I watched Slumber Party Massacre 2 before I saw the first one. I really don’t think this interfered with my enjoyment of either of the films as they have only the smallest bits of connectivity. They share drills, murder, mayhem and a character or two. I’m willing to bet I’ll feel the same way about the third film and where it fits in.

Directed by Amy Holden Jones (who wrote Mystic Pizza, Beethoven and Indecent Proposal, in addition to directing Corvette Summer) and written by Rita Marie Brown as a parody of the slasher genre, this film is but the first of three female directed drill killer starring slasher send-ups.

Originally known as Don’t Open the Door (the Italian title for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), this movie is all about Trish Devereaux-Craven (Michelle Michaels, who shows up in Death Wish 4 and New Year’s Evil) throwing a slumber party while her parents are out of town. That event takes place just as Russ Thorn, an escaped mass murderer, is out looking for blood and targets for his power drill.

Russ kills Linda (Brinke Stevens, thanks for your service) in the shower before the party even begins. Then he comes after the basketball playing party girls — Kim, Jackie and Diane — as well as new girl in school Valerie (Robin Rochelle, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama) and her little sister Courtney.

There are some boys, some mischief and plenty of drilling mayhem, as well as a pizza guy who sacrifices himself and his eyes (alert Fulci!) so that the girls can get their grub on. Russ survives all manner of mayhem and deals it out in kind before succumbing to being beat with a fireplace poker, losing his drill bit and left hand, then falling into a swimming pool and stabbed with his own machete.

While originally written from a more feminist and satirical perspective, this was shot as a straight film. It doesn’t approach the dizzying lunacy of the sequel, but it’s an enjoyable enough waste of your time.

Want to see it for yourself? You can order it from Shout! Factory or stream it for free on Amazon Prime.

The artwork for this article comes from Tim Monster, whose site features amazing screen prints and posters. Order a bunch now!