The Initiation (1984)

Director: Larry Stewart

Writer: Charles Pratt Jr.

Composers: Gabriel Black, Lance Ong

Starring: Vera Miles, Clu Gulager, Daphne Zuniga, James Read, Marilyn Kagan, Robert Dowdell, Patti Heider, Frances Peterson, Hunter Tylo, Paula Knowles, Trey Stroud, Peter Malof

More info: IMDb

Tagline: ...the night new blood is pledged.

Plot:  Kelly Fairchild has become a college student and a member of the Delta Ro Kai sorority. During all her life, she has suffered from a nightmare where a man is burning. She meets an assistant professor who can help interpret the dream. The sorority's initiation ritual is a nighttime breaking-and-entering into her father's department store.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.  Twice is enough.

Don't you hate it when you get halfway into a movie only to realize that you've seen it before?  And in the last year but you completely forgot?  Yeah, that's this one and it's one of the reasons why I started this blog 7 years ago because it happened then, too.  THE INITIATION is a good looking film, like an A-list Hollywood picture.  The performances are fine (the girl that played the professor's assistant was pretty darn good) but the electronic score is pretty awful in spots, the kills are even trying to be creative but maybe this isn't that kind of slasher.  Maybe the director and pals were trying to make a more realistic slasher picture.  But then maybe it's just a big weakness.  Two thirds in you find out a lot of the back story that you think is going to help you figure out who the killer is over the next half hour but you could be wrong.  It's not until the final few minutes to you really know who the killer is and you might be disappointed, just like in some Giallo pictures that pull that ??? bullshit at the end out of nowhere.  It's not that it doesn't work, which it does, it just feels kind of like a cheat. Like a lot of slashers of the 80s there's a nice sprinkling of nudity and a little bit of blood but not enough to keep you coming back.  It's not a bad film but it's just not all THAT good. Better than average and that ain't bad.  Jesus fucking hell the music over the end credits is annoying as fuck. AHHHHHHH!  Modulate.  AHHHHHHH!  Modulate again...and again...and again...and again.  It's currently streaming on Netflix with a nice widescreen print.