Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama

Ah, the VHS era, when the success of a film was not determined by its qualities, but by its title and cover, or even its trailer. Could there be anything more fabulous than Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, especially with an attractive picture of scantily clad girls and a promise of the supernatural? Well, practically anything could be. The film concealed behind the masterful promotion is one of the most telling examples of video bullshit. This time, David DeCoteau is in charge of the hopeless blend of teenage pseudo-obscene flicks and horror comedy, while not properly delving into either. With this film, it is impossible to say what the individual scenes contain or how poorly it is made. Here, the only saving grace is amusement over what they do not contain, because the filmmakers did not have the money, skills or inventiveness to get the job done. You will learn from Sorority Babes that the gore, masks and effects of their time were surprisingly more expensive than basic stunts, so in the climax there will be one shot with an overturned car on the roof, but no blood at any time during the film. Which is a major shortcoming in a horror film that can otherwise boast only the futile jokes and tiresome dialogue of its idiotic characters. However, DeCoteau and company surprisingly show that the classic remark about trash, that nudity and sex scenes are cheaper than dialogue, may not be true if you find a sufficiently cheap screenwriter. But in the era of the VHS market, none of the above was a reason for failure; on the contrary, the fame of Sorority Babes remains thesmirking proof that a little was indeed enough to satisfy viewers of a certain age back in the day. (2016.08.08)