Slumber Party Massacre (2021) - SYFY TV-MA Cut

I was really surprised Kay was allowed to get so much offense on Trish and her daughter Dana, but Russ killed earlier was an unexpected development. I think the film would definitely have been even more satisfying if Trish could have gotten her revenge on Russ Thorne, considering what he did to her in 1993. I get why that wasn't the case since as a teenager Trish was able to outsmart and survive him. And within the context of the story, I totally get why Dana is the one to slit his throat and later hack at his neck with the machete to make sure he was good and dead. Kay was just so weary, tired, and haggard,..I think Kay is effective, though, because she really looks like the mother of a psycho, clearly aged by his actions, even as she also does some killing out of her own revenge. I wasn't expecting the film to give her as much of an edge, even though Trish ultimately (and rightfully) vanquishes her at the end.

I do get that this is a film for a specific kind of demo audience; I always keep that in mind. So when one of the guys tells Dana that he has to follow his peers into the woods to find Russ because "toxic masculinity dictates it", even if it is on the nose, I get the satire of it. And Dana's "We are powerful women" speech will obviously lift the spirits of many a viewer, followed by the sound of a drill and all of her friends scattering while she's left stunned by their splitting up, going against their plans to remain together as a unit...I thought that was amusing.

The gore is mostly CGI including a saw that pierces Matt's tattoo heart as he's taking a shower, a reverse on the original film's woman locker room shower, and some drill kills. I did dig that one scene where Sean attempts to square off using a guitar (that has similar traits to the guitar drill used in SPM II) with Russ' drill thwarting his heroic efforts, tearing his face apart with the drill...the shredded face is a bloody, mushy mess.

The way Russ' head is angled and his drill is held (and how he bugs his eyes and talks about how much he loves Dana and Trish in different time frames) is very much of the exaggerated maniac variety. I was expecting Dana to castrate Russ' drill, doing so with the machete....I think since he always refers to the drill as his dick, it made sense to just avoid any nuance and go full tilt boogie with that.

I think what I liked the most was the camaraderie among Dana, Maeve, Beanie, Ashley, and younger Alix (sister to Maeve) and how there is a revelation about them when Alix leaves their cabin, discovering the gas station attendant with his eyes gouged (having bled all over Alix)...they actually went on this trip for the purpose of locating and killing Russ Thorne. Alix was quite a bit shocked by their reaching behind pillows for the weapons they had hidden. That was the part of the film I nodded approvingly with a thought of, "Nice one there." I liked that while this film does recognize "Slumber Party Massacre" (1982), it wants to do some other things differently. I think that is always for the best. I don't think very many of us want shot-for-shot. 

Still, I think there is a sense of fun I appreciated, and while I'm not the demo this film aims for, I didn't dislike this at all. It does feel quite SYFY, but it does take advantage of the TV-MA rating. Oh, I did pop for the line of dialogue where, I think it was Ashley, who opined after finding the shirtless, muscled dudes "pillow fighting" in their cabin (they stop to watch) that perhaps these guys were out-slumbering them. 3/5