Good movie but grossly overrated

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW is a standard slasher outing of the 1980s with an almost all-female cast. The plot has much in common with I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, which came much later, and features a group of college friends who pull an unfunny prank that leaves a middle-aged lady dead. They decide to dump her body in a swimming pool to make the death look like an accident, but then the murders start...This rather cheap film is pretty much par for the course for the genre. It goes for the gory rather than scary approach although the crude nature of the special effects work puts this far below an equivalent production like BLOOD RAGE. The back story is pretty ridiculous and clichéd and the film is never scary, but on the other hand it is fast paced with lots of incident. The best and most mysterious aspects of the script are ripped off the French classic LES DIABOLIQUES.

After a seemingly innocent prank goes horribly wrong, a group of sorority sisters are stalked and murdered one by one in their sorority house while throwing a party to celebrate their graduation. This film has become a standard among the slasher subgenre and is beloved by many. It remains popular today (2016) even as the remake is already forgotten. And this is despite the complete lack of notable names attached.What is interesting is the score. The film's music score was written by Richard Band and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The Washington D.C. based powerpop band 4 Out of 5 Doctors appears in the movie, performing several of their songs. Band is mostly associated with Full Moon, his brother's company. But this film shows he is a good composer in his own right and not just blessed by nepotism.

The House on Sorority Row is a classic low-budget Eighties slasher, but its got a genuinely creepy-as-hell ending scene... let's just say it's got a clown involved.Anyway, the plot follows a gang of girls living in a sorority house, under the thumb of strict Mrs. Slater, an old woman with a haunting past. When Vicki gets caught having sex and Mrs. Slater pops her water bed on purpose, Vicki decides to play a mean prank on the old lady. Unfortunately it all goes very wrong, and soon the girls are being picked off one by one at their own party.I loved this movie; sure it was kinda cheap but if you're a fan of the slasher genre you'll probably love it, too. It has cool soundtrack, decent-enough acting and a good story to it.

"The House on Sorority Row" is one of the finer examples of slasher films, a genuinely creepy and moody movie with a particularly ominous and mysterious killer. The story is one of those "prank gone wrong" deals: fed up with their crabby, odd duck of a house mother, Mrs. Slater (Lois Kelso Hunt), a group of sorority sisters decide to pay her back for spoiling their fun. When the prank results in Slater's death, the girls go out of their way to cover up their mess, not knowing that somebody else witnessed the whole thing from an attic window and is coldly determined to make sure THEY pay a steep price. Writer / director Mark Rosman, who amusingly enough went on to direct things like 'Lizzie McGuire' and "A Cinderella Story", started out working for director Brian De Palma, and brings a fair amount of style to his story, not content to go with some of the clichés of slashers. For one thing, he wanted his victims to be culpable individuals, and not get punished for such arbitrary things as premarital sex. He also was determined to have a downbeat ending unlike much of what we see in slashers, although his preferred resolution ultimately got cut down. Some good black comedy and tension arises over the matter of what to do with Slater's supposedly dead body; for example, the girls getting nervous over the possibility of somebody turning on the lights for the pool where the body was dumped. There's some real atmosphere and spookiness to some of the suspense sequences, some delicious hallucinatory visuals (after the last one standing has been given a sedative), and a killer whom we never really see; they're most often behind something or wearing a mask and/or costume. The extent of whatever problem they have is never given much detail, except of course for the potential for violence. There's a mild bit of gore, although nothing in the way of bare female flesh. The acting is better than usual for this sort of thing, with co-stars Kate McNeil, Eileen Davidson, and Harley Jane Kozak going on to success in both movies ("Monkey Shines" for McNeil, "Arachnophobia" for Kozak) and soaps such as 'As the World Turns', 'Days of Our Lives', and 'Santa Barbara'). Hunt indeed has the right look for Mrs. Slater, although she would be dubbed in post production as it was felt her real voice wasn't intimidating enough. A big part of the effectiveness lies in the lush music score by ever reliable Richard Band. And the movie also shows, once again, just how incredibly formidable clown get ups can be in this context. Newcomers to slasher films are strongly advised to check out "The House on Sorority Row" and have some good chills. Eight out of 10.