What’s the buzz
Well, here we are the start of another school year, this time unconventional. None the less, the changing of the seasons has me thinking about my time in school in the final years of my adolescence. The summer ending and the romance and magic of not having a schedule slowing disappearing into another 10 months of academia. Time with friends now reduced to, two nights out of the week, and attempting to make as many memories as possible. Another thought I always had at the start of each school year were what was going to happen this year. Especially as high school was coming to an end, I wondered what changes and events would occur to bring me steps closer to adulthood and developing into the woman I was born to be. All of these were carefully laid out between my girlfriends and myself over late night slumber parties. With all this on the brain coupled with not being able to get Tokyo Convertible out of my head, it seemed only fitting to talk about what has in the last few years become my favorite slasher, Slumber Party Massacre II.
Written and directed by Deborah Brock, we find ourselves following a now grown Courtney played by Crystal Bernard, from the first instalment of the Slumber Party trilogy who helped her sister defeat the driller killer, but while older sister sits in a mental hospital Courtney is being haunted by a new Driller Killer in her dreams. Courtney and her friends, Amy, Shelia and Sally, (Kimberly McArthur, Juliette Cummins, Heidi Kozak Haddad) are all part of an awesome four-piece girl band, taking their inspiration from the Go-Go’s and The Bangles. The girls plan to go out to Sheila’s parents brand new condo for the weekend for a girl’s getaway and band practice. After the ladies are joined by their beau’s, despite forewarnings from the visions of her sister to not “go all the way”, Courtney and Matt decide to take that step where upon the killer in her mind becomes her reality and starts picking off her friends one by one, leaving her as our final girl. However the ending leaves much up to the interpretation of the watcher, where we first find Courtney waking up next to Matt having it all be a dream, to the next moment when she goes to kiss him awake he turns into our Driller Killer, then quick cut to Courtney in a similar hospital room to her sister and a drill coming up through the floor. Clearly a riff on the allegorical slashers of the 80’s that if you do not give into those sexual urges, you’ll stay alive.
What I love about this film is that between the slasher flick is a totally zany musical! The music from the girls is done by a band called Wednesday Week and Driller Killer (Atanas Ilitch, who is a musician himself) was done by John Juke Logan. I have been feverishly scouring the internet for this soundtrack, but alas no luck. Beyond the music, and it’s catchy tunes that will stay with you, the color pallet in this film is so bright and feminine and yet stays completely grounded. Par for the course in the B-Movie research, this movie did not have a designated designer, just a Wardrobe Supervisor by the name of Nadine Reimers. Nadine has done a ton of work under the title of Wardrobe Supervisor up until, according to her IMDB, 1999. The delicate pastels and the soft vignette over the camera reminds me of those pastel color pallets that would later inspire Milena Canonero for 2006’s Marie Antoinette. While Milena was inspired by all the colors of macaroons available, there is a distinct innocence and girlish quality within this pallet.
Pinks, light blues, electric yellows, and soft purples all complement the girls throughout the film in various ways. We see these range over daywear to swimwear. But not everything is staunch feminine, there is a blending of the masculine and feminine within our four main girls. Since most popular “rock” bands, meaning musicians that write and play their own music, of the 80’s was dominated by men these girls assuming the male role by being in a band, wielding instruments and within the story write their own songs. The use of layers like Amy’s blazer when we first meet her, and the jean/suspender combo on Courtney in the first scene, show us that they are defying the gender norms of the day. They are in stark contrast to our killer who looks like a love child of Fonzie and the hair metal front men of the time. Wearing all black leather, studded shoes and a fringed jacket while using a bright red drilling guitar. Clearly shows us he is not in their world or grounded in the soft reality around them. The only other character we see wearing leather is TJ, Sheila’s boyfriend. But his jacket is visibly more worn and has less shine to that of our killer and is paired with acid wash jeans and printed shirts. Our other men in this movie, Matt (Patrick Lowe) and Jeff (Scott Westmoreland) have that slight feminine touch to their wardrobe as well. While the structure of their garments are stiff and boxed, jeans and button down shirts, the color choice to keep them in complimenting pastels to the girls really highlights their connection but also the female gaze that is over the story.
I am fascinated by how sleepwear is used in horror movies, particularly in slashers. Our sleepwear is some of our thinnest most delicate material. If worn at all during slumber, its breathable fabric keeps us cool or warm depending on the season and allows for a full range of mobility of our bodies since we have zero control of our sleep movements. During a time of unconsciousness where we are already are in a vulnerable state our clothing has become the physical manifestation of that. Courtney is the only character we see in sleepwear, which is fitting because it is her POV we are watching the movie through. She is the one struggling with facing herself coming of age sexually. Torn between her desires for Matt and her warning from her sister to stay “pure”, in fear that she to will be driven to madness. It is no coincidence that our killer appears the most when Courtney is in a subconscious state thinking of Matt running shirtless on the football field. The Driller Killer is our warning that if she gives in the consequences could be dire. When we see her in bed, she is always wearing a delicate white nightgown with eyelet trim. White the purest color of them all is used to show just how fragile she is, or on a bigger scale the fragility of young women.
This movie is also filled with nuggets of nods to other horror films of the day. Our two police officers aptly named Kruger and Voorhees. That gnarly zit on Sally’s face that explodes pus, looks awfully close to Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. Regardless of the sub textual implications, and the Easter eggs, this movie at its core it is just a great time. For an hour and a half, you get to follow these great female characters ward off a killer with catchy tunes and dare I say killer dance moves (please I’ll be here all week). It’s bonkers! I also think my attractions to dance numbers randomly popping up in low budget horror just adds a whole other layer for me.
Even though the designs are simple and of the day, they are no less significant because they inform us who these characters are. Slumber Party Massacre II has all these elements packaged perfectly together, and through these characters and their wardrobe we can see the fun that went into creating them while also keeping them grounded. Because of this those messages placed through subtext come through and allow scholars to dive deeper and keep us coming back watch after watch. So, throw on some tunes, get your girls together and having a screaming good time.
