The Dorm That Dripped Blood-Additional Write-Up

It was only supposed to be a job for two weeks.

Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow worked together in the 80s for The Kindred (1987) & The Power (1984) before going their separate ways, and perhaps this film, mainly due to its title (Dorm That Dripped Blood leaps off a box a bit better than “Pranks” or “House of Blood”) is their most recognizable film.

Dorm That Dripped Blood (a play off of the awesome Amicus anthology, “House That Dripped Blood”) languishes in a rather puttering pace, doesn’t pizzazz the intended audience with much of a body count blood-letting and fails to engage with much in the way of dialogue or humor. Imagine those who rented the edited version; how undercutting the slasher fan’s expectations so early on must have been a letdown for those who brought the video tape back to the rental store in such head-down disappointment!

It is a slasher film that luckily does have a title (reiterating ad nauseum) which grabs, to its credit. I think of how the box to this movie sitting next to something less engaging like “The Prey” or “The Forest”, and even if it isn’t much better, the title does initiate the interest. After a while, though, the title no longer registers…especially if you are a slasher fan who rented it and was one of those, like me and my generation in your 30s/40s, returning it wearily.

Slasher fans, more often than not, spend their time less satisfied and more disenchanted. I can imagine many a slasher fan would return that hopeful gem to a store wondering where that diamond in the ruff just might emerge. I think many of us got complacent, accepting mediocrity and when a slasher film like April Fool’s Day (without any gore) pops up with a cast (at least) that entertained, we would look for the good we could find. I spent time investigating, all Sherlock Holmes detective, Dorm just trying to find the one aspect I could cull from its running time that would ingratiate it to any fan or audience. What did I come up with?

Well, at least the lead actress, Laurie Lapinski, is easy to watch and like. I thought she had a very down-to-earth quality that was easy to digest. Very natural looking and sounding. I mean, these movies are often gauged by the machete decapitation or how finely rounded a secondary babe’s tits are. I try to look at a slasher film hoping for a bit more. Sure a head explosion by a shotgun has its shock and awe factor which earns an enthusiastic response and the gradual removal of a top by an attractive honey seemingly hired just for that purpose has its place among the loyal base; I do hope for something a bit more imaginative. 

Special effects work (does the gore institute the gag reflex? Does it look so over the top, it makes you giggle?) is of considerable focus. Dorm didn’t have the talent skilled in the art of repulsing us. The drill kill which I dedicated an unnecessary blog entry to amused me. It is cut from the video versions, but look hard enough and you’ll find it. There’s this physical kill where a spiked bat pummels the head of a father picking up his daughter (Daphne Zuniga; I far prefer her *other* slasher film, The Initiation (1984)), and then the mother being garroted by the same killer from the back seat of her car…I really, really liked the touch of the arm sliding in the driver’s side window and pulling open the back seat door lock to get inside. I highly recommend seeing a cleaned-up version where the arm and hand are visible instead of in an awful dark version.

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"You have to trust me." Yeah, right.

Then there’s the body dump in a kitchen pot and a rather less than spectacular machete stab to a victim’s arm. The body being run over and then dropped into the trunk of the car has a viciousness to it (a family of three being destroyed in quick succession has a level of real mania to it) I thought worked, but the way it was all conducted and carried out due to the lack of real fire or vigor (or in your face effort) drags it into a blasé presentation that sadly fails.

I think that is a description for the overall execution and direction of the material. This has a score which desperately wants to crawl up your spine and creep you out. It wants to paint this mysterious picture of who just might be the homicidal maniac all over the place, but because the pacing and lack of real punch deadens the senses, I think. The dorm is a rather solid location, I believe. It has the nooks and crannies of a location where a killer has plenty of hiding places and chances to emerge from the darkness to surprise and kill. But the lack of enchanting personalities to embrace and care about isn’t a distinct problem that slasher fans seem to give that much shit about (I kind of do, though), I do think in this film’s case it could certainly help. There’s the attempt to have this girl talking about liking that guy, with Lapinski’s Joanne listening and offering advice that is shot down…is it enough? I don’t think so. They all die and go away. Joanne, I think, is the exception. She gets some real time to offer us someone genuine, while the others get in a bit of a character but not enough to truly enhance a personality that gives us much to embrace. It is an indictment often mentioned when you read countless remarks about a slasher film such as this.