The Initiation

"The Initiation" is definitely one of the better slasher movies. It has a budget that can cover different locations, particularly a shopping mall, and Daphne Zuniga. It also has a surprising and well handled twist ending. The first act, though, is kind of a loss. It's not bad, but it feels like the movie doesn't really come together until the final moments. The movie also has more nudity than most slashers. They almost always have flashes of breast, but this one has a couple of full frontal shots. I say check it out.

I watched this one last night on DVD, was sure that I had seen it on VHS back in the day but no, I hadn't. There is quite a lot of plot so I'll skip my usual summary, it was written by somebody who went on to do TV soaps and that does show here, not necessarily in a bad way. The Initiation was made at the tale end of the period known as the Golden Age of the Slasher Movie and it has all the ingredients that we love - good, imaginative kills (these include garden claw, axe and bow and arrow, etc), gratuitous nudity, sorority babes and frat boys, nerds, pranks galore, etc. The last part of the film takes place in a large shopping centre, closed for the night, and this is very well done, mixing suspense and kills. I did feel let down by the rather silly, unexpected twist at the ending, but such things were quite common amongst slashers at this time. Aside from the ending and a slightly slow first half The Initiation still delivers the goods to us stalk and slash fans.

This is one of those slasher films from the 80's that I love to watch. When it comes to good horror ideas, nothing gets better than a bunch of sorority girls being killed at a mall after midnight. There are few things in this movie that are funny. It's mostly scary. And it has a nice twist at the ending. Rent it a your video store; if you can find it.

Oh yeah,this one is similar to "Happy Birthday to Me"(I'm talking here especially about the ending),which I reviewed some months ago,but definitely not better.The acting is rather lame,the disco/party scene is cheesy and amusing(one of the guests is dressed in a giant * costume-woah!),and the film is quite suspenseful at times.Only a little bit of gore,so gore-hounds will certainly be disappointed.However if you consider yourself a rabid slasher fan give this one a look!Love that axe in the head scene!

Finally caught this sorority themed slasher. Kelly (Daphne Zuniga, who gets an "introducing..." credit despite having been in films - including THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1982) - prior to this) is pledging a college sorority and part of her initiation is to break into the upscale shopping mall owned by her father (Clu Gulager) and mother (Vera Miles). The bad news is that someone has escaped from a local insane asylum and is stalking her every move. This is a decent slasher that benefits from an unusual location (the Dallas International Market). Unfortunately, they don't get to the mall until the 50 minute mark and a lot of the time leading up to that is spent with a university teacher delving into Kelly's nightmarish past (she has a recurring dream where a man is burned and can't remember anything before age 6). Director Larry Stewart was a TV vet and never really gets too much suspense from the proceedings.

Sorority girl Kelly Fairchild is troubled about some unanswered questions from her past. But that's the least of her worries now that she and her friends are pledging to a college sorority. The initiation involves the girls breaking into a shopping mall, but having a homicidal escaped murderer locked in with them wasn't part of the plan! The Initiation is a slasher flick that delivers the "goods" for horror fans. Plus, there's some plot twists, a few veteran actors, and a higher-than-average budget to boot! With a fairly solid cast, fiendishly good murder scenes, some tight suspense (especially in the climax), and a bit of style The Initiation is one of the stronger slasher films of its time. Along with Hell Night (1981) and House on Sorority Row (1983), Initiation also remains one of the more memorable college-themed splatter flicks of the 80's. An entertaining treat for slasher fans. *** out of ****