MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*
And as the sun sinks slowly in the distance, we bid farewell to the SLUMBER PARTY franchise, a farewell made easier by the underwhelming nature of the final entry.
It's probably just as well the director and writer-- both women, though I discerned no feminist content whatever this time-- decided to start over with all new characters. I suspect that most of the later "slumber party" films building on the basic concept probably follow the example of PARTY #3, for it's just the predictable story of a psycho-killer preying on a half dozen girls in a slumber party.
The most I can say for this one is that in comparison to many of the sludgy slashers from the 80s and 90s, this one at least has decent production values. While these California girls are planning their party, a killer knocks off one of their buddies with a rotary drill. The script tosses out two separate red herrings in the form of creepy-looking bozos, and maybe a third when one of the girls (Maria Ford) says she's dating a fifty-year-old suitor. But all of these details are dodges to fool the viewer when the killer proves to be Ken (Brittain Frye), a young clean-cut fellow. He's one of a group of young guys who intrude on the girls' party, but Ken's not interested in harmless sexual teasing. The guy's got some never-completely-explained psychosis due to having been molested by his uncle. Why does this make him decide to kill copious young girls with a power drill? Who knows?
Once Ken kills off the guys, the rest of the film is just running battles in the house as Ken kills some girl, another girl whacks him with some object, he recovers and keeps on drillin'. Eventually he does get taken out by Main Girl Jackie (Keely Christian), though she's not the last girl to survive as in many other slashers. I'd give what few acting points are possible to Frye, who at least puts a lot of energy into his routine psycho. The aforementioned Maria Ford later went to star in a few "lady butt-kicker" films, while another actress, Hope Marie Carlton, had previously initiated the "Hard Ticket to Hawaii" series in 1987.
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