Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, 1988.
Directed by David DeCoteau.
Starring Andras Jones, Linnea Quigley, Robin Stille, Brinke Stevens, George ‘Buck’ Flower, Hal Havins, John Stuart Wildman, Michael Sonye.
SYNOPSIS:
After breaking into a bowling alley for a dare, a group of college students unleash a powerful imp who grants them wishes, at a cost.
A great title for a movie – but not necessarily this one, because there isn’t much bowling going on – David DeCoteau’s 1988 horror/comedy has been given a limited-edition UK Blu-ray release from 101 Films, and if ever a movie encapsulated the cheese-fest elements of 1980s horror – you know, the bits you remember being cool and fun back then but when you show them to today’s audiences they look at you like have two heads – then this is surely it.
Calvin (Andras Jones), Jimmie (Hal Halvins) and Keith (John Stuart Wildman) are three extremely horny students living in a dorm next to a sorority house. After sneaking a peak at one of the sorority sisters’ initiation rituals – which involves a lot of spanking and whipped cream, followed by a shared shower – the boys and the sorority pledges are tasked by head sister Babs (Robin Stille) to break into the local bowling alley to steal a trophy, unaware that Babs’ family own the business, which means she and the other sisters can play pranks on them. However, after bumping into Spider (Linnea Quigley), who is genuinely robbing the place, and stealing one of the trophies, a magical imp named Uncle Impie is released, offering the band of misfits a wish of their choosing. Cue lots of daft mayhem.
A trashy take on The Monkey’s Paw, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is a short and sweet piece of low budget nonsense from Charles Band’s Full Moon stable, and if you are familiar with those types of movies and are fine with terrible acting and cheap makeup effects then you will likely have a blast here as the movie is a lot of fun, as long as you temper your expectations accordingly.
‘80s scream queen Linnea Quigley is the obvious standout here as she appears to be the only actor with a (partially written) character to play, whilst everyone else is either a caricature or a non-entity. Anders Jones may not be a familiar name but he is probably best known as Rick from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and he isn’t too bad here except he seems to be playing Clark Kent against Quigley’s rough-and-tough punk bad girl, and it just seems a bit odd, until it becomes a quite cute by the end.
Most of the budget seems to have gone on the imp puppet, which does the job, and the voice (provided by Michael Sonye) gives it a 1970s blaxploitation vibe that helps keep the energy levels up, but apart from the sight of a character dressed as The Bride of Frankenstein chasing annoying teens around an abandoned bowling alley, there isn’t really that much else going on that could be described as horror, and the comedy that is there is not always intentional.
Luckily, the movie is short, coming in at a lively 80 minutes, so as a bonus 101 Films have included Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 2 – the belated sequel from 2022 – on the second disc. Whether that is a bonus is open to interpretation, but it is here and it does do a decent job in recapturing the neon pink-lit look of the 1980s, although if you thought the acting was bad in the first movie it is positively award-winning compared to this one.
Playing out as more of a remake than a sequel (even down to the gratuitous shower scene), Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 2 is only an hour long and the imp (now voiced by Derek Jeremiah Reid) doesn’t appear until over halfway through, which means you have to put up with the extremely limited acting skills of the largely unknown cast, although Night of the Comet’s Kelli Maroney does appear to add a bit of genuine 1980s credibility.
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is hardly an ‘80s classic but it does play in the same end of the playground as movies like Ghoulies, Chopping Mall and Night of the Demons, and it also pairs up nicely with Alien knock-off Creepozoids (also available on Blu-ray by 101 Films) for a David DeCoteau double bill that will satisfy your need for cheap and cheerful exploitation goodness, should such a need arise. As for the sequel, it is nice to own it for the sake of completion but watch it once, marvel at how garish the colour scheme is and then forget about it, as the people involved likely have by now.
Flickering Myth Rating –Film: ★/ Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
