A psycho escapes the nuthouse disguised as a doctor. Meanwhile, a bunch of teenage girls celebrate summer vacation by throwing a slumber party. They drink, party, and invite some guys over for a little hanky-panky. Naturally, it doesn’t take long before the killer arrives on the scene to crash the party.
Directed by Steven Tyler (no, not that Steven Tyler), The Last Slumber Party is a lethargic low budget entry in the slasher movie sweepstakes. It was released in 1988, but it looks a lot older than that. There are posters of Xanadu, Urban Cowboy, and The Bee Gees in the teenage girl’s bedroom, which suggest it was filmed in 1980 or sometime shortly thereafter. The film suffers from poor sound and more than a few out of focus shots. Seriously, you’re going to think the focus puller had glaucoma or something. If that wasn’t bad enough, the characters are thoroughly annoying and the dialogue is awful. (Sample lines include, “Cut it out, babe!” and “You stupid bitch!”)
The wild-eyed killer himself had promise as he at least looks the part with his O.R. scrubs, surgical mask, and scalpel. He’s more effective when he’s lurking in the background than when he attacks though. It doesn’t help that the gore is weak, and you can sometimes see the fake blood dribbling out of the scalpel before it even touches the victims’ throat. There’s also a halfway decent twist, but the filmmakers manage to bungle that reveal too.
The Last Slumber Party is only seventy-one minutes, which seems like a blessing, but trust me when I tell you I’ve watched three-part mini-series that felt shorter than this turd. The drawn-out nightmare scene that occurs smack dab in the middle of the movie really brings things to a halt. It also has one of the most tedious Final Girl sequences in horror history and to add insult to injury, just when it should be over, it continues on for another ten minutes, concluding with a thoroughly irritating “It was all a dream! (Or was it!?!?)” ending.
In short, don’t watch it at your next slumber party as you may fall asleep before the end credits roll.
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