Back in April of this year, it was reported that Shout! Studios was remaking Roger Corman’s ‘Slumber Party Massacre.’
Now, it appears that the film will be making its official premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest.
The remake, which is being described as a “reimagining of Roger Corman’s 1982 slasher film,” is directed by Danishka Esterhazy (The Banana Splits Movie) and written by Suzanne Keilly (Leprechaun Returns).
This is keeping in tradition with the original ‘Slumber Party Massacre’ which was directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita May Brown.
Brown had originally intended for the film to break away from the stereotypical helpless female characters that had become the standard in the horror genre.
Her script would end up ultimately being altered by Corman, who was known for incorporating nudity and violence into his films as a means of making them more profitable. This resulted in ‘Slumber Party Massacre’ going from being a movie that poked fun at the slasher genre to just another 80’s slasher film, though it managed to retain some comedic elements which was not conventional for slasher movies at the time.
The new film stars Hannah Gonera as Dana, Frances Sholto-Douglas as Maeve, Mila Rayne as Alix, Alex McGregor as Breanie, Reze-Tiana Wessels as Ashley, Larissa Crafford-Lazarus as Diane, Jane de Wet as Jackie, Reem Koussa as Kim, Michael Lawrence Potter as John, Arthur Falko as Chad Nathan Castle as Sean, Eden Classens as Matt, and Rob van Vuuren as Russ Thorn.
Already, fans of the original movie will note the changes in our cast of characters for this new film, with the characters of Jackie, Kim, John, and, of course, our killer Russ Thorn, being the only reoccurring names.
It seems unlikely that the changing of only a couple of names will be the extent of the change we are going to see in Esterhazy’s upcoming remake. In an early review of the film on Fantastic Fest’s official webpage, the remake is being described as:
“taking the best parts of its predecessor, scrapping the demeaning bits, and amping up the female gaze to eleven.”
Could this new film be tapping into what Brown had originally envisioned when she wrote ‘Slumber Party Massacre’?
We will have to wait and see when ‘Slumber Party Massacre’ debuts at Fantastic Fest.
This year’s Fantastic Fest will run from September 23 until September 30, 2021.
There is no current screening schedule at this time.
‘Slumber Party Massacre’ will reportedly be making its television debut on SyFy later in the year, but no official date has been set at this time.
HorrorFacts will be sure to report once an official Fantastic Fest schedule becomes available.
