It's a Slumber Party Massacre!

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Welcome to the Gory Details podcast, where we discuss horror from every angle. It's all fair game. We break it down with humor, sarcasm, and curiosity, looking at what scares and excites us most, what gets ignored, and the people shaping the genre right now. And this week we are going to discuss two movies. Um well, kind of a remake and an original. We'll we'll we'll see. Okay, we're discussing the Slumber Party Massacre 1982 and Slumber Party Massacre 2021. And Alma, why are we discussing these movies?

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Well, originally you asked me, let's pick a summer movie, and the first movie I thought of was Slumber Party Massacre, which was the remake. And then you said, let's watch both of them and discuss. So that's why we're doing both of them, the original and the remake.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Slumber Party Massacre 2021 actually a remake of the original 1982 movie. It's not actually a remake, it's a reimagining, and that's how the uh director writers of the 2021 version have said that it's a reimagining it. I can't even talk. Reimagining of it. Um, and so let's just get into it a little bit more. Um first thoughts. So, what do you think, Alma? Remake, reimagining, do you even care if it's like when you we start getting into these words and everything?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

There you go. That's a good question. Do you even care? To me, it it's like not really, not really. I know that I know that the movie itself, when they gained the rights to it, they found a writer for it. Yeah. And it was supposed to be a remake, but obviously after you watch them both, it's a reimagining of the first one. Yeah. And so that's what we end up with. And and the original, we can we get more into that, of course, too, um, was more of a reimagining of the original script itself because it wasn't intended to be written and shot the way it was. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Yeah, so we'll just get into the movies now. The 1982 original Alma, tell us uh who wrote it, directed it, and then the 2021 version, tell us about who wrote and directed that one as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Okay, the original 1982 version, the Slumber Party Massacre, was written by Rita May Brown originally and Amy Holden Jones, and the director was Amy Holden Jones. And in the remake, Slumber Party Massacre, it was written by Susan Kylie and directed by Danishka Estrahazy.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Yeah, so both women directors. Exactly. That's uh I think a very key part going into the movie discussion here in a little bit, that uh women directors, women writers, um for both of these, because um some of the conversation uh discussion points that we're gonna be going into, I think some of the exploitation maybe um key points. Yes, that's what I would use, that word. Yeah, um, definitely. But uh Rotten Tomatoes, rotten this this is so interesting. Okay, for me at least it is. I don't know if it is for you. Rotten tomatoes, 1982 original, 48%. The 2021 oh my god, the 2021 version, a hundred percent, a hundred percent on rotten tomatoes. I couldn't believe it. I'm not saying look, I'm not gonna say whether it whether I think it's better, great, fantastic, horrible, whatever, but I just could not believe when I saw that it was a hundred percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Um yeah. So Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Yeah. IMDB says for the 1982, a female high school student celebrate party turns into a bloodbath as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls into her neighborhood. Um and for the 2021 uh description, a remake of the 1982 slasher film about sorority girls attacked by a maniac killer with a large electric drill, which I hate that description because sorority girls attacked. What what gave you the impression that these were sorority girls being attacked?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah, I don't know where that where that came from. And yes, it it threw me off, especially because I thought of it as a summer movie because it looked like they were off on a summer vacation trip. And that's how I've always thought of it. And I never thought of them being in school or anything like that. And so yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

I mean, I know they were trying to play their parts for a specific reason, and we'll, you know, we'll discuss that, but I never got the impression that they were sorority girls, you know. I don't know, yeah, but anyways, so but let's just go ahead and get into it. Um the 1982 version. The I I don't want to call it the version, it's the original. And I'm sorry if I'm gonna be using the version this version that. My silly little brain is grabbing at words here because it's just full of mush right now. I've just watched these two movies and I'm just gonna be going back and forth between the two movies. So 1982 watched it. God, I've watched it I've watched it so many times. And for a movie that I have really no affinity toward, I really, really don't have I I couldn't say that I l love this movie or even like I have a love-hate relationship towards it in any way, shape, or form. I've watched it like probably a good gosh, like ten times in the past decade, I would say. And um I watched it last night just to get ready for uh, you know, discussing it today. And I wanted to have it fresh in my mind because some of these movies I feel like I want to have the um the details and everything fresh in my mind. And um for this one especially because I wanted to be able to compare it. I thought I wanted to have it be compare it to this 2021 version because I had not watched the 2021 version. And I want to say though, for right off the bat though, 2021, yeah. I really enjoyed it, I have to say. It's its own movie, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Have you not seen it before?

SPEAKER_02 7:52

No, I had not.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Oh, you hadn't seen it before. Oh, okay. I had it. I remember catching it. Okay. It's an original um sci-fi movie, I believe. I saw it when it first came out.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

It was an original sci-fi movie, um, Shout Factory, I think it was. And um I really, really enjoyed it. I know I said I was gonna start with the 1982 version, but I just want to get into the 2021 real quick. Um, because I want to say that I did not expect it. I wanted to go in. This is why. I wanted to go in not liking it. Because I, you know me, I hate, I hate remakes. I hate remakes, I hate reimaginings, I hate just anything where like again, when I said I have no affinity towards the original at all. There's nothing in to the I have no loyalty to the first one whatsoever. And um yeah, so I don't know why I wanted to go into the second one hating it. I just did not think I was going to like it at all, especially because I accidentally, accidentally, I like to go into movies not knowing anything about them, but I accidentally went into it seeing that it had 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I'm like, no way, there's no way in hell this movie is gonna be 100% to me, to me. And I was like, the first few scenes right off the bat, I was like, this movie is hellaciously not gonna be 100% a Rotten Tomato approved movie for me. It did not start off good for me. And no, it it ended up being a pretty fucking good movie, I think it was. Because just like the first movie, it played around with its themes, man. It played around with its themes, it knew going in that it was going to be a little bit of a parody to itself. Um it went in knowing what it was doing, um but it had some fun with its uh with the killings as well. And I like the I like the actresses as well. They had fun with it. But you said you had watched it before this time that we're discussing it right now. You have?

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yes, I've seen it before. I've seen it a couple of times because I include it in my marathon because I usually watch the Slumber Party Massacre, and then I'll watch parts two and three, and part three is harder to find, and then I'll watch this one. And uh there's just something about how I have to watch things in a in a row, you know? I have to like complete it. And so I'd seen it a couple of times already, and I really, really enjoyed it. I thought it was a really great remake, um, reimagining, whatever you want to call it. Um yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

So when you watch it, you like to take it as it's as a completely separate movie on its own?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yes, uh completely. Like most of the time that's how remakes end up being. If you play it standalone, yeah, one and then the other, then you can enjoy it separate from the other movie. And I'm pretty good at doing that because most of the times, and I wrote one for our blog one time, remake versus original. Yeah and each one I like to take separately from the original and see would I watch this movie, would I choose one over the other, um, blah, blah, blah, that sort of thing. And usually I have one that I like more than the other. In this case, they're both different and interesting to watch, each on their own.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Okay, so yeah, let's take 1982. The 1982 original, we have um, let's see, I'm so bad with names. I'm gonna scroll back over here. It was written by Rita May Brown and Amy Holden Jones, and it was written as a parody or uh as a parody of itself of slasher films. So everything that we're seeing, it's supposed to be kind of not kind of, it's supposed to be that way. The the ridiculousness of it all. Um, and I think that's why I think people don't either don't realize or they remember and they forget, but um, it's supposed to be ridiculous. Um, some of the scenes in it. Um, especially the killer. The killer, he's he doesn't have a backstory.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

That's the other thing we keep. Yes, he's just enters the movie as a serial killer. That's just there. That's his thing, and they show his face the whole time, which was also another kind of new thing in the slasher area where there's no mask, it's just a person, you know who's doing it from the beginning, um, that sort of thing. And he is comical.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Beyond, beyond comical. He besides not having a backstory, he uh they try to insert some weird kind of he doesn't have a backstory, but then they insert some kind of weird story to him. They just like when he's going around killing everybody, and then they have him killing with the electric drill.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

I don't know who saw that, but Alex symbol of that was a funny instrument to choose to be the killing weapon because of its shape, because it's something completely random that somebody's carrying around that's mechanical, it's making noise, it's you have to drill it into somebody. It just not an ideal weapon that somebody would pick up to do the murdering with.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

The entire time I'm thinking, like, how is this thing? First of all, shouldn't it be plugged in?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Shouldn't this thing be plugged in? I'm guessing it was battery powered. That's because the whole time I'm wondering what kind of battery using. And there's no way And it's pretty steady a weapon throughout the whole movie and before, because he's escaped. He's used this weapon before. He's the driller killer.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

So getting into the nudity scenes, um, does women having or does having women creators or writers change how the nudity is framed? Does it make it different, more palatable? Does it make it, I don't know, more right or see where I'm getting at here? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

In this in this case, in the first movie, it didn't have anything to do with the women writers. That was all added because the producer wanted it. The producer backing the movie gave the money because they wanted to see this movie made and he added all of the nudity and scenes to it. So it was basically the way um Holden Jones had written that she basically was checking off boxes. Like she wasn't afraid that she was going to be called this exploitation uh, you know uh director of these female movies, uh, you know, the way that they had the nudity and stuff. I mean, basically that was all added in because the producer wanted to bring in the male gaze. He wanted to bring in more male people into the seats because that's who came to the movies, not realizing that the reason the movie was written the way it was was because she wanted to make fun of that stuff. And so that it it does, it does, it is different. The the directors are seeing like, oh, you're a woman and you're exploiting women. And in the second one, it was done differently because in this in the in the remake, um, they show the male is the only one who is shown nude and they show his backside and they show him in the shower scene, along just him in the shower scene and killed too while naked, because that's the most vulnerable place that you would be. So yeah, yeah, it does it does change how they do it because the the second movie they were doing it the way that they wanted to do it, and so all that women exploitation just wasn't there, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:48

So do you feel just out of curiosity, uh do you feel that the movie is just as impactful? Um let's say the second one, um just as impactful without a nude male scene in it. I mean, we have the male nude male scene in it, but because we have the nude female scenes in it, I'm guessing that's the only reason we have it, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Well, I think it checks off some boxes in itself of being mocking those things that were in the original, uh, or mocking the silly things that they would put in these slasher movies with women in them. They have a pillow fight, for instance, and it's just silly, and then the men are the ones dancing and and jumping up and down and taking off their shirts for no reason. I think it was impactful. It made it made sense, it made it more funny. I laughed. I enjoyed those parts. I thought it was funny. So I think yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

I mean, I'm not saying either way, I'm just I'm just asking the questions here. So like uh if it if it works, it works. I'm just curious though, like if it um if it wasn't in the first or the first or second of the first movies, uh, would it have been included in the 2021 movie to be able to have made an impact, you know, the way that it did. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

I think so. I think regardless of what the first one had, it was gonna be in this one because it's funny. It's funny, it makes fun of of all those moments in the movies. It it mocks them, the way that the men are running and hiding, the way that the men are scared of the women, the way that the men are um partying up and not paying attention to their surroundings. I mean, they're they're both doing stupid things, these two groups of people. Um the girl group came because they're actually looking for the driller killer, and the boy group, it wants to be in the murder house, and they think it's exciting. Exactly. So they're they're both doing things on different levels that are stupid, but the men's side is is funny. It's funny because of how they portray the women in the other movie as being not noticing what's going on, not paying attention to their surroundings. And in this case, the men are the ones who are being silly and not thinking about what they should be thinking about.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, in the 1982 original, they're just, you know, they're having their slumber party and they're just completely distracted. They're going about doing everything. Um I mean, they're they had nothing to worry about. They the second uh the 2021 remake is completely different, though. They put themselves in a situation, the the guys to be at a murder house, though. That's the difference. They put themselves, even though they didn't, granted, they didn't believe that the murderer was gonna be there, they put themselves at a house that was known to be something other than just a regular home. Um, so that was different, but in the original, they were it was just a regular slumber party. That's the difference. So they wouldn't have expected to have been attacked or um, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

And because that plays out the way that it does, that's why I like the beginning of the remake in that it's in the past and they were the ones who stayed somewhere and the driller killer shows up and murders them. I like that they did that, it's that was like to an homage to the first movie, and then let them take it, frame it from there to be a smarter movie, um, took it into the future, some, into um what we have. And so I like that that beginning intro part of the movie because it was like they do have a lot of parallels and they do have a lot of homages to the original movie. The remake has like all the same names, the same characters, really high kill counts, um, some of the shots for the deaths, um, stuff like that, and that's really all enjoyable. Um, I don't even remember what I was. Starting to talk about there, but you know, um yeah, I just really enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Well, you started talking about kills, so are there any favorite kills from either of the movies that you want to discuss?

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Well, I did enjoy the fact that they had the same type of kill in both of them, you know, with the drill being between the driller killer's legs and the shot of somebody between, except in the first movie you had a woman standing then between the legs with the drill bit coming down on top of them. And in the second one, it was a male who had the driller killer coming over the top of them with the drill. So I like that one. That one was my favorite. It's also a really nice shot, and it's not subtle at all in its very, very just for that reason alone, it's over the top.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

All right, speaking about these kills, are you feeling that these kills are a little too gratuitous or are they perfect for the slasher movies?

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Oh, they're perfect. They're gory because, well, I'll say in the second movie, the women weren't killed on screen the way you would see them being killed, everybody else. Like they didn't really show what happened to them. Whereas one of the guys who got murdered, who was murdered, had that drill in his face and it got turned into ground beef, and we see that. It was pretty bad. Uh-huh. And those parts I think are really great. Really great. I think in the first one, they were very light, and so they weren't gory, even though he shoved a drill through, you know, their bodies, they didn't really show any of that chewed up meat. I hate saying it like that, but you know what I mean? That it wasn't over the top or anything like that. They were just, they they came off as pretty much simple kills. And in the second one, I think they went there when they needed to on a few of those kills. Like, especially drilling through both the eye sockets on two of the the victims, one in the first one and one in the remake. They both had their I mean, he gotten through one eye and then he stopped and got him through the other eye. I mean, that is pretty That's messed up. Yeah, that's pretty messed up. And it was kind of it kind of made me laugh because it was like, so he he took the time to do that. He did one and then he was like, ha ha, I'm gonna give the other eye now too. Ha ha.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

I love practical effects, and this is where 2021 kind of lost me a little bit because it was a lot of uh CG kind of stuff going on here. And um, so I will give it to even though it was kind of corny the uh original, um it's it's gonna it it's gonna play better for me, the original ones from for sure. Um, so uh definitely the kills are gonna be better for me in the original one.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Um Well, what about the kill that was the funniest kill in the original was the fact that the poor pizza guy is murdered and then they eat pizza off of him?

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Oh my god. I always, always love that part when she fucking eats the slice of pizza off his back, and then she says something like, um uh, what did she say? Like, it always makes me feel better when I'm when I eat or something like that. She's like, Oh, I feel better already.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Something to that effect. But it was funny because they're like, Is he like is he dead? Is he cold? Oh, he said they said they mentioned that he's cold and then they ask, is the pizza cold?

SPEAKER_02 26:11

I just I can't get over that. That is the best. But I like that in the 2021 movie they kind of do a little nod to that when I believe it's Alex, the younger sister, eats cookies um after the death of the serial killer as well. And yeah, so I do like that they kind of do a little nod to that as well. Uh there's quite there's several little nods that they do in the little uh in in the movie, uh, the 2021 version to the originals, not just the original um 1982 version, but to um like the sequels as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yes, it like the guitar, the guitar from the second one, the driller killer's awesome really rad guitar thing. I don't even know what you call it. Is like does it have a different name other than a guitar? Because guitar doesn't seem to cover it. It's a badass guitar.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Guitar with a gnarly shape. For my curiosity, um, is there either one of these movies, is there one that does a better job of parodying the slasher movie for, you know, does it is doing a better job of parodying the national, the national?

SPEAKER_01 27:50

The national I think that the the second one, I think the remake is d does a better job because they had more say in what what they were putting in the movie. In the first one, not understanding it, the producer, and not understanding that it was supposed to be a parody, a lot of the humor was funny because uh it was accidental, it wasn't on purpose. And and the second one, everything is more intentional, and therefore I think it gets it a lot better, it's smarter for that reason.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Do you think that's because it is a remake because they are going in more intentional because they have the uh advantage of going in knowing I am making a parody of a parody? Do you think that's why it's going to be more, you know, better well made. Better well made? Is that even is that even it is, you said so, so therefore it is.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

No, but yeah, it is it's it was just it was just smarter in that and I still think the first one was still funny in its own regard and its its own places and its own points. You could still get what they were doing. It was also smart for the time because there was no jokes made about the women who were in charge. Those parts were seen as um strong, independent women roles like the coach, um, the phone woman, the handy woman installing the peephole. Um, those characters were all women, and it wasn't a punchline. It was just those were the characters and that's how they were written. And so those additional little things in the first one are really nice, whereas in the second one, we don't have any of that, but it's not needed because of the time period.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

All right, discussing our survivors. Do you think there's anything more interesting about either of our survivors of our 1982 survivors or our 2021 survivors?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

I don't think any one of them was more any more interesting or any more deserving. Any more important that they I I was really hoping. The thing is, both had very high health kill counts. There's 12 killed in the first one, 13 killed in the second one um in the remake. I keep saying the second, but I want to clarify. Um and I was hoping all of the women though in the second movie, because they had more because it was written different, it was written new, I was really hoping that all the women survived. But they didn't. And so maybe then I'll pick the second one I think was more not deserving, but definitely thought that they should have all lived, especially because they all chose to go there and they all chose to help the friend, and they all were ready to fight, and they didn't do anything that was well, I guess being there was stupid, but you know what I mean? In the first movie, it was like you were just waiting for everybody to get picked off, and the fact that there's like four survivors at the end is pretty astonishing for the fact that 12 other people are killed, but mostly males. So you know, yeah, in both of the movies they had high kill counts for the men.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Oh yeah, absolutely. Um I don't think for well I do think that in the 1982 original, I feel like that is a little bit more earned. I know that sounds weird to say it that way or to put it that way, but I think it's because they for the main fact that they weren't expecting to be put through that, you know? The in the in the uh remake, they went in looking for this battle, this fight, this, you know, whatever. And in the original, they were just minding their own business, and then this thing happened to them. And so I feel like that surviving till the end was more earned. It was just like that, that was like an accomplishment. Of course it was, you know, like they fucking made it through to the end. It's like, yeah, they fucking did it. And then for the 2021, it was just like, yes, it's fucking amazing that they fucking did it and they fucking killed them, but also they went looking for that fight. So um, I don't know. I do for me, it's just like the 82 uh original. It's it feels a little bit more earned, you know. I don't know. That's just if I'm putting them up against each other, that's how I look at it. Uh they're both awesome, and I still think that the 2021 remake is a really great fucking movie, but I'm just saying if I'm putting them up against each other, that's how I feel as far as like which one is a little bit more earned. That's how I feel.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Well then that's what you would say was your favorite version, the second one. I did say that. Well, I'm asking. I'm asking you, would you say that? The second one was your favorite version.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

If I'm put if I'm yeah, I would say yeah. If I'm if I'm going to be re-watching any either of these two, I'm gonna say probably I'm gonna be watching the second one, yeah. Definitely. Not the second one, not the second one, the remake.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

The remake, yes.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

I think I would say that the same thing. I'd that the my favorite version is the the remake. If someone had never seen a slasher before, which movie would you tell them to watch?

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Uh, if someone had not seen a slasher before, honestly, I would tell them to watch the 82 original.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

That's what I would say. That's what I would say for sure. It's the classic. Yeah. And then you can see how much times have changed. But for some reason, that's the one that I would want people to say to see. To see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Yeah. I would definitely it I'm not saying it's the best movie to watch ever, but it's it's the quintessential. It I can't even say that word right. It's the uh the movie for uh of slasher, the slash slinging, the slash slinging. I I always love to say that from uh SpongeBob SquarePants, um, the perfect slasher movie. Um and it was made more perfect because they made it as a parody of a slasher movie. Um, so definitely if you've never watched a slasher before, watch the 1982. If you're gonna watch these movies and don't know which one to watch, watch the 2021. I think. Definitely. But maybe watch both, because they're both, I think they're both I think you'd appreciate both of them, I think. Per personally, I think you could appreciate both of them. But if you only got time to watch one of them, watch the 2021. That's just me, though. Okay, everybody, that is it for this week's episode. And Alma, where can everybody find us? On the interwebs?

SPEAKER_01 36:51

You can visit us on our website, thegory details podcast.com, on in on Instagram, the Gory Podcast, Blue Sky, the Gory Details, and finde a coffee.com slash the gory details.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening to us, and until next week, bye bye.