POOL PARTY MASSACRE

  2017/18/80m

“Worst pool party ever.”

Director/Writer: Drew Marvick / Cast: Kristin Noel McKusick, Margaux Neme, Crystal Stoney, Destiny Faith Nelson, Alexis Adams, Jenifer Marvick, Nick Byer, Mark Justice, Drew Marvick.

Body Count: 11

Laughter Lines: “How about any killer from every horror movie in the 80s? You couldn’t open anything back then without a dead body falling out of it.”

At first glance – both from the cover art and the trailer – this looks like just another sub-bargain basement production to get hot girls to remove their bikini tops, but there’s a little more than meets the eye. But also hot girls removing their bikini tops.

Spoiled rich girl Blaire has run of the roost while her parents take off on vacation, but they’re glad her sensible childhood friend Nancy is there to keep the calm. Soon, Blaire’s vacuous friends Tiffany, Britney, Jasmine and Kelly show up, plus a boyfriend and his horny brother.

Who is the hulking face-off-camera loon who starts doing away with the guests, the neighbours, and the pizza guy with a new weapon each time? It’s actually fairly obvious who it might be from early-scene dialogue, but Pool Party Massacre‘s last few minutes open the curtains to an interesting and amusing revelation.

It’s not a twist that we haven’t seen before, but the script suddenly switches into witty gear, and fears that this would turn out to be on the same level as Spring Break Massacre are mercifully put to bed. It’s a bed with a severed head in it, but a bed all the same.

Given the approach, there’s surprisingly actually only a few topless shots, no annoying girl-on-girl scenes, and some likeable banter between characters who aren’t entirely objectionable, plus some decent camera work reminiscent of the genre films of yore. This isn’t to say I’ll ever watch it again, but it’s a refreshing change from what’s expected and had Marvick used the same level of incisiveness displayed at the end for the first 70 minutes, this could’ve been a fun little companion to The Slumber Party Massacre.

The DVD comes with an awesome reversible sleeve, that has an 80s VHS-style cover on the back.