The Dorm That Dripped Blood

College students, who are clearing out a condemned dormitory, are stalked by an elusive killer.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood (aka Pranks) is a bit of a mixed bag for slasher fans. The movies production values are pretty low and the story for the most part is pretty routine, there's even a creepy bum hanging around for a red herring. In fact much of the story's build-up is pretty forgettable, save for one or two brutal murders. But the movie is really made better by its surprisingly intense climax (in an atmospheric setting) and one fairly bold, unconventional conclusion.

The cast is lackluster for the most part. Stephen Sachs is the best of the lot as he does a pretty nice turn in character. Also look for a young Daphne Zuniga as an ill-fated student.

Over all this is a pretty standard B slasher effort, but the finale is well worth savoring and for this viewer saved the movie from being a complete ho-hum.

** out of ****

The Dorm That Dripped Blood has a chip on its shoulder. A big one! If you're looking for your run of the mill "tits and blood" slasher, this might not be the one for you. It's darkly lit, creepy, and the film stock is grainy, making it feel more like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Last House on the Left than a Friday the 13th sequel.

The story is nothing special. A group of college students (some of whom look a bit too long in the tooth to be college kids) stay over a holiday break to take inventory in an old dorm and are stalked and killed by someone who will be revealed during the shocking climax.

The cast is decent if a bit dull, but they do a decent enough job and there's not a lot of suspense or scares, but The Dorm That Dripped Blood stands out from the pack by the sheer mean spiritedness of its death scenes and unpredictable kill order. It doesn't play nice or by the rules and there's something sort of exciting about that. The ending is an especially shocking downer.

It's also the feature film debut of Daphne Zuniga, so that's kinda neat. She doesn't have much screen time, but she does a decent job and is featured in one of the wildest and most mean spirited moments of the film.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood might not be a genius work of art, but it has enough interesting moments to make it worth a watch.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood has never been mentioned in many "best horror films of all time" lists and it probably never will be, but if grisly gore is your thing, there are worse ways to spend your 90 minutes. It at least has an admirable mean streak that runs throughout where you feel that no one is safe and that's a good thing to feel in a horror movie. A lot of the college kids look like they might be old enough to have children in college themselves, but that's part of the fun of these cheap horror movies, isn't it?

As story goes, The Dorm That Dripped Blood might not be anything memorable, but there's a rag tag low budget energy that radiates from every frame and it really makes you root for this little movie that could. None of the acting is that great, some of the lighting is impossibly dark, but the death scenes are all very brutal and crackle with a certain intensity that's very unnerving.

This is probably one of the least known of the early 80's hay day hack n slash family - consisting of a slue of cousins which themselves have gathered dust, triumphantly sitting with legs crossed> on videostore shelves through half a generation. - that is, until DVD finally unearthed some lesser knowns for a second chance.

(I have the old Media VHS version, btw) (The UK DVD release is known as 'PRANKS)

A killer lurks on a college campus - through the closterphobic corridors of Meadows Hall, killing working coeds in some very creative ways. A baseball bat with barbed-wire around it. A girl is ran over.(Not too creative, but has to be seen within its context, consisting of three murders within thirty seconds.) A girl is shoved in a pressure cooker and is cooked to death. A janitor gets a drilling headache. A woman gets incinerated - you name it.

While the film is quiet amateurish, it delivers on most all levels that simply make up a good slasher film. I could take away merit by assigning scoff at the quality of the production - the dark-shoddy look of the film, etc; - but I won't. - A solid slasher film in all respects, with one hell of a twist ending.