Classic Horror Movie Franchise Being Rebooted, See the First Look

Classic Horror movie franchise Slumber Party Massacre is getting a reboot, and fans can now see the first look at the forthcoming new movie. Bloody Disgusting reports that Shout! Studios has produced a re-imagining of the iconic 1982 Amy Holden Jones film. The new Slumber Party Massacre is directed by Danishka Esterhazy (The Banana Splits Movie), and is set to debut on SyFy later this year.

A brief synopsis for the film reads: “A slumber party turns into a bloodbath when a power drill-wielding psychopath disrupts the fun.” The stars of the Slumber Party Massacre re-imagining include Hannah Gonera (Spell), Frances Sholto-Douglas (Black Mirror), Alex McGregor (Searchers, Blood Drive), Mila Rayne, and Reze-Tiana Wessels. The new movie was written by Suzanne Keilly, who is most well-known for her work on Ash vs Evil Dead and Leprechaun Returns.

In the original Slumber Party Massacre, an escaped psycho killer wreaked havoc on teenagers at a Los Angeles slumber party. The movie was a hit with fans, earning $3.6 million at the box office, on a budget of just $220,000. It went on to spawn two official sequels: Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) and Slumber Party Massacre III (1990).

Slumber Party Massacre also made way for Sorority House Massacre (1986), which sparked its own franchise. That film would later be followed up by Sorority House Massacre II: Nighty Nightmare (1990), and Sorority House Massacre III: Hard to Die (1990). Notably, a fourth film exists, Sorority House Massacre: The Final Exam, but there are apparently no plans to release it.

Another set of horror films that eventually launched from the Massacre series is Cheerleader Massacre (2003) and its sequel Cheerleader Massacre 2 (2011). The first film was directed by Jim Wynorski, who also directed Sorority House Massacre II: Nighty Nightmare and Sorority House Massacre III: Hard to Die.

Interestingly, Cheerleader Massacre is a semi-sequel to the first Slumber Party Massacre film. There is also a standalone film in the series, Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre (2015), which Wynorski helmed. Additionally, it was previously reported that Walked Dead star Norman Reedus is working on a TV series based on the Sorority House Massacre films. In November 2020, Deadline reported that Reedus had partnered with Utopia Originals and Shout! Studios to produce the new series. At this time, there is no word on what TV network or streaming service the series may land at.