TITLE-Sorority Row
SOURCE-Summit Entertainment DVD
I remember hearing in 2008 that a remake of House on Sorority Row was being remade. Not being much of a fan of the original,and sadly how in 2009 when this remake was released the habit of horror films being cut to PG 13 for theatrical release,and getting an UNCUT/R Rated cut release on DVD,I skipped this movie. In the over 10 years since the film came out I rarely heard anyone ever say they saw it. I just assumed it was another of the many remakes that came out and was not worth even renting.
Skip ahead to last summer. One of the local pawn shops had an overstock of DVDs/Blu Rays. I walked in and the owner let me know that if I bought at least 20 dvds they were 2 for a buck. I dug thru the shelves and bins and found 17 DVDs I wanted. So started looking for 3 more to get to the magical number of 20. Saw Sorority Row and took a chance on it.
And like lots of films I buy the DVD got put into a box and forgotten about. Then I found the box a week ago. Was digging in it,mostly trying to find a dvd to watch while I sat out on my pier doing a bit of video editing work. Figured I would put the film on and halfway listen to it. So I was surprised when 10 minutes into the film I was hooked and gave it my full attention.
A sorority sister gets 5 of her fellow members to help her pull a prank on her boyfriend and one of the sister's brothers. They convince the guys that one of the sisters is dead. They load the "body" up into a van and are planning on driving out to the middle of nowhere and throw the body into a lake.
When they get to the body of water someone mentions how they gotta get the last of the air out of the dead body's lungs so it won't float to the top of the lake. So the brother grabs a tire iron and stabs the "dead body" thru the chest. Which of course actually kills her. The sorority sisters and the two guys dispose of the body and swear to never talk about this.
A year later the sisters start to get odd texts. Yep this is another variant on I Know What You Did Last Summer. I saw this and was thinking that I was gonna not enjoy this film. But I was shocked cause the cast and the FX work kept my attention.
So the cast....of the 6 main females in the film I knew who 4 of them were. You had Greg Evigan;s daughter Briana as Cassidy. Rumer Willis as nerdy sorority sister Ellie.Jamie Chung as the airhead Clarie. And finally the one that it took me most of the film to realize why I thought she looked familiar. Margo Harshman plays Chugs. It is Chug's brother that kills the "Dead" sister. And Margo I knew from being one the main cast on the Disney Channel sitcom Even Stevens. Plus who can forget the late Carrie Fisher as the house mother. Carrie is great in this part and really appears to being having a blast in the role.
The kills are all pretty well done. The best being Chug's death. Where she has a bottle of wine shoved down her throat and chokes on the liquid. I was really surprised at how graphic and gory the deaths are. Sorority Row is a throwback to the 80s slashers. In that we get piles of gory deaths and a decent amount of nudity.
So if you haven't seen the movie and it is streaming/airing on a service you have. Or you find it on home media for 5 bucks or less,give Sorority Row a watch.
Sorority Row gets a C+