Review of Sorority Row, Staring Rumer Willis and Briana Evigan
Written: Sep 19 '09 (Updated Sep 19 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: it at least remained interesting
Cons: Rumer Willis character, sorority President, camera work, weak climax
The Bottom Line: It was watchable, but Sorority Row wasn't a great horror film, and while it could be worth watching if you need a horror fix, it has a number of problems.
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| three_ster's Full Review: Sorority Row |
Sorority Row is the latest horror film to be re-invented in an effort to draw in a new generation of audience members. The premise is simple enough to envision, as a sorority house finds itself the target of a killer that seems intent on doing them all in. They aren't as innocent as they would want you to believe though, as they have a secret that is revealed at the beginning of the film. After one of the girls has her boyfriend cheat on her, a couple of her sorority sisters try to help her get even with him through an extensive prank involving faking her own death. While carrying out the act, the unthinkable happens, and the sister (Megan) is killed. This catches everyone off guard, and the leader of the group convinces the other four girls that they need to hide what has happened. The stage is set, and the horror movie can begin.
Sometimes it’s tough to categorize a horror film, because unless they go to the very violent end of things, a number of sub-plots have been done to death. Sorority Row is at its heart a re-make, but it doesn't steal all of its ideas from the original, rather choosing to use the premise of a sorority, but going in its own direction. The opening prank may come very close to the line of decency for people watching, and may also cross it for some other audience members. Then again, they wanted to do something original, and paint some of the characters in a certain fashion very early on. The writers of the film were able to do just that, and in setting up the audience help the characters all fall into their own specific roles in the movie. They have the leader who cares more about herself than anyone else, the party girl, the girl trying to impress her father, the book smart girl, and the everyday girl (Evigan) who almost takes the part of a main character.
For those looking to see a horror movie that focuses on a sorority, you are going to get everything you want with this film. They depict the partying, the in-fighting, and nearly every other stereotype that you might expect from a movie sorority. Yes, that even includes the community showers with the girls, and of course nudity that seems to almost have no logical place in the plot. But that’s what a lot of the film is about, showing pretty people trying to get away from a killer, with no revelation of what the killer wants or what their motives are until much later in the story. In that regard (the mystery) Sorority Row does a good job at least remaining unpredictable. There are however more things that work against the story being a “good” one than the things that work for it.
One of the biggest detractors from Sorority Row was the camera work, and the incessant need to keep it moving quickly, even when the girls are just hanging out together. There were some many times when a still shot would have worked just fine, but the director seemed to want things to keep moving, maybe to quicken the pace of the story. There are also some bad acting performances, including that of Rumer Willis as one of the leads. It may just have been the way that her character was written, but she didn’t come off as believable, and when she was on screen, it was really hard to care about the role at all. The leader of the sorority house was also very annoying, which was intended, but it made her on-screen time seem like nails on a chalkboard. Yes nails, not just finger nails. Finally, the film is also quite violent, so be ready for that, but I guess that’s already written into the explanation when this one is called a “horror” film. Carrie Fisher as the house mom was intriguing, but in the end Sorority Row turned out to be more eye candy than anything else, and you won’t miss much by not seeing it in theaters unless you need a horror film fix.
Recommended:
No
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