  
Stars: Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella
Year: 1982
Studio: Scream Factory
Video: 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio             English         1627 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1627 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio             English         1993 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1993 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Runtime: 1:16:14.611 (h:m:s.ms)
Subtitles: Yep, English


"When Trish (Michele Michaels) decides to invite her high school girls’ basketball teammates over for a slumber party, she has no idea the night is going to end with an unexpected guest– an escaped mental patient and his portable power drill – crashing the party in the cult classic, The Slumber Party Massacre."

Shout! Factory released the Slumber Party Massacre Collection on DVD back in October of 2010, and now their Scream Factory line has given the first film a hi-def upgrade. I know I'll probably sound like a slasher amateur here when I admit this, but this was somehow my first time viewing Slumber Party Massacre. I have no excuse for this. I've seen hundreds of slashers, from the standards like the Friday The 13ths and Halloweens to off the wall obscure junkers like Hauntedween and Fatal Pulse, but this one has managed to elude me for 30 years. I'm a big fan of Slumber Party Massacre Part II, and the sequel shows many of the deaths from the first film in flashbacks and I guess I've seen the sequel so many times that I just assumed I'd already seen the original. I'm kind of an idiot, that's probably what actually happened.

After being exposed to the cheap and wonderfully campy Part II so many times over the past 20 years I was pretty surprised to see that this first film is much more serious and professionally made film. It's still a bit goofy at times, but it's actually a pretty great little mean-spirited slasher that should have a larger fanbase. If you're like me and have somehow neglected to check this one out before, this new disc from Scream is a great way to see it for the first time.

As I've stated on this site before I'm by no means an expert on A/V quality, but I think the new 1080p 24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 transfer looks great. It's definitely a nice improvement over the DVD, which you can see in the comparison shots below. DVD on top, Blu-ray on bottom. Click to enlarge

Details For Scream's Upcoming Slumber Party Massacre Blu-ray

SCREAM FACTORY™ PRESENTS

THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE

FEATURING NEW HIGH DEFINITION TRANSFER OF THIS CULT CLASSIC

AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY™ MARCH 18, 2014

Pre-Order This Scream Factory™ Home Entertainment Collection Today!

This March 2014, loyal fans and horror enthusiasts are invited to join SCREAM FACTORY™ for the ultimate sleepover when Amy Holden Jones’ THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE, starring Michele Michaels (Death Wish 4: The Crackdown), Robin Stille (Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama), Michael Villela (Wild Orchid) and Andree Honore (Strange Reality), debuts on Blu-ray™ for the first time on March 18, 2014. This highly collectible Blu-ray edition features new high definition transfer and killer bonus content. A must-have for all slasher fans and movie collectors, this definitive Blu-ray release of THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE is priced to own at $24.97 SRP.

THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982) helped define the slasher film ethos of the 1980s.  Put together by first-time director Amy Holden from a script, titled “Don’t Open the Door," by celebrated author Rita Mae Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle), the film was an immediate hit for Roger Corman's New World Pictures, eventually spawning two sequels and became a staple in mom-and-pop corner video stores of the 1980s.

When Trish (Michele Michaels) decides to invite her high school girls’ basketball teammates over for a slumber party, she has no idea the night is going to end with an unexpected guest – an escaped mental patient and his portable power drill – crashing the party in the cult classic, The Slumber Party Massacre.

Pre-order now at

http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/slumber-party-massacre

http://www.amazon.com/Slumber-Party-Massacre-Blu-ray/dp/B00GSTHD1G/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1386963515&sr=1-1&keywords=slumber+party+massacre

BONUS FEATURES:

• NEW HD Transfer From The Original Camera Negative
• NEW interview with actor Rigg Kennedy
• Sleepless Nights: The Making Of The Slumber Party Massacre
• Audio Commentary With Director Amy Holden Jones, Actors Michael Villela And Debra De Liso
• Theatrical Trailer

“THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE”

Starring Michele Michaels  Robin Stille

Michael Villela  Andree Honore

Edited by Sean Foley  Director of Photography Steve Posey  Music by Ralph Jones

Co-produced by Aaron Lipstadt  Screenplay by Rita Mae Brown

Produced and Directed by Amy Jones

High-Definition Widescreen (1.78:1)/DTS-HD Master Audio Mono /1982/Color/77 minutes/R

Slumber Party Massacre Blu-ray Due Early 2014

Scream Factory has just posted this surprise announcement on their Facebook page:

 We're happy to report that we've gone back into our "vaults" and will be bringing the original 1982 SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE film to Blu-ray for the first time in early 2014! This will be a brand new HD transfer taken from the original camera negative. We had many requests for this and we're pleased to be able to bring this into the Scream family.

As many of you know, we released this film on DVD back in 2010 along with Parts 2 & 3 as a part of a "Roger Corman's Cult Classics" collection. For several factors (mostly financial), we can only bring you the original at this time on Blu but if sales are solid, we will certainly consider 2 & 3 for the future. 

Hopefully this sells well because II is my favorite of the series, if they're able to get Part II out on Blu-ray with some kind of involvement from Atanas Ilitch I'll shit.