Buzz
Much like many other horror films, The Slumber Party Massacre only received the recognition it deserved after many years. Upon its initial release in 1982, the film faced harsh criticism and was unfairly labeled as misogynistic, despite its strong feminist roots. Written by Rubyfruit Jungle author Rita Mae Brown, directed by Amy Holden Jones, and portraying male characters as either dangerously unhinged or utterly powerless, the movie showcased its female leads as intelligent, brave, and resourceful.
Over the past four decades, the film has enjoyed a much warmer reception. With a dedicated fanbase and a shift in critical perspective, The Slumber Party Massacre is now celebrated as a cornerstone of feminist horror and a sharp satire that cleverly mocked horror clichés years before Scream did the same. The Museum of Modern Art has praised it as “truly terrifying and undeniably underrated,” accurately describing it as “a defining moment for women reclaiming the horror genre.”
Here are some key details about Jones’s revolutionary blend of horror and comedy.
1. The screenplay for The Slumber Party Massacre was penned by feminist trailblazer Rita Mae Brown.
Rita Mae Brown, the Author | Roger Ressmeyer/GettyImagesAfter the unexpected success of her first novel, Rubyfruit Jungle, Brown relocated to Los Angeles in 1973. There, she met Frances Doel, a story editor for the renowned producer Roger Corman. Doel, whom Brown referred to as “the Mother Teresa of aspiring screenwriters,” introduced her to the fundamentals of screenwriting and persuaded Corman to hire her, provided she worked for minimal pay. Around 1978, Brown penned a script titled Don’t Open the Door, which centered on an escaped killer targeting a girls’ basketball team during a sleepover. The script parodied early slasher films, blending gruesome scenes with humor and satire. It remained untouched at Corman’s New World Pictures for years until a budding filmmaker revived it—though only the first eight pages were ultimately used.
2. Amy Holden Jones turned down editing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to helm The Slumber Party Massacre.
Jones began her career as an editor and documentary filmmaker, gaining her first experience in feature film production in 1975 as an assistant to Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver. When Corman reached out to Scorsese for a recommendation of a skilled yet affordable young film editor, Scorsese suggested Jones. After editing several films for Corman, Jones caught the attention of Steven Spielberg
However, Jones’s true ambition was to direct, and she needed to demonstrate her capabilities to Corman. While searching through Corman’s collection of unproduced scripts, she stumbled upon Don’t Open the Door. The opening eight pages contained everything she believed was necessary for a compelling test reel: engaging dialogue, action, and suspense. She assembled a small crew and a group of drama students, filming the prologue over a single weekend. Impressed by her work, Corman immediately offered her the chance to direct the full film. Jones informed Spielberg of Corman’s offer, and he released her from her contract. She was replaced by Carol Littleton, whose editing on E.T. later earned her an Oscar nomination.
3. The Slumber Party Massacre originated as a test reel filmed by Michael Chapman, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer of Raging Bull.
The test reel Jones created has since been lost, which is unfortunate—it was shot by her husband, the renowned cinematographer Michael Chapman. Chapman, who passed away in 2020, had worked as a camera operator on Jaws and The Godfather, and as a director of photography on films like Hal Ashby’s The Last Detail, Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake, and Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, the latter earning him an Academy Award nomination. Over his career, he filmed more than 40 movies, including The Lost Boys, Scrooged, and The Fugitive, which brought him another Oscar nod. Jones and Chapman shot the reel in their rented Venice, California home, with Jones editing the footage on Joe Dante’s flatbed editor. Since the reel featured non-union actors, none of the footage could be included in the final film.
4. Jones committed to directing the film before she had even read the entire script.
Amy Holden Jones | Frederick M. Brown/GettyImagesAfter viewing Jones’s test reel and discovering it was made for roughly $1000, Corman promptly hired her to direct the entire film. However, Jones’s excitement about her first feature directing opportunity was short-lived when she read the rest of the script, which she later called “a complete disaster.” At 27, Jones felt so overwhelmed by the task of fixing the script that she turned to alcohol for the first time, fearing “imminent disaster and public embarrassment.” She spent the next month rewriting the screenplay, though she acknowledged Brown for laying the groundwork, including establishing the three-act structure and developing the central theme, which Jones describes as “the fear of losing one’s virginity.”
5. Both Brown and Jones believe their respective versions of the script are the humorous ones.
Humor is highly subjective, and both Brown and Jones have insisted that their version of the Slumber Party Massacre script is the funnier one. Brown has characterized the final film as “a straightforward slasher movie [with] no humor,” asserting that her original draft was “quite funny, at least on paper.” Jones, however, holds the opposite view: “Someone had to reorganize, introduce new characters, [and] add humor,” she stated.
6. The film was produced under a different title to facilitate securing filming locations.
When it came time to cast actors and secure locations, Corman advised Jones to use “a more sophisticated title” to avoid the negative associations of a slasher film—so Don’t Open the Door was temporarily renamed Sleepless Nights during production. After completion, Corman changed the title once again, settling on The Slumber Party Massacre.
7. The actor portraying the killer, Russ Thorn, refused to interact with the film’s stars until their onscreen deaths were filmed.
As recounted in Jason Paul Collum’s documentary Sleepless Nights, Michael Villella, who played the film’s unhinged, drill-wielding murderer, avoided speaking to the actresses playing his victims until their death scenes were completed. To ensure their onscreen fear appeared genuine, Villella spent much of the 20-day shoot hiding in bushes, “stalking” his co-stars on set, and theatrically coating his drill with Vaseline.
8. The director was unsettled by the test audience’s reactions.
Audiences first experienced The Slumber Party Massacre during a test screening at what Jones referred to as “the most garish theater on Hollywood Boulevard.” The crowded room, filled with “tipsy teenagers and homeless individuals who wandered in,” quickly embraced the film, growing louder as the onscreen body count rose. As viewers cheered the gruesome deaths and a man behind Jones mimicked drill sounds throughout the movie, she questioned her choices. It wasn’t until she saw Corman smiling in the lobby that she understood: her film had lived up to its sensational title, delivering Corman his most successful test screening in years.
9. The film pioneered the first horror franchise entirely written and directed by women.
Although women had directed horror movies before 1981, The Slumber Party Massacre is recognized as the first slasher film directed by a woman. While it didn’t dominate the box office, Jones’s movie thrived in the home video market; as she put it, “Roger [Corman] made a fortune with Slumber Party Massacre.”
Corman, already known for his openness to hiring women as producers, directors, and editors—uncommon in Hollywood at the time—continued his successful approach by enlisting female filmmakers for the sequels. Deborah Brock directed the wildly entertaining rockabilly-inspired Slumber Party Massacre II in 1987, and Sally Mattison helmed the darker Slumber Party Massacre III in 1990, making the trilogy the first horror franchise entirely created by women.
