Killer Party (1986)

(On Cable TV, June 2021) At first glance, Killer Party looks like one of those generic slashers that so polluted the cinema of the 1980s. Set on a campus with the usual assortment of coeds, it feels like a generic product out of the gate. Never mind the twisty openings and sure, there are dark initiation rituals and warnings against the occult but, as we know, all of those are really cover for a knife-wielding psycho, right? Well, if you manage to make it through two thirds of Killer Party without giving up in over-familiarity, the film eventually becomes something slightly more interesting, featuring demonic possession to go with the sudden succession of student deaths to make up for the film’s slow burn. Noticeably more self-aware and comedic than other similar films (albeit without quite crossing over into comedy), Killer Party ends up being slightly better than most of its contemporaries. Not by much, and not enough to make this a must watch, but certainly not quite as awful as was the norm at the time. I quite liked Sherry Willis-Burch’s character—which is important, considering the darkly amusing finale—but Joanna Johnson does have a more complex role than usual for horror films of the time. If I had the patience (or a basic liking of the genre), I’d probably find links between Killer Party and the similarly self-aware April’s Fool (or Midnight Showing) as mild examples of how the slasher genre wasn’t without a capacity for self-parody and critique by the mid-1980s. But since I generally loathe slashers and would probably make a mush of what I’ve seen (with no intention of re-watching them to double-check my notes), you’ll have to read it from someone else. In the meantime, even I can say: Killer Party, better than anticipated.