ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - January 21st
"THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW" released in 1983
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Seven sorority sisters pull a prank on their strict house mother, Mrs. Slater (Lois Kelso Hunt), who is known for carrying a sharp walking cane. Their plan is to put her cane out in their dirty pool and force her at gunpoint to retrieve it. The prank goes awry when Vicki (Eileen Davidson), believing the gun to be loaded with blanks, shoots Slater who collapses and appears to be dead. Terrified, the girls agree to hide the body in the pool until their graduation party is finished. As the party begins, a guest wanders around the pool and an unidentified figure stabs him through the throat with Slater's cane. When other guests attempt to throw Jeanie (Robin Meloy) in the pool, they are stopped by the sorority sisters, who realize that if the pool lights get switched on they will reveal Slater's body, so Stevie (Ellen Dorsher) goes into the power room to disable them. While doing so, she is brutally stabbed to death by the same cane-wielding figure. Later, the pool lights do come on, but Slater's body is no longer in the pool. The girls speculate about what could have happened to both Stevie and the body.
Deciding that Slater must still be alive, Vicki orders the girls to search for her. Morgan (Jodi Draigie) enters Slater's room where Slater's trussed-up body falls on her from the attic. Joined by the sisters, Vicki suggests hiding the body in the old cemetery. Horrified at Vicki's coldness, Morgan runs crying to her room where she is stabbed to death by the killer with Slater's cane. Meanwhile, Katey (Kathryn McNeil) ventures into the attic and discovers children's toys, a clown statue, and a dead bloodied bird lying in its cage. Downstairs, Diane (Harley Kozak) is waiting in her van for the other girls to bring Slater's body, but the murderer stabs her to death through the sunroof - witnessed by Jeanie, the most nervous member of the group, the murderer attacks her while running back to the house, but manages to escape. After informing Katey about the attack, Jeanie arms herself with a chef's knife and is chased into the upstairs bathroom. As she hides in a stall, the killer enters the bathroom and looks in each stall. As the killer reaches the last stall, Jeanie bursts out of the stall to attack but the killer gains the upper hand and decapitates Jeanie with her own knife!
Katey finds a medical alert tag on a necklace belonging to Slater. She calls the phone number and is put through to a Dr. Beck (Christopher Lawrence) who soon arrives at the house. The two discover the bodies of Stevie, Morgan, and Diane in the pool before beginning to believe that Slater is responsible for the attacks. Meanwhile, Vicki and Liz (Janis Zido) are attempting to bury Slater's body, but as they are about to finish, Liz and Vicki are both killed by the assailant. Katey and Dr. Beck travel to the cemetery where Katey finds the bodies of Vicki and Liz at the bottom of an open grave while Dr. Beck finds Slater's body in the back of the van. After forcibly giving Katey a sedative upon returning to the house, Dr. Beck reveals that Slater had a son named Eric (Charles Serio) who was horribly deformed and mentally underdeveloped thanks to an illegal fertility treatment he had given her. Eric was living in the sorority house's attic and witnessed the death of his mother and he is now exacting revenge on the girls - while Beck plans to use Katey as bait in his attempt to kill Eric to cover his own malpractice!
Deciding that Slater must still be alive, Vicki orders the girls to search for her. Morgan (Jodi Draigie) enters Slater's room where Slater's trussed-up body falls on her from the attic. Joined by the sisters, Vicki suggests hiding the body in the old cemetery. Horrified at Vicki's coldness, Morgan runs crying to her room where she is stabbed to death by the killer with Slater's cane. Meanwhile, Katey (Kathryn McNeil) ventures into the attic and discovers children's toys, a clown statue, and a dead bloodied bird lying in its cage. Downstairs, Diane (Harley Kozak) is waiting in her van for the other girls to bring Slater's body, but the murderer stabs her to death through the sunroof - witnessed by Jeanie, the most nervous member of the group, the murderer attacks her while running back to the house, but manages to escape. After informing Katey about the attack, Jeanie arms herself with a chef's knife and is chased into the upstairs bathroom. As she hides in a stall, the killer enters the bathroom and looks in each stall. As the killer reaches the last stall, Jeanie bursts out of the stall to attack but the killer gains the upper hand and decapitates Jeanie with her own knife!
Katey finds a medical alert tag on a necklace belonging to Slater. She calls the phone number and is put through to a Dr. Beck (Christopher Lawrence) who soon arrives at the house. The two discover the bodies of Stevie, Morgan, and Diane in the pool before beginning to believe that Slater is responsible for the attacks. Meanwhile, Vicki and Liz (Janis Zido) are attempting to bury Slater's body, but as they are about to finish, Liz and Vicki are both killed by the assailant. Katey and Dr. Beck travel to the cemetery where Katey finds the bodies of Vicki and Liz at the bottom of an open grave while Dr. Beck finds Slater's body in the back of the van. After forcibly giving Katey a sedative upon returning to the house, Dr. Beck reveals that Slater had a son named Eric (Charles Serio) who was horribly deformed and mentally underdeveloped thanks to an illegal fertility treatment he had given her. Eric was living in the sorority house's attic and witnessed the death of his mother and he is now exacting revenge on the girls - while Beck plans to use Katey as bait in his attempt to kill Eric to cover his own malpractice!
TRIVIA: The number of college sorority sisters seen in the film totaled to seven. Actually, the movie's Spanish title is Siete Mujeres Atrapadas which translates into English as meaning Seven Trapped Women.
Top: The sisters of Theta Pi sorority; Jeanie (Robin Meloy), Diane (Harley Kozak), Stevie (Ellen Dorsher), Vicki (Eileen Davidson), Morgan (Jodi Draigie), Liz (Janis Zido), and Katey (Kathryn McNeil);
Above: The sorority house mother, Mrs. Slater (Lois Kelso Hunt).
Writer/director Mark Rosman was inspired to make The House on Sorority Row while as a voluntary assistant director on Brian De Palma's Home Movies, during his final year at New York University's film program. Rosman decided that the fastest way to become a film director himself was to make a picture himself, and, further influenced by the rising popularity of slasher films in the early 80's - as well as older classics such as Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic thriller Diabolique (1955) and the collective films of Italian horror maestro Mario Bava) - began writing a horror film based around a college sorority house.
After privately raising a budget of $125,000 (over a $300,000 in 2016 currency), Rosman cast mainly unknown actresses in the roles of the Theta Pi sorority sisters. Among those making their film debut were actresses Janis Ward, Robin Meloy, Jodi Draigie, Ellen Dorsher and Harley Jane Kozak (Kozak was working as a waitress in a restaurant in New York City at the time she was cast in this film) - and for many of these actresses, Sorority Row would be their sole acting credit for many years. Needing a star for the leading roles of Katherine 'Katey' Rose and Vicki, Rosman cast some of the new television actresses of the time, Kate McNeil and Eileen Davidson. McNeil began her acting career on the soap opera As the World Turns in 1981 (and also a turn in a low-budget comedy Beach House in 1982), while Davidson had just become a series regular as Ashley Abbott on The Young and the Restless (a role Davidson would continue to play on-and-off for over 20-years!).
After privately raising a budget of $125,000 (over a $300,000 in 2016 currency), Rosman cast mainly unknown actresses in the roles of the Theta Pi sorority sisters. Among those making their film debut were actresses Janis Ward, Robin Meloy, Jodi Draigie, Ellen Dorsher and Harley Jane Kozak (Kozak was working as a waitress in a restaurant in New York City at the time she was cast in this film) - and for many of these actresses, Sorority Row would be their sole acting credit for many years. Needing a star for the leading roles of Katherine 'Katey' Rose and Vicki, Rosman cast some of the new television actresses of the time, Kate McNeil and Eileen Davidson. McNeil began her acting career on the soap opera As the World Turns in 1981 (and also a turn in a low-budget comedy Beach House in 1982), while Davidson had just become a series regular as Ashley Abbott on The Young and the Restless (a role Davidson would continue to play on-and-off for over 20-years!).
Vicki: My water bed got slashed to shreds and all you can do is joke about it. I swear she was trying to kill me.
Diane: Oh come on Vicki you deserved it, can't you fuck anywhere else.
Top: As the graduation party begins, a mysterious figure starts killing off the sorority girls with Mrs Slater's bladed walking stick;
Above: Stevie is the first victim in the sorority house basement!
Filmed on location in Baltimore, Maryland, the actual Theta Pi sorority house was actually a a converted mansion, while all the bathroom scenes were shot at the Baltimore School of Dentistry - because the sorority house location didn't have a communal bathroom. During filming, Rosman discovered that they he had already exceeded his $125,000 budget during pre-production and the picture was just days away from shutting down, before Rosman's cousin who came up with another $300,000 to continue shooting. To ensure the film stayed under the new budget, Rosman filmed most of the gory, close-up make-up effects in the backyard of Rosman's parents house and cut into the film during post production!
Reportedly, there were two alternate endings to The House on Sorority Row. The first was in the original screenplay, where Katie has survived and is in hospital being pushed along in a wheelchair - it is then revealed that the orderly pushing her is Eric and the film ends. The other alternate ending was changed at the request of the film's distributor Film Ventures. In the filmed version, the original ending followed right where the film currently ends, cutting to the police taking the dead bodies out of the swimming pool. The upside down body of a person in the clown costume was to be floating in the pool and when turned over it would reveal Katie in the suit. This ending was rejected as being too down beat and was removed. Film Ventures also insisted on colorizing the opening scene - which had been filmed in black-and-white - and adding more gore to appeal to the horror fans. But most bizarrely, the distributors insisted on dubbing over Lois Kelso Hunt's entire performance with voice actress Barbara Harris, deeming Hunt's voice not "scary" enough for the role! In the later Special Edition DVD commentary track, Rosman stated that he believed that she had the right look for the part but ideally he would have preferred a huskier voice, Lois's voice being more high pitched than he would have liked.
Reportedly, there were two alternate endings to The House on Sorority Row. The first was in the original screenplay, where Katie has survived and is in hospital being pushed along in a wheelchair - it is then revealed that the orderly pushing her is Eric and the film ends. The other alternate ending was changed at the request of the film's distributor Film Ventures. In the filmed version, the original ending followed right where the film currently ends, cutting to the police taking the dead bodies out of the swimming pool. The upside down body of a person in the clown costume was to be floating in the pool and when turned over it would reveal Katie in the suit. This ending was rejected as being too down beat and was removed. Film Ventures also insisted on colorizing the opening scene - which had been filmed in black-and-white - and adding more gore to appeal to the horror fans. But most bizarrely, the distributors insisted on dubbing over Lois Kelso Hunt's entire performance with voice actress Barbara Harris, deeming Hunt's voice not "scary" enough for the role! In the later Special Edition DVD commentary track, Rosman stated that he believed that she had the right look for the part but ideally he would have preferred a huskier voice, Lois's voice being more high pitched than he would have liked.
TRIVIA: Director Mark Rosman's idea for the films poster was a Deliverance-style image of a hand rising out of the swimming pool. However the poster for the US release shows an image of a scantily-clad young woman, created by Film Ventures International's regular advertising agency, Design Projects Incorporated.
Top and Above: Final girl Katey discovers Jeanie's head in bathroom, before confronting the killer - Eric (Charles Serio) - in the attic, dressed as a "clown statue"!
Opening on a slim 153 screens, The House on Sorority Row grossed an impressive $617,661 in its opening weekend, ultimately earning over $10 million at the box office, making the film a certified financial hit. Although critics were a little more divided in their reviews - Tim Brayton of Antagony & Ecstasy wrote The House on Sorority Row was, "Easily the best slasher of 1983 (not a high bar)", while John J. Puccio of Movie Metropolis reviewed the film as, "...so awful it begs to be watched!". Brian Orndorf from Blu-ray.com was a little more postive in his review of the movie in 2014, writing, "Creative particulars are unexpectedly tight, with writer/director Mark Rosman investing in suspense over pure exploitation, though the basics in nudity, bloodshed, and screamy panic are covered." Dread Central wrote, "If you've never experienced the horrors of what happened that fateful evening at the Pi Theta House, this would definitely be an excellent introduction."
Above: The sorority girls of the Sorority Row remake; Claire (Jamie Chung), Ellie (Rumer Willis), Cassidy (Briana Evigan), Charlene "Chugs" (Margo Harshman) and Jessica (Leah Pipes).
In early 2008, Summit Entertainment announced it was remaking horror classic as Sorority Row. Directed by Stewart Hendler - with Rosman serving as an executive producer - it starred Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung, Audrina Patridge, Margo Harshman, and Carrie Fisher. Based on the original screenplay Seven Sisters by Rosman and rewritten by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, principal photography began on October 16, 2008 in the Pittsburgh area, where the producers wanted to take advantage of the Pennsylvania state tax credits (much like the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine) and the strength of local film crews. Released in May, 2009, Sorority Row was a moderate success at the box office, but received mostly negative reviews.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 50%
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