Monday 5 August 2013

The Initiation - UK DVD review

Obscure 80s slasher movie “The Initiation” hits UK DVD shelves today (Monday August 5th) courtesy of Arrow films Arrowdrome label and they were kind enough to send me a copy to take a look at.
 
The film stars Daphne Zuniga (The Fly 2) as young college student Kelly Fairchild, who’s plagued with nightmares about a traumatic childhood event, which had something to do with her father being attacked by a stranger during a house fire.
 
The college psychologist is unsure of what to make of things, but as we are soon to discover, it seems that the person in her nightmares might be all too real.
 
As part of her college initiation, she has to steal the keys to her wealthy father’s department store, where she and the other new sorority sisters must spend the night as part of their initiation. But it seems that dodging the security guard is going to be the least of their worries, as someone has decided to join their fraternity initiation and is now stalking to corridors.
 
Meanwhile her psychologist has done a little digging into her family history and discovers that not everyone in her family is who they seem and he has a pretty good idea about who the killer might be…
 
Originally released back in 1984, the film is one of the more obscure 80s slashers, which might have passed you by first time round. Whilst the plot is rather run of the mill, it does boast an extremely interesting cast, which includes former screen siren Vera Miles (Psycho), horror B movie actor Clu Gulager (Return of the Living Dead) and of course Daphne Zuniga, who previously starred  in “The Dorm that Dripped Blood” (AKA Pranks), and who went on to star in “The Fly 2” (though most will probably remember her from “Spaceballs”).
 
It is interesting to note that the film has a number of co-incidental similarities with Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street which was released in the same year. Girl having nightmares, person with a badly burned face, people getting killed with a sharp claw like implement (except this is a gardening tool, not a razor glove), so not sure what to make of that. The film will no doubt appeal to fans of 80s slashers, though people who only like modern day horror films may not find it so appealing.
 
The DVD includes the theatrical trailer as an extra and the case includes a collectors booklet with linear notes on the film by Callum Waddel.
 
Buy the UK DVD from Amazon.co.uk
 
 
 
 

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