Sorority Row

Far from the fun, fast-paced slasher one might’ve anticipated, Sorority Row details the chaos that ensues after a handful of sorority sisters (Briana Evigan’s Cassidy, Leah Pipes’ Jessica, Rumer Willis’ Ellie, Jamie Chung’s Claire, and Margo Harshman’s Chugs) find themselves pursued by a cloaked figure following the death of one of their own. It’s a workable premise that’s squandered virtually from the word go by filmmaker Stewart Hendler, as the director’s decision to aggressively emphasize needless instances of cinematic trickery (eg shaky camerawork, greenish tinting, grainy film stocks, etc, etc) slowly but surely transforms the movie into a seriously oppressive piece of work. The remarkably unpleasant visuals are exacerbated by a narrative that grows more and more dull as time progresses, with the latter half of the proceedings devoted almost entirely to interludes in which uniformly underdeveloped characters skulk and hide in the dark. It’s a shame, really, given that the movie does boast a rather impressive assortment of kill sequences, as the mysterious murderer targets not only the five protagonists but also a number of completely innocent bystanders (ie he/she basically offs anyone who gets in his/her way). This is, ultimately and unfortunately, not quite enough to compensate for the relentlessly annoying nature of Hendler’s directorial choices, with the end result a sporadically watchable yet thoroughly disappointing horror effort that’s underwhelming even by the standards of the genre.

** out of ****