Scream Factory - SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE on Blu-ray

Few slasher movies deliver nudity inside of the first two minutes. A lot of them make a point to deliver a kill or some kind of gore within the first five minutes though. SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE does both of the above. Apparently Roger Corman required nudity within the first two minutes at the time so Amy Holden Jones was just following the formula. Holden Jones made the film as both a slasher film and a comedy/satire of those movies which I think makes it stand out a bit. It seems lot of the criticism leveled against Jones and the film itself might have come from folks who never saw the film because the satire is quite obvious when you watch it. What's neat about the movie though is that amidst its satirical milieu, the killer character is played with such creepy aplomb, that it is still genuinely effective. SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE sounds like a joke even in its title if you think about it. It is another video cover that was quite obligatory in nearly ever single horror section of every VHS rental store I was ever in. I'm sure I must have checked out this movie and SLEEPAWAY CAMP in the same bunch at some point. Both are a fun time for fans of the genre in that they don't take themselves too seriously and I like that. Also, outside of BODY DOUBLE and of course DRILLER KILLER, not enough films feature a drill as the murderers weapon of choice. It makes a distinct kind of mess of its victims so that's memorable as well.

This Blu-ray transfer looks good considering this movie was churned out by the Corman factory and it comes with several nice supplements.

-"Sleepless Nights: Revisiting SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE" (23 mins)

Great retrospective doc which features interviews with cast and crew from the SPM films as well as critics and other writers. Director Amy Holden Jones speaks a bit about her introduction into the Corman machine via some help from Martin Scorsese. Apparently she had shot some scenes from a script called 'Don't Open The Door' as sort of an audition/calling card to show Roger that she was capable of directing for him. It worked, but as opposed to being asked to shoot another film, Roger wanted her to finish that one. There's also lots of insights into the processes of the various actors and other details of the production and how it was received at the time.

-"Rigg Kennedy: The Man Next Door" (13 mins) 

Actor Kennedy (who plays the next door neighbor in SPM), reflects on his earliest memories of being a performer and how he found his way into SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE and his recollections of working on the movie. He also recites a an original poem and he gets pretty into it.

Also included is a solid audio commentary track with director Amy Holden Jones, and actors Michael Villella & Debra De Liso. There's lots of detail here starting with locations

Director Jones is obviously intelligent and very well spoken so she has a lot of interesting things to say.

The only minor downside to the track is that I found the moderator to be not the greatest I've ever heard (seems somewhat unprepared resulting in some dead air), but the participants make the best of the situation and the track is worthwhile overall.

Yet another outstanding special edition from the great people at Scream Factory. A must own for slasher fans.