The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1981)

aka PRANKS

Overall Rating:

Nastiness Rating:

Directed by: Stephen Carpenter/Jeffrey Obrow
Written by: Stephen Carpenter/Jeffrey Obrow/Stacey Giachino

Now, when you have a movie with a perfectly good title like The Dorm That Dripped Blood, why in the FUCK would you change the title to something lame like Pranks?! I just don’t understand. Even the production company name, Death Dorm, would be a better title than Pranks.

Really, there’s little to recommend here. First off, I’m sure that the only DVD release of the movie (the one retitled Pranks for no obvious reason) is VERY heavily cut. There’s little to no gore in this version, so there’s no reason for it to be on the Nasties list. If I ever see an uncut (and originally titled) version, maybe I’ll rent it and revise my review.

The story is an old one. It’s the beginning of Christmas vacation (although, you wouldn’t know it from the obviously warm climate…must be Texas) and only four people are left to close down a soon to be demolished dorm. (The one who isn’t going to be left is Princess Vespa herself, Daphne Zuniga. She is going home earlier than she planned…in a BODY BAG!!! And without her hair dryer!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!)

But there’s someone else here. A creepy Art Garfunkel looking dude who…seriously isn’t very scary. He’s a little creepy because he doesn’t talk, but everyone acts like he’s an escaped lunatic…even before they know that anyone is dying. And who the hell is this dude who seems to be after the main character? He gets out of the bed he’s sharing with his creepy, white-trash girlfriend to call our heroine at two in the morning. Then acts like his girlfriend shouldn’t be suspicious.

There are all kinds of problems here, not just in plot and writing, but in just plain observations. First off, in the first scene, there are obviously two killers unless the killer has three arms. And, later, his shoes don’t match up.

Crap all the way through. Only a semi-interesting ending saves this one, but not quickly enough. At 81 minutes, it was too long. A wake movie in every sense of the word. Every Friday The 13th sequel was better than this.

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