THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (1983)
Label: MVD Rewind Collection
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: R
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Mark Rosman
Cast: Kate McNeil, Eileen Davidson, Harley Jane Kozak, Janis Zido, Robin Meloy, Harley Kozak, Jodi Draigie, Ellen Dorsher, Lois Kelso Hunt, Christopher Lawrence
During the party the body of Mrs. Slater disappears from the pool and the sorority sisters find themselves stalked and murdered one by one by an unseen killer using the house mother's signature cane, a wicked piece of work with a metal-crafted bird for a handle that has a very shark tipped-tail. The question is was the house mother not dead after all, or is someone else stalking the sorority sisters, and why?
This is a slasher that to be has a strong Black Christmas by way of Halloween vibe. Obviously you have the sorority house setting which evokes Black Christmas, plus you have a bitchy sorority sister who commandeers the other sisters, and a sorority mother, though in Black Christmas everyone loved the boozey house mother Mrs. Harrison. We also have a hider-in-the-house element from Bob Clark's seminal slasher film with an unseen killer, with oddball events taking pace in an attic space. Halloween vibes come by way of a criminally insane patient who figures into the story, and how his doctor, a Loomis type character, named Dr. Beck (Christopher Lawrence) who ends up coming to the sorority house to clean-up a mess that largely he is to blame for.
For a slasher set in a sorority house this cold be considered a bit tame, sure we get some lovely naked co-eds, but the gore is more implied than shown, and what is actually shown ain't all that great, except for a rather shocking toilet bowl decapitation, that ones a keeper. The worst offender might be a kill that begins with the tip of the walking cane being stabbed through a hand through the sunroof of a sweet 70's van, the prosthetic hand used for it is just awful.
The acting is good but not great, the best stuff coming from the deliciously bitchy Vicki and our final girl Katie, they're both quite good. On the other end of the spectrum we have Jodi Draigie who plays the dumb blonde of the bunch, she's either a genius or the worst, some of her line deliveries are laugh-out-loud awful, and then there's her death scene, where she is run through from behind by the murder-cane, during which she elicits a weird guttural sound and crosses her eyes in a way that had me dying on my couch, it's the best!
Most of the film is deadly serious though, but there are a few unintentional laughs to be had that don't ruin the film or pull you out, they're just silly enough to laugh at and move on. For some odd reason Mrs. Slater has clearly been re-dubbed by someone else, giving her dialogue a weird Italian giallo vibe about it, not funny per se but a bit off putting, and then there's a group of dorks who hop into the disgusting lime jello colored pool, and the fattest of them keeps saying "I'm a sea pig", WTF?
The film was shot by cinematographer Tim Suhrstedt who cut his teeth working on Roger Corman stuff a disparate as Forbidden World and Suburbia before moving onto bigger Hollywood comedies like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Teen Wolf, Office Space, and Sex Tape. His moody cinematography adds a lot to the film, atmospheric touches and interesting lighting give the film a specific vibe, and the surreal nightmare/hallucinations scenes are top-notch.
Audio/Video: The House on Sorority Row arrives on region-free Blu-ray from the MVD Rewind Collection in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen, looking to be the same restored 2K scan previously issued by Scorpion Releasing. The Blu-ray contains two versions of the film, we get an older HD master, which strangely is the main presentation, that is a bit blown out, zoomed-in, and is littered with scratches, vertical lines, grit and debris, and some quite noticeable film judder. We also get a newer HD master, which is included as an extra, with superior image and color-grading sourced from the original internegative. This version also features a re-timed pre-credit sequence in the original black and white. On the older inferior version the pre-credits were tinted a shade of blue and the distributor request. The newer re-timed scan walks all over the older version, the image is more stable and the visuals are much tighter with warmer skin tones, more lavish color-balance, deeper black and there is considerably less print damage to be seen.
Screenshot Comparison:
Top: Original HD Master
Bottom: Re-Time HD Master
Audio on the re-timed version comes by way of compressed English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono with no subtitle options unfortunately. The re-timed alternate version features an uncompressed English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track with optional English subtitles. Obviously the uncompressed audio sounds superior with more depth and nuance, and the score from Richard Band (Re-Animator) that was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra sound excellent, it's one of my favorite scores from him. I consider the re-timed version to look the better my far, so it's a shame that it does not feature the superior uncompressed audio option and subtitles.
There are no new extras here, it seems to mirror my 2-disc special edition Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing, except that Scorpion featured the interview extras on a separate DVD disc, as where MVD put both cuts and all the extras on a single Blu-ray disc.
Extras begin with two audio commentaries, the first with writer/director Mark Rosman along with actresses Eileen Davidson and Kathryn McNeil, and a second with Rosman moderated by Scorpion Releasing personality, and former Impact Wrestling star Katarina Leigh Waters. I preferred the group commentary with Robson, Davidson and McNeil. The director is steering the ship on that one but the actresses both chime in often enough. Topics brought up include the pre-credit sequence, the original title and fun anecdotes from the shoot.
There are also over two and a half hours of archival interviews with Director Mark Rosman (21 min), Actresses Harley Jane Kozak (42 min), Eileen Davidson (7 min), Kathryn McNeil (14 min), and Composer Richard Band (45 min), and Producer Igo Kantor (10 min). These are all pretty great, and while they recycle a lot of stuff heard in the commentaries it's nice to have on-camera interviews, some of which are conducted by Katarina Leigh Waters.
The disc is buttoned-up with the two-minute original pre-credit sequence that has been re-timed separate from the feature presentation, seven-minutes of alternate ending storyboards with commentary from Robson, five-minutes of TV spots, the three-minute original theatrical trailer, and 10-minutes of MVD trailers.
The handsome single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring a pair of original illustrated movie posters, one of which is replicated on the limited edition slipcover which has a cool-looking faux VHS rental tape wear complete with damage marks, and a 'Be Kind Rewind' and 'Melt' warning stickers. The disc itself is standard-issue MVD white background with black lettering. Inside there's a limited edition to the first-pressing mini-poster of the more familiar illustrated artwork of a sorority sister in lingerie. Both the slipcover and the wrap features a numbered spine, this being #29 in the MVD Rewind Collection line-up.
Special Features:
- High Definition (1080p) presentation of the main feature in 1.78:1 aspect ratio with LPCM 2.0 Stereo and alternate HD version of the film with director approved pre-credit sequence with English Dolby Digital mono audio
- Audio Commentary with director Mark Rosman
- Audio commentary with director Mark Rosman and stars Eileen Davidson and Kathryn McNeil
- Interview with Director Mark Rosman (21 min)
- High Definition (1080p) presentation of the main feature in 1.78:1 aspect ratio with LPCM 2.0 Stereo and alternate HD version of the film with director approved pre-credit sequence with English Dolby Digital mono audio
- Audio Commentary with director Mark Rosman
- Audio commentary with director Mark Rosman and stars Eileen Davidson and Kathryn McNeil
- Interview with Director Mark Rosman (21 min)
- Interview with Actress Harley Jane Kozak (42 min)
- Interview with Actress Eileen Davidson (7 min)
- Interview with Actress Kathryn McNeil (14 min)
- Interview with Composer Richard Band (45 min)
- Interview with Producer Igo Kantor (10 min)
- Original Pre-credit Sequence (2 min) HD
- Alternate ending storyboards (7 min)
- TV Spots (5 min)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD
- Alternate ending storyboards (7 min)
- TV Spots (5 min)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD
- MVD Trailers: Mortuary (3 min), Mikey (2 min) HD, Dahmer (2 min) HD, Mindgames (1 min)
- Sleeve of Reversible Artwork
- Collectible Mini-Poster (First Pressing Only)
- Limited Edition Retro Slip Cover(First Pressing Only)
- Sleeve of Reversible Artwork
- Collectible Mini-Poster (First Pressing Only)
- Limited Edition Retro Slip Cover(First Pressing Only)
The House on Sorority Row gets a high-recommend from me, it's not a top-tier slasher but it's a very entertaining and well-made higher end of the middle-tier slasher entry. The new Blu-ray from MVD Rewind Collection is handsomely presented with cool artwork and a slipcover and the A/V merits are strong, a definite recommend to 80's slasher fans.
Screenshots from the MVD Blu-ray:
