The House on Sorority Row — The House on Sorority Row(Blu Ray)

From the golden age of the Slasher- the early 80’s- The House on Sorority Row, is a classic and prime example of the genre. As its title suggests the film is set in a Sorority house, regarding a prank that goes deadly wrong, and the series of murders that follow this. The film features a selection of memorable character’s, an even/ eventful pace, some neat killers, and a few effective creepy moments. I’ve always found it one of the more rewatchable films the genre has to offer, so it’s great to have this recent(ish) special edition blu ray of the film from the MVD Rewind Series. It takes in a new HD print of the picture, commentary tracks, a selection of old & new interviews with the cast and crew, a mini-poster, and a card slip.

The House on Sorority Row ( aka House of Evil, Seven Sisters) appeared in the year 1982. It was directed/ co-written by  LA-born Mark Rosman, been his first-ever feature film. In total he has seven feature lengths and seventeen TV movie/ TV series episodes to his name. With his feature lengths taking in toxic Red neck zombie sci-fi of Mutant(1984),  virtual reality gaming meets Killer robot action film Evolver( 1995),  and email led romantic comedy The Perfect Man(2005). The House on Sorority Row is a self-assured and well-made slasher- with Rosman perfectly balancing memorable/ largely likeable characters, with a good sense of suspense and mystery- topped with effective kills, and some quite creepy/ tense set-ups.

The film kicks off a few days before a Sorority house is due to close for half-term, but the sorority sisters want to have a party in it after it closes. Their grumpy and nasty walking with a cane and grey bobbed den mother Mrs Slater(Lois Kelso Hunt), need the girls gone- trying to stop the party. On the day of the party, the sisters decide to play a trick on her, with the more outspoken and promiscuous sister Vicki(Eileen Davidson), forcing her into the murky and green swimming pool with a blank firing gun- she drowns by accident, and the group of seven sisters decide to try and cover it up by sinking her body into the pool- with only the more shy and serious 
Katherine(Kate McNeil), being the only sister who seems to be truly worried/ concerned by what has happened. The guests start arriving for the party- though it seems someone with a cane and grey bobbed hair is killing off selected members of the guests, and sisters. Is it Mrs Slater back from the dead,  a strange figure that stalks and watches those in the house, or one of the party guests who is carrying out the murders?
 
Casting wise Hunt is good as the embittered and spoil everyone's fun den mother, Davidson is effective as the devil may care/ prank goes wrong Vicki, and McNeil works well as the more moral and caring Katherine. The rest of the supporting cast is worthy too, with a mention going to Michael Kuhn as  Katherine's tank top wearing blind date, Peter. The film unfolds at an even and rewarding pace- with a good mix of guessing who the killer is a mystery, realistic-to-camp 80’s interaction- all mixed with some neat kill/ gore set- most known/ notable of these being severed head in the toilet bowl, though we also get a few brutal cane head/ cane point kills. With the films just over one and a half hour runtime flying by, keeping you involved with both the mystery of who the killer is, the well-executed kills, and the more creepy elements like a  jester-like clown- both miniature, and man-sized form.

Moving onto this recent(ish) Blu ray, and we get a nice new and crisp HD transfer of the film.  There is a good selection of new and archive extras- on the new side we get a commentary track from director Mark Rosen and stars Eileen Davidson and Kathryn McNeil- and this as expected in a laid back/ chatty affair. We get on set stories, how the actors got the roles, where they stayed when filming, other roles the actress had at/ around the time of the film, and when they saw the finished film. We get a second archive commentary with just the director- and this is a great/ no ego track, as Rosen goes from talking about the flashback sequence, how the script was based on his own experience in a frat house. He moves on to talk about shot set-ups and issues, comments on certain scenes. Talks about the films DP Tim Suhrstedt influenced the films to look, how the film was financed and more.  On the new on-screen interview side, we get one with  Harley Jane Kozak( 41 mins), and Charles Band (45 mins). And on the archive side, we get  Mark Rosman(21 mins), Kathryn McNeil( 14 mins), Eileen Davidson ( 7 mins), Producer Igo Kantor( 10 mins)- which each of these been most interesting.

It’s marvellous to have this new special edition of The House on Sorority Row, as it really is a stone-cold slasher classic. With the blu ray taking a great print of the picture, and a good selection of new and old extras. So, another most worthy addition to the MVD Rewind series.