Killer Party (1986) coming from Scream Factory

[vortexx]

Originally Posted by ronnie21

got fangoria number 45. and it has a cool 3 page piece on this was unseen uncut footage.. same they hacked this to pieces..

I may have mentioned this before, but I went to Art College with one of fx guys from the movie. I got to I got him to bring in some photos of the effects to show me. He also brought a silicone mold of one of the actor's face. There were over 100 photos all regarding the special effects and the guys making them in their studio (or wherever). I borrowed the photos. Making color photocopies at that time was quite expensive. Since I didn't have the negatives, making copies at a photo place would have been extremely expensive. That class was once a week, so I didn't have much time to copy them. I had a video camera, and just flipped from one photo to the next while the camera was filming the photos on VHS. Although I still have that tape somewhere, finding it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. There were more effects than what fangoria covered. At the time that I saw the photos, the film was still unreleased. I did not know that it would have been a good idea to make some good copies of some of the final effect shots. I did not know it was to be cut so badly. I lost touch with the guy after that semester ended. I did run into him when I went to see Return of the Living Dead on opening day. They were giving people mini posters of ROTLD that day. I saw him working in a book store not far from the theater. I think we may have talked about ROTLD that day, but not Killer Party.

When it finally was released, I was very disappointed, that most of the effects were cut. I would likely enjoy it more now as I know what to expect.

[ronnie21]

Originally Posted by vortexx

I may have mentioned this before, but I went to Art College with one of fx guys from the movie. I got to I got him to bring in some photos of the effects to show me. He also brought a silicone mold of one of the actor's face. There were over 100 photos all regarding the special effects and the guys making them in their studio (or wherever). I borrowed the photos. Making color photocopies at that time was quite expensive. Since I didn't have the negatives, making copies at a photo place would have been extremely expensive. That class was once a week, so I didn't have much time to copy them. I had a video camera, and just flipped from one photo to the next while the camera was filming the photos on VHS. Although I still have that tape somewhere, finding it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. There were more effects than what fangoria covered. At the time that I saw the photos, the film was still unreleased. I did not know that it would have been a good idea to make some good copies of some of the final effect shots. I did not know it was to be cut so badly. I lost touch with the guy after that semester ended. I did run into him when I went to see Return of the Living Dead on opening day. They were giving people mini posters of ROTLD that day. I saw him working in a book store not far from the theater. I think we may have talked about ROTLD that day, but not Killer Party.

When it finally was released, I was very disappointed, that most of the effects were cut. I would likely enjoy it more now as I know what to expect.

yeah thats insane.. but by 86 not sure why this was so heavily edited the way it was.. i mean they don't show anything at all. it wasn't like it was 1981 when the MPAA rating board were hacking everything.. shame alot of hard work these guys did wouldnt even be shown. thats a cool story... i can only imagine what was cut and how it would have looked in the final cut..

[rocknblues81]

I go back and forth on this one... I'm a sucker for slashers, but this one doesn't look very good. IMO.

[RadicalThrasher]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I go back and forth on this one... I'm a sucker for slashers, but this one doesn't look very good. IMO.

Not even really sure I'd call this a slasher. But.....I'd say it's definitely entertaining. As has been mentioned

[Show spoiler]the build up towrds the end is pretty insane! You're kind of sitting there thinking "is it really going to go there?" And it does in full force and delivers!

Solid 80's horror flick.

[Sage00]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I go back and forth on this one... I'm a sucker for slashers, but this one doesn't look very good. IMO.

Not sure how well it holds up, but I remember loving this and being scared sh**less as a kid.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by Sage00

Not sure how well it holds up, but I remember loving this and being scared sh**less as a kid.

I'm 39 years old and had my first viewing just a few weeks ago and I'd say that sums up the film pretty well. It's fun until it completely shifts tone and that last act is surprisingly creepy. As a kid I'd imagine it'd be quite disturbing as it lulls you into a sense of comfort before providing a final act that is just plain shocking in the level of crazy it provides..

[ronnie21]

the college prank they play on those girls in the beginning has got to be one of the funniest things i ever seen... such a good one.

[RadicalThrasher]

Originally Posted by ronnie21

the college prank they play on those girls in the beginning has got to be one of the funniest things i ever seen... such a good one.

Have you ever seen Pledge Night?



I think it would pair well with this as a double feature.

[Member-222782]

I really enjoyed revisiting this. Shame about the cuts but I'd rather not harp on it, as obvious as the cuts are. Even butchered by the MPAA it's still a fun romp.

[RadicalThrasher]

Review is up

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Kille...297885/#Review

[ronnie21]

figured they would give it a 4.0 for picture quality,,, its way better than the dvd-r

[hockeyshark91]

I've been away for a few months, not one blu purchased in that time, then i return to this - hell yeah! Received it today, will probably watch it tonight.

[MadJack]

Has anyone received a slipcover for this release? I have 2 now with no slip a month after release.

[Luke Dodge748]

Originally Posted by MadJack

Has anyone received a slipcover for this release? I have 2 now with no slip a month after release.

Not a Collector's Edition - so no slip

[The_Chex]

[Show spoiler]Are you ready for a party? Not an awkward school dance party. Not the kind where your girlfriend drags you to a viewing party of This is Us. Not vaping with the boys behind the bowling alley. A killer party. I'm all in! Bring on the crazy and the wild! Here we go---and nothing says fun happenings and good times like a funeral. Family and friends gather around a casket to mourn the passing of a beloved. The flamboyant priest misquotes The Wizard of Oz during the eulogy. Farewells are made. Tears are shed. A lady is grabbed by the not-quite-deceased and stuffed into the wooden box before being burned alive. Someone has a wicked sense of humor.

Before I can question what's happening, the camera pulls back to reveal a young couple in a car watching the events on a drive-in movie screen. The young girl looks like Deborah Goodrich, but the Gods of the Internet Movie Base with their data tell me I'm wrong. The boyfriend would later star in a series of gay adult films called the "Butterscotch" series. Before he can ask if she wants a lick, the girl ditches him for some snacks and finds a brightly lit, eerily empty concession building. Ghosts, serial killers, monsters and all possible dangers be damned; the girl grabs a free bag of popcorn before running back to the car. Is that a horror movie rule? Stealing food leads to an untimely demise? Flashy LSD colors emerge as 80's hair metal blares from the speakers. The boyfriend and other movie patrons have turned into ghouls. The girl flees in terror as the band strum their instruments and shake their feathered hair. Does anyone really need to wear five bandanas around their neck? You do if you want to be a member of horror movie band White Sister. Luckily for the lady, the band can warp the properties of reality and save her from the clutches of the undead. I have no idea what's happening. I don't care. This is amazing. The camera cuts to Phoebe (Elaine Wilkes - My Chauffeur) watching the insanity unfold on TV. Did I just get Thriller'd? It has absolutely nothing to do with the story. Sometimes 80's excess comes in the form of gratuitous nudity, extreme violence or cocaine. Other times, it's a movie within a music video within a movie. Bless American 80's cinema and its cheap horror films.

What a blast from start to finish. The opening madness aside, the story focuses on Phoebe, Vivia (Sherry Willis-Burch - Final Exam) and Jennifer (Joanna Johnson - TV's The Bold and the Beautiful), three dorky and shy gals who want to join the hippest sorority on campus. Before you can say "college coeds stalked by madman", put down the axe. The first hour is an breezy 80's college comedy with brief snippets of horror much like Final Exam. If there's one thing tougher to nail than tense horror, it's comedy. Fraternity pranks, nude coeds and awkward dates fill the scenes, but we're not talking Porky's. More like a tongue-in-cheek, Night of the Comet vibe. Paul Bartel appears as a professor if that tells you anything. All of the college hijinks build up to a dance party with a macabre April Fool's Day prank at an abandoned fraternity house where a pledge died two decades earlier. Just writing that makes me giddy with anticipation.

As the story moves into full slasher territory, the sting of the MPAA's cuts are deeply felt. Characters are offed in bloodless fashion one after the other in quick succession. Like ripping off a band-aid. Almost as if the filmmakers knew they had a limp third act and couldn't deliver on the gory crescendo audiences were salivating for. These lost, butchered moments are legendary after all these years with even a fan site once dedicated to them. What had been a fun escalation of graphic expectancy leaves a feeling of emptiness as the story draws to a close. For any other 80's horror, this may have been the tragic ending to a promising and unique experience. I feel ashamed for even thinking that. This is the film that rocked me right out of the gate with a priest telling those in mourning to have a nice day before a girl named April is saved by a rock group wearing leather vests with pastel shirts singing "she's no foold" from rotting corpses that emerge from crashed cars at a drive-in as a music video. All bets are off and Killer Party does not disappoint with the greatest turnaround in the horror genre during its final ten minutes.

[Show spoiler]A possessed coed spitting out vengeful glee as she crawls along walls and torments the survivors in Night of the Demons fashion is not what I expected.

The sheer surprise and brutal nastiness of it makes up for the flaccid killings that came before and makes this a must-see for 80's horror enthusiasts.

A wise man once asked "do you wanna party?" Yes. Yes I do. If it's a killer party then it's party time. Now you have the lyrics to 45 Grave's catchy song stuck in your head. The only way to get it out is to listen to White Sister's April (You're No Fool). You're welcome.

I noticed in this thread that some viewers were confused by the passage of time. I certainly did a double take when the April Fool's Day shenanigans are talked about as earlier, the women were said to have pledged around Halloween. There are two indicators that time has moved on.

In one sequence, it's snowing. I'm not saying it couldn't snow on Halloween or near April 1st, but it's also only in the single scene. The other indication is when Professor Zito (Paul Bartel) is looking around the abandoned fraternity house. The corpse of

[Show spoiler]Mrs. Henshaw

can be seen and it's highly decomposed and rotting.

[drownsoda]

Just rewatched this today. Still love it to pieces. It is such a weird movie but it has a lot of fun quirks—a great mashup of a slasher and a supernatural possession flick. The autumn atmosphere in the first half is what really pulls me in, and is why it's always in rotation for me at this time of year. There is the slightly jarring shift midway through where time has suddenly elapsed to spring, as has been noted here. I still wonder if this was intentional or if it had something to do with the production getting stalled. I would love to get a 4K release of this, though I doubt it's a popular enough title to warrant it from Scream Factory's perspective.

[Member-222782]

Shout's edition of Killer Party is as definitive as it gets. Snowball's chance in Hell that any of the missing bits still exist so a 4K reissue wouldn't make much sense in the film's current form. I agree it's a fun horror flick perfect for Autumn.

[MifuneFan]

Price has been dropping lately for this at Amazon. Now down to $15.64.