“Slumber Party Massacre” (2021)

7.5

My favorite and least favorite part is how meta this hour and a half sometimes became.

This remake is everything I wanted in the remake of the phallic weapon-wielding psycho killer of the 80s favorite target of cinematic slayers – teenage girls at a slumber party.

There are just enough tongue-in-cheek references to the original 2, including the ridiculous guitar from the sequel and the feather-filled half-naked pillow fight (the gents this time). A nice balance of self-awareness and horror movie blissful ignorance in our main cast. This was one of the more lightweight and fun remakes of the year. I went in expecting ridiculousness and a few chuckles, and this delivered that and more! I feel this achieved what one of my most loathed horror remakes, “Black Christmas”(2019), was attempting to. This pointed out the stereotypes of the original, played into the “there’s a reason these don’t age well culturally,” but didn’t turn into a preachy nag fest that forgot it’s a slasher film and is also supposed to entertain the audience while enlightening them in the process. Chef’s kiss. Solid work, *checks notes* SyFy network…