Pranks (1981)
AKA The Dorm That Dripped Blood, Death Dorm. Filmed on a shoestring budget by UCLA students way back in the day, Pranks is actually a decent early slasher. The film does falter in the beginning, perhaps taking a little too long with the setup, but once the killer gets going, it's got a lot to offer splatter fans. The acting isn't superb, but it's generally fine, and the production does well with what it had. The gore is perhaps the weakest part, but it's at a minimum here; the kills are sometimes brutal, though, even if the gore isn't directly seen. Lots of sequences of searching around the dorm and other buildings can be a little tedious, but the atmosphere and look of the movie hold interest; the ending is much better than the beginning anyways, and the faults of the movie are good fodder for a peanut gallery. The film actually marks a rare departure from the slasher formula with the finale, which I won't give away.
Tagline: When the kidding stops... the killing starts!
Highlights: The ending. Daphne Zuniga getting offed in her first role. The fact that the directors have been making low and bigger budget horror movies ever since, usually involving Satanism or college campuses (Soul Survivors may be the most well known).
Tagline: When the kidding stops... the killing starts!
Highlights: The ending. Daphne Zuniga getting offed in her first role. The fact that the directors have been making low and bigger budget horror movies ever since, usually involving Satanism or college campuses (Soul Survivors may be the most well known).
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on Monday, March 21, 2005 at 3/21/2005 02:27:00 PM.
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