SORORITY ROW

Directed by Stewart Hendler
Written by Josh Stolberg & Peter Goldfinger
Cinematography by Ken Seng
Music by Lucian Piane
Cast: Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung, Audrina Patridge, Julian Morris, Margo Harshman, Carrie Fisher

2009/101 Mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
2.40:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from Summit Entertainment DVD

When a group of sorority girls from Theta Pi discover that the boyfriend of one of them, Megan (Audrina Patridge), is cheating on her; the rest of the girls, led by Jessica (Leah Pipes), decide to play a prank on him. They make it look like he killed her by drugging her, but then he kills her for real, though accidentally, with a tire iron to the chest. They make a pact to keep it a secret as they dump her body down a mineshaft. Eight months later a rift has occurred between the girls, in particular Cassidey (Briana Evigan), the most reluctant to concur with the plan, and the others. But, they soon begin to receive text and phone pic messages from someone who knows what happened. And, then they each, and others, begin to get killed by an unseen murder using a tricked out tire iron, complete with blade and harpoon attachments. Who is doing the killings? Is it Megan who’s come back for revenge or someone else?

This movie is a very loose remake of the 80’s slasher film THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW. While, I have never seen that movie, my understanding is this film ends up being quite different. It is similar to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, though it is a vastly superior to that film. Which is not say I dislike I KNOW, quite the contrary; it’s just this movie is much, much better.

One of the main reasons this movie works so well has to be its female cast. First and foremost the girls are all fucking hot, especially Audrina (from reality TV crapfest THE HILLS) Patridge and Jamie Chung (who plays Claire in the movie). Both of these girls are clearly two of the hottest and most beautiful women that have ever live. There is nudity to be had, though sadly not from our stunningly gorgeous lead cast. But, aside from looking great and yummy the girls pull in good performances. Their characters are also written in a fun way with some great, witty dialogue, in particular mega-bitch Jessica. Leah is so good in this role, that you really hate her and want her to die. But, the really funny lines she delivers are so awesome that you want her not to die at the same time. Mostly due to the fact that she makes you laugh so much, due to her being such a total fucking twat. Also, delivering a memorable role is Carrie Fisher who plays Mrs. Crenshaw who is in charge of the sorority house. Princess Liea was never as badass as this character is!

The weapon used in the movie by the killer is really fucking cool. The kills are really good, though not that gory; in particular I liked the one in the laundry shaft. Director Hendler keeps a good balance of humor and some real suspense with a real, fast pace. I enjoyed his frame composition as well as some of the tracking shots used, but he does tend to overdo the shaky cam shots at times. In all, this is a movie that I enjoyed even more the second time around and found it to be a completely fun time to be had.

SORORITY ROW pledges itself to DVD thanks to Summit Entertainment. It is presented in anamorphic widescreen, 2.40:1, aspect ratio. The colors look beautiful with some great contrast and lots of visible, clear detail to the image. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound kicks total ass with some really good base. The soundtrack just sounds awesome as it plays in the movie.

As far as extras, we have “Sorority Secrets: Stories from the Set” which has fun interviews with all of the film’s lovely leads. They all come off as real sweeties in it. “Killer 101” has the director and the writers talk about rules of the slasher film, and how they come into play in the movie. It’s good but one of the writers does a major fuck up when he mixes up Freddy Krueger with Jason Voorhees during the talk. I don’t know; I just found this to be an epic fail moment, for sure!

The “Killswitch” opition allows you to jump to any of the kills in the movie. The deleted scenes can be played with informative little intros by the director; who explains why he, deservedly, cut them out of the movie. And, finally, we also get some cute and funny outtakes from the movie.

The single disc comes in a keep case, with a cardboard slip cover. Sadly, though, the cover really sucks, even though, there are lots of cool, different covers to this movie. There is no inlet card inside. But, chapters are accessible on the very awesome, interactive menu. It comes with trailers to THE HURT LOCKER and NEXT DAY AIR, but sadly not for the movie, itself.

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Review by Giovanni Deldio. All Right Reserved. 2010. ©