Review: On the eve of Christmas vacation, a college dormitory stands condemned… the dark halls now vacant, and unsafe. Student Joanne Murray and her close friends volunteer to help close down the building, unaware a psychopathic lunatic is hiding in the shadows. As the students disappear one by one, Joanne discovers the horrifying reality that if she is to survive, she alone will have to find a way to slay the brutal murderer.
This film has been released previously in a cut form and titled Death Dorm or Pranks, but luckily the guys over at Synapse got ahold of the uncensored director's cut of this once thought to be lost version of The Dorm That Dripped Blood. Now I have only seen it under the title Death Dorm many years ago and honestly I am not sure what all was truly added due to not remembering much from when I first viewed this film so many years back. What you get from this film is what you would expect from most any of the typical 80's slasher films. They go with the "who did it" premise like so many others during that time did (ie My Bloody Valentine) which can be fine for the first so many times you see it. Unfortunately I am split on if I like this film or not because it's one of those slashers that has some awesome gore and violence, but falls to the way of being a slasher that if you pay attention you can figure out who the killer is too easily.
The other aspect that I wasn't too fond of was the pacing, to me it was kinda too slow and at times almost lost my attention. Now another positive thing I liked was the cat and mouse game between the killer and our main survivor because it just helps add tension to the end of this film. Overall if you love the slasher genre I know you will love this film, but if your kinda like me and are a little more picky when it comes to your slasher films then you may not like this film as much.
Now as far as the picture quality goes, well it's not amazing but it does work just fine for me. There is all the grain still intact, but for some there may be a little too much grain. I love grain so I loved the way it looked. It is from an "
answer print (click on it to find out what an answer print is!)" that was thought to be lost for 30 years so you have to forgive it for not being a pristine print. Overall this is the best that you probably will ever see this film ever!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Jeffrey Obrow & Stephen Carpenter
Genre: Horror/Slasher
DVD/Blu-Ray Release Year: 2011
Theatrical Release Year: 1981
Time Length: 88 mins.
Company: Synapse Films
Special Features Include:
- Anamorphic Widescreen (1.66:1) Transfer of the “Directors’ Cut”
- Audio Commentary Featuring Directors Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter
- Interviews with Composer Christopher Young and Make-Up FX Creator Matthew Mungle
- Isolated Music Score
- Original Theatrical Trailers
- Reversible Cover with Alternate Artwork
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