Slumber Party Massacre II (SPM II): Fasten your seatbelts for one hell of a bumpy, mystifying journey that you may or may not enjoy! You will, however, come away from SPM II with…feelings. Those feelings might be confusion, hatred, amped up love for rockabilly musicals, a renewed affection for slasher films, or (gasp!) contemplation.
As the second film in the franchise, SPM II focuses on the little sister from the first film, Courtney (Crystal Bernard), but now she’s 17 and still struggling with the trauma of the horrific night she almost died by way of Driller Killer approximately 5 years ago. She goes on a weekend girls trip with her best friends to try to relax and have some fun but that whole pesky “intense PTSD” thing keeps getting in the way. Despite the fact that the Driller Killer died at the end of SPM 1, her slasher-sense keeps going off, anxiously warning her that there’s another Driller Killer out there stalking her. Her mind spirals out of control as she hallucinates all kinds of awful, grotesque (or super cool) things, like the new Driller Killer’s rockin’ hairdo and electric guitar/drill, or that she’s eating a bloody hand sandwich. Yum! I wonder if it was handmade?
As Courtney’s weekend with her friends progresses, her hallucinations worsen. During one of the best, most vomit inducing scenes, Sally (Heidi Kozak Haddad) is in the bathroom with Courtney talking about zits on her face. At first, there’s nothing on Sally’s face, then a zit appears, and with each cut in the scene it gets bigger and bigger until it’s taken up all the real estate on one side of Sally’s face. It’s disgusting! It’s huge! It’s awesome! Then the pustule bursts and a volcanic eruption of pus comes flying out, hitting Courtney in the face and chest. Probably not the facial she was hoping for this weekend but it is certainly one that won’t be forgotten.
SPM II is never afraid to get too weird, whether it’s exploding zits, raw chickens attacking our protagonist, or, in the most inexplicable and incredible scene in the film, a full-out musical number performed by the Rockabilly Driller Killer. Sporting a leather jacket, rockabilly haircut, electric guitar/drill, and an indelible sense of style, the Rockabilly Driller Killer is his own beast, often ignoring the rules of reality in order to move in truly impossible ways, or break out into a musical number at a moment’s notice. Is he a man? A demon? A tulpa brought to life by the power of Courtney’s fears and anxieties? Who knows! But he’s awesome, regardless, and when he breaks into song in the midst of his killing spree, I nearly lost my fucking shit. Major props to Alanas Ilitch, whose exuberant energy, incredible style, and sweet ass singing and dancing give SPM II the rocket boost it needs to reach the finish.
SPM II smushes together black comedy and slasher elements to create a divisive hodgepodge of wild, weird shit. Just as the first film, this one is written and directed by a woman, Deborah Brock. Since the first film is known for its feminist themes, I went into this one really ready to take that feminist, Mulvey-an perspective and analyze the crap out of it. But Brock took the general ideas behind SPM and morphed it into her own, starkly different, project. In an interview, she says SPM II wasn’t about “feminism” per se, “We weren’t into making feminist political statements, but sisterhood is great [description].” True, one thing that shines through is the sense of camaraderie between the women in the film. Too many films make it seem like a woman can’t have girlfriends and should feel threatened by any other woman in the vicinity.
For a film called Slumber Party Massacre II, people have a surprising number of valid interpretations of its story and themes. Some interpret the film to represent Courtney’s repressed bisexuality. Some say it’s about her fear of the penis, or mental health and PTSD, or sisterhood and rock and roll. Some say Brock wanted to do her own Rocky Horror Picture Show-style mishmash. SPM II has enough distinct imagery and subtleties (intentional or not) that every person seems to come away with a different interpretation. Even the ending lends itself to varied interpretation for everyone- Brock herself included.
“To me there’s two interpretations of it. Which is all the things depicted in the movie actually did happen to Courtney, played by Crystal, and it drove her insane. She’s now in the same insane asylum that Valerie, her sister, was in. Or you could decide that none of it ever happened and it’s just the hallucinations of someone who’s been in the looney bin the whole time. I kind of like the first one best though.”
Few flicks offer the kind of strange ride that Slumber Party Massacre II produces. It’s a rockabilly-slasher-feminist-black comedy-drama about sexuality and PTSD, give or take a few themes. I recommend buckling up and bringing some friends along for SPM II. After all, what’s the fun of watching something so divisive if you don’t have someone to argue with about it afterwards?
Disclaimer: Just because I am the Action Flick Chick and love action movies does not mean I condone real life violence in any way. Everyone has their own shit to deal with, be nice to each other.
Related Review: The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
