Killer Party

Plot synopsis:
Three friends, Vivia, Jennifer, and Phoebe, decide to pledge a sorority. The night of the initiation, Vivia (Sherry Willis-Burch) plays an elaborate prank on the sorority sisters as the three girls are being initiated through a hazing ritual. Subsequently, all three girls are chosen to join the sorority, and Vivia learns that her prank was the only reason for her acceptance. Now she must gimmick up a traditional April Fools party that the sorority is hosting for a fraternity. The party is to be held at an old abandoned frat house where a young man named Allan was killed 22 years prior. Jennifer (Johnson), is bothered by this house, but Phoebe (Wilkes) and the guy she is interested in (Hewitt), convince her to go along with the party plans. Unfortunately for the friends and everyone else at the party, someone or something else does not want anyone in the abandoned house.
Near the end, it's revealed that Jennifer who happens to be possessed by the demon tries to kill Phoebe and Vivia with a trident, but Vivia and Phoebe escape from Jennifer and head upstairs to escape by breaking off the blocked window and escaping to the roof, but then Jennifer appears on the roof and attacks Vivia outside of the house, causing her to fall from the roof and landing on the ground in damage. Phoebe, with a sharpened wooden column, saves Vivia by impaling the possessed Jennifer with the wooden column through her chest, apparently killing both the girl and the demon. However, the film ends with the demon taking hold of Phoebe just before the police arrive and take her into custody. As bodies are removed from the house, Vivia is placed on a stretcher and taken to an ambulance where Phoebe is waiting, still under the demon's control. Vivia begs not to be put in the ambulance with Phoebe, but her screams are ignored. The movie ends when the ambulance doors are closed and the vehicle drives away as Vivia's cries continue. It is left to the audience to wonder if Phoebe will kill Vivia at the Hospital or at a certain point.

Tags: paranormal, revenge, murder, prank

Review:
What I will say is that this fraternity is one that people figuratively and literally "die for!"If I were to compare it to the 1978 comedy fraternity phenom of Animal House, I actually enjoyed Killer Party much more because it does not rely solely on gross humor to satisfy its college and younger audience.
Killer Party provides an abundance of camp, comedy, a little bit of horror, a little bit of suspense and a lot of mystery as to who is actually killing off the school faculty members and the frat boys and girls?Since this film was released more than 30 years ago and I just watched it, I must say that it holds up very well and should be considered a five (5) C which stands for Canadian, Campy, Creepy, Cult, Classic!I give Killer Party an entertaining 8 out of 10 rating!.
"Killer Party" opens like no other horror/slasher movie ever.
Unfortunately, a party is to be held in an abandoned frat house, where a pledge was accidentally killed years before.
It appears this pledge does not rest in peace, and the party-goers are about to find out the hard way."Killer Party" is a horror movie with a sense of humor.
However, for a slasher/horror movie, the death scenes are relatively tame, and not all of them do we see for long or, in some cases, at all.
A horror movie with humor, standard slasher conventions, a taste of the supernatural, a dash of college hazing hi-jinks, and it's own music video!
"Killer Party" really does seem to be the "Everything and the kitchen sink" horror movie.Overall rating: 7 out of 10..
(** out of *****)It's another sorority pledge/killer-in-the-house flick, with three pretty sorority babes and all their friends getting butchered at an April Fool's Day costume party by the vengeful spirit of a reincarnated fraternity pledge.
Only, none of this really gets going until the last half hour -- for most of the movie, we're treated with long, dumb scenes of typical fraternity/sorority hijinks, pranks and shenanigans (I wish my college experience had been half as fun as this movie makes it look.)  Also, I docked this movie half a star for the obnoxious and totally unnecessary double-fake-out beginning (a movie inside of a stupid, "Thriller"-like music video inside of a movie).
Paul Bartel makes one of his typical B-movie cameos as an uptight college professor, and the three main girls are played by Elaine Wilkes, Sherry Willis-Burch, and Joanna Johnson.
') sounds like a generic 80s song, but hearing it after most of the cast gets wiped out was amusing in a (most likely unintentional) ironic sort of way.HIGHLIGHT:  Johnson's performance as the drooling, wall-climbing, possessed college cutie, Jennifer, is the film's highlight.
In my view, it is better than the 1978 comedy Animal House, as the 1986 Killer Party doesn't rely solely on gross humor to win the college and teen crowds over.
This is the frat party to literally and figuratively "die for!"I will definitely be adding this 1986 five (5) CC (Canadian, Cult, Camp, Classic, Creepy) film to my MUST OWN list!
Attempting to pledge a sorority, a group of friends decides to join the other sorority members in transforming a nearby deserted house into an April Fools gag house, and when a mysterious killer shows up the dwindling survivors fight back against the deadly intruder.This here was one of the best examples of the cheesy slasher.
The sequence at the staff meeting starts out hilarious and soon becomes even more so, and from the boys' opening prank to their hazing ritual and then onto the house pranks themselves all the way to the general atmosphere and tone this is barely a dent in the film's cheesiness.
When it's not being funny, there are some good slasher moments as well including the early stalking in the sorority, the professor's shocking encounter in the basement and the way that just about all the deaths occur during the party allows it to just be over-the-top fun.
There's just a ton of action in that scene, as the killer gets going and seems to kill someone every five minutes and that just makes it seem all the more fast-paced as just about the entire cast is knocked off in rapid fashion and the great stalking and supernatural destruction throughout make it really exciting.
It was like the director thought "Oh I forgot, we're shooting a horror comedy let's kill some people." The kill scenes for that matter are bad.
Killer party offers a combination of horror and laugh-out-loud bad effects.
Lets start with the facts- This movie was originally  filmed in 1984, sat on a shelf for 2 years, until MGM/UA picked it up, had a week or two theatrical release in spring of 86.
The movie, is basically about college horror, 20 years ago, a pledge was accidentally killed during a prank.
All three are accepted into the sorority mainly so that Vivia can set up the coming April Fool's party in the old frat house.The movie starts with two fake-outs and the low grade horror begins.
College students throw a party in an old frat house, only to have someone start killing off everybody and raising demons (?!)Canadian 'horror' drivel is one mess of a movie.
The movies theme song 'Best Times of our Lives' is memorable though.Those who enjoy silly 80's schlock might have a good time with this one, but all in all Killer Party is totally inept as a horror film.BOMB out of ****.
Then the name of the band appears on the lower left of the screen (MTV style) and as the camera pulls back, this is all just a rock video that one of our main characters was watching.Then begins our movie.
Lots of humor and some great characters and dialogue lead us to a point where things seem to be just your average cliche slasher, but then the finale is definitely refreshing and very tongue-in-the cheek.other great Canadian horror films include: Hello Mary Lou, Prom Night 2 and Ginger Snaps.
Supernatural/slasher hybrids rarely work, and Killer Party is an example of one of those genre confused movies.It starts off interestingly with a movie within a music video within a movie.
This time, though, there are not so funny, but I guess they're fun, too.The gang is planning a sorority party in an old run down frat house, where a man was killed years ago.
It's not scary enough to be a supernatural horror, or bloody enough to be a good slasher, and certainly not funny enough to be a decent college comedy.Nice ending can't save a relatively dull, incompetent film.
"Killer Party" is a pretty dumb and righteously forgotten mid-80's horror-comedy that only gets funny when it's meant to look serious and vice versa.
But, alas, this is not the case, as the killing are too few, most of them away from the lense of the camera, definitely not inventive (come on, what a sissy costume for a slasher killer is that?) and the supernatural explanation (with the previous heroine acting like Linda Blair in The Exorcist) is thin as carbon copy paper.
A sorority and fraternity hold an April Fool's Party in an old frat house, but a supernatural force begins to kill them off on by one.
A sorority holds an April Fool's party in an abandon frat house that was closed down, because of the accidental death of a pledge.
As all the guys and girls arrive, it appears the pledge's spirit has never left the house and is determined to get revenge on somebody.Your usual 80's slasher film cliches and a low budget barely hurt this fast paced slasher pic with neat death scenes, excitement, some appealing performances (mainly Martin Hewwitt and the female lead), and a memorable finale.Rated R; Violence, Sexual Situations, Profanity, and Nudity..
"Killer Party" will never be confused with a good horror movie.
Dozens of characters with little or no development are cavorting around an old fraternity house trying to have an April Fools Party.
Tongue-in cheek horror Killer Party begins in perfect cheesy, 80s fashion with a 'film-within-a-film-within-a-music-video' pre-credits sequence that features a big-hair metal band named White Sister.
After suffering various humiliating rituals, the trio are accepted, and are given the task of organising a practical joke at the yearly April Fool's party (being held at an old abandoned frat house which is rumoured to be haunted).During the celebrations, however, an evil spirit interrupts the fun by turning Jennifer into a demonic, scuttling creature (complete with long tongue and a nice line in guttural noises) who proceeds to butcher the other party-goers.Although the possession at the end of the film does lend for some creepy scenes (with Jennifer crawling up vertical walls in a spider-like fashion), there are not nearly enough scares, and way too much silly student buffoonery (one fraternity plays a prank on the girls of Sigma Alpha Pi which results in some predictable gratuitous nudity), for Killer Party to be deemed a success.Perhaps if the studio hadn't seen fit to cut out the bloody effects that were filmed (apparently they expected more of a comedy than a horror, got cold feet when they saw the graphic gore, and excised the lot!), then maybe the film would've been more bearable, but in its severely trimmed form, Killer Party turns out to be a bit of a non-event..
Then the movie is a tame Animal House rip-off, then we get completely bloodless slasher killings, then the demonic showdown.
When watching a horror movie on a station other than HBO or one of those stations it is expected to have some scenes removed because they are a bit graphic or may contain nudity.
This movie went overboard though and a couple of times I didn't know what happened or how a person was killed the cuts were so bad.
Music videos, pledging a sorority and enjoying the best times of our lives.
Killer Party is one of those titles that does not often get mentioned when people discuss 80s slasher movies.It's relatively unknown yet seems to have a loyal following amongst its fans.
Filmed in 1984 under the title The April Fool but not released until 1986, Killer Party is three films rolled into one.It begins as a music video, then becomes a college comedy filled with sex jokes and pranks.
Phoebe is excitable one and goes along with the group, and Vivia is the nerdy prankster.The actress who played Vivia, Sherry Willis-Burch, was also in the 1981 slasher movie Final Exam.The girls must go through the typical sorority hazing and tasks in order to become members.
Ralph Seymour was also in the 1980 backwoods slasher classic, Just Before Dawn.The criticism of Killer Party is that it takes much too long to become a horror movie.
The final half of the movie takes places at an abandoned frat house which was the site of a fraternity prank gone wrong 20 years before.Does this tragedy from the past have something to do with the recent killings?
In fact, I would argue the final act of Killer Party is one of the best found in a slasher movie.I remember watching it for the first time in an edited form on TBS in 1989 and was amazed by the performance of the killer.
However, April is just a warm up to what is the theme song of Killer Party: a song that goes by the name These Are The Best Times of Our Lives.
Currently Killer Party does not have an official DVD release but is a part of the Warner Archives.My old VHS copy has seen better days but I return to it like an old friend I have known for years.
College horror / slasher starts out fun but ultimately fails to deliver in the end..
Shy Jennifer (Joanna Johnson), vivacious Phoebe (Elaine Wilkes) and geeky Vivia (Sherry Willis-Burch) are the three newest pledges of the prestigious sorority Sigma Alpha Phi ("the wet dream of this college!") where they must endure such rush week indignities as paddling, having raw eggs cracked into their mouths, being fed goat eyeballs (!) and being forced to say "I myself prefer a big, fat cucumber" in the middle of class.Thankfully, all that's about to come to an end as the girls approach the end of their hazing period, only they're about to trade the feelings of embarrassment and humiliation for the feelings of death and bodily possession instead.
We get a good look at college life to start things out, but the movie wastes way too much time on that and the various pranks going on on campus, including bees unleashed upon a bunch of topless girls in a hot tub.
Pranks are a major theme in this decent horror comedy that also calls to mind the slasher "Final Exam" the way that it focuses on frat and sorority nonsense for a good part of its running time.
The filmmakers, led by under-rated Canadian-born cult director William Fruet ("Death Weekend", "Cries in the Night", "Trapped"), do have fun playing around with tropes of the genre and create some pretty good atmosphere in the more serious moments.The thin story revolves around three college babes, Phoebe (Elaine Wilkes, "Sixteen Candles"), Vivia (Sherry Willis-Burch, "Final Exam"), and Jennifer (Joanna Johnson, 'The Bold and the Beautiful') working their way into a sorority that plans on partying inside an old, closed building which the students are advised to avoid.
It seems that a frat dude died as a result of pranking some years ago, leading to some effective supernatural horror and good practical effects in the fairly entertaining big finish.The cast of familiar faces also includes Martin Hewitt ("Endless Love" '81), Ralph Seymour ("Just Before Dawn", "Ghoulies"), a hilarious Paul Bartel ("Eating Raoul") as a huffy professor (whose character is named Zito, a nod to director Joseph Zito, who'd directed "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter", also written by Barney Cohen), Terri Hawkes ("Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II"), Howard Busgang ("Terror Train"), and Jason Warren ("Screwballs").
This focuses on 3 college girls, Jennifer (Johnson), Phoebe (Wilkes) and Vivia (Burch) who pledge a sorority and get in enduring pranks and humility.
The sorority decides to throw its annual April Fool's dance in a condemned former Greek house that's been closed for 20 years, ever since a pledge was accidentally killed in a guillotine prank, two words that should never go together.
It is a good basic premise and is indeed a Killer Party with some April Fools..
It's all very obvious padding, so much so that one has to wonder why time wasn't instead devoted to explaining some murky plot details, like the fraternity pledge who was (I think) killed in the past.The movie starts to get going during the last twenty minutes, quickly adding to its body count and containing some energy.
Don't expect over the top situations like SCARY MOVIE, 'cause KILLER PARTY prefers to quietly rip-off certain movies instead of parody them openly.Story-line: On a university campus the Sigma Alpha Pi sisters decide to throw an April Fool's Day-party in an abandoned sorority building.
Apparently, someone got killed twenty years ago in that same building...On a positive note, the filmmakers were sort of original by shooting three different opening scenes (We have a funeral-scene, which is part of a movie in a drive-in theatre, which is part of a music-video one of the main characters is watching in her livingroom).
All this nonsense lasts for almost an hour and we only get two occasional bloodless killings (an old hag and a teacher).It is when the party finally starts that the filmmakers suddenly seem to realize that they were making a horror movie, so in comes the mysterious slasher/killer dressed in a ridiculous antique diving suit.
Now, we do get some hints during the party scenes that something's wrong with Jennifer, but still the final climax comes as a surprise because it totally changes the mood of the film, reminding us a bit of NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, same atmosphere.
If you like practical jokes in horror movies, you can also check out the more suspenseful slasher-movie APRIL FOOL'S DAY.
Both movies are (though not really comparable) better than KILLER PARTY..
It's really kind of a cheat, too, to set up the plot like there's a real-world psycho killer on the loose, and then conveniently decide right at the climax to make it a supernatural entity, even more especially a silly Exorcist-type ripoff demon, too.As it is, this is a film that only 14-year-old girls could really enjoy, and be scared by.But if you happen to be one of those deluded souls who like crappy 80s music, there's plenty of that on the soundtrack here..
I like 80s horror, and while it might seem I'm being very hard on this movie, the fact is, I think I actually enjoy it.
KILLER PARTY would be an excellent example of the ubiquitous 1980's teen horror comedy films that almost dried up the whole genre.
The sequence allows for a neat "film within a video within a TV show" relationship that actually works pretty darn good when seen in the context of watching a home video on your TV set.The rest of the film is not nearly as clever but will prove entertaining for fans of mid 1980's teen horror and comedy both -- stuff like NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, which would stand as the model example of the form if better written than most of them.
Like the SCARY MOVIE and even the Austin Powers films the joke is sort of lost on me, and having a bad joke explained can only make it worse.
They are hilarious on their own without any need for a single "joke", where KILLER PARTY goes for bale with yanking at any possible movie cliché for a laugh.