A group of eight obnoxious teenagers decide to celebrate graduation by partying overnight in a furniture store. That night, they are hunted down and sometimes killed by a psycho.
I see that some people speak highly of this one, but frankly, I don't see the appeal. It's a very routine slasher that has barely anything interesting to offer. The cast & characters are monumentally annoying, spending a lot of their time lamely attempting to scare each other. The girls are sexy and there is some nudity; there's also decent gore by Screaming Mad George. "Hide and Go Shriek" can also boast the novelty of a killer who is often changing costume (shades of "Terror Train"), sometimes appearing in drag. Director Skip Schoolnik (one of the editors on "Halloween II" '81) gamely tries to create as much atmosphere as he can from the setting, and the movie does have some effective lighting courtesy of Eugene D. Shlugleit. But it's a fair amount of effort wasted on a mostly blah script.
At least in this one, our killer doesn't have a run of the mill motivation. It is amusing once it is revealed just who they are. But "Hide and Go Shriek" is rough going for a while, as it is boring and inane in equal measure.
If you're a devoted aficionado of all things slasher related, you'll want to see it for completions' sake, but don't get your hopes up high.
Four out of 10.
