Synopsis
Be young, stay young ... and die young.
An amnesiac sorority member who has been plagued by a recurring nightmare is stalked alongside other coeds by a killer in a deserted department store where they are completing a hazing ritual.
1984 Directed by Larry Stewart
An amnesiac sorority member who has been plagued by a recurring nightmare is stalked alongside other coeds by a killer in a deserted department store where they are completing a hazing ritual.
Blutweihe, La iniciación, Voeux sanglants, Iniciação, Vér/csapda, Кровавое посвящение, The Initiation (L'incubo), 启示, La Iniciación, Ініціація, La iniciació, Inicjacja
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Fun little slasher set in a neat location that does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s got some good kills and gore and one of the best posters of its time. Daphne Zuniga is always a win in my book.
I also love the head sorority sister because she’s just the right amount of bitch and that’s important for a character like that. She’s like Leah Pipes’s character in Sorority Row, you love her, you hate her, and you really love her. She’s also got a nice twangy accent.
Some things will always be meh.
Initiation is what happens when you're desperate to weave a dramatic arc in what is supposed to be a straightforward slasher flick. By this, I don't mean it didn't deserve a dramatic tone but it should have been put together properly.
It's the constant juggling between exploring Kelly's family dynamics and the sorority nonsense that makes it look as normal as a drunk frat boy in an army parade. You have to settle for one thing but Hollywood being Hollywood you have to keep up with the genre cliches don't you.
The only time the plot picks up and feels tensed is in the last 25 minutes but even then most things seem pretty mediocre and the basic kills didn't help the case either. I thought after watching it for over a decade might bring some change in perspective but Nah it is just like it was the first time around... meh...
College/shopping mall-slasher with lots of Delta Gamma Alpha Phi Sisterhood stuff.
Kelly has nightmares. Again and again she sees herself as a child, and surprises her mum and daddy while they‘re banging. Then she stabs Daddy and a stranger in a smoking, who burns to death in front of the fireplace! What's going on? At the same time, a brutal killer is walking around with a garden rake.
The death scenes aren't particularly well done, mostly cause and effect (hand swinging axe / cut / axe in head) or close up stabbing. But the movie gets an A for effort, because it has something special. Every soap opera fan may decipher the great mystery early on, but it's still fun. The dialogues are much wittier than many other slashers like that. And the actors are also great, especially Daphne Zuniga.
Another early 80's slasher I never saw. Not sure if my teenage self would have been in to it. Kind of doubt it. Pretty mediocre. However, the film introduced us to Daphne Zuniga (yes, I know she was in The Dorm That Dripped Blood but this is first starring role) and hey... you can never go wrong with Clu Gulager.
Arrow Video Blu-ray has decent extras. Too bad neither Daphne or Clu are interviewed.
Pretty middling slasher from the post-Friday the 13th cycle. It's mainly notable for being Daphne Zuniga's debut, at least in a lead role; she did appear as a side character in 1982's The Dorm That Dripped Blood. She acquits herself well and is a notch above the general level of acting from her fellow sorority house pledges, although she struggles to convey much sense of inner conflict, meaning what happens in the last act makes little sense, despite being rather predictable. It's predictable because writer Charles Pratt Jr is following the Hitchcock playbook (as well as the slashers Hitch influenced, like Halloween), so Freudian logic dictates Kelly's path. One of Hitchcock's favourites, Vera Miles, actually plays her mother, appropriately enough,…
Pledging a sorority has never been more painful. Creepy dolls. Weird shit. Chanting. Prank Night. A nut house. The handsome trustee. Daphne before Melrose Place. Ring-around-the-Rosie. Andy's shorts. Nightmares. Mirrors. Hack-a-Dad. Steamy showers. A Magnum P.I. poster. Party time. The Boner. Peter's hair. Hypnosis. High-tech security. The mall from Dawn of the Dead. The Bold and Beautiful Rollergirl. A teeter-totter. The Elevator Axe of Death. Robin Hood's arrow. Shitty masks. An awkward dinner. The worst time to take a piss. The Intercom Scream of Doom. Ralph's hat. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. A hurtful hug. Double Vision. The smokin' gun. The fuckin' truth. Unique with above average kills. The final act at the shopping mall was creative and a lot of fun. Daphne Zuniga is good in the lead and I can easily recommend this for fans of Slashers.
"His name is Todd, just tell him you're a friend of mine." - Megan, trying to trick a Todd.
- Daily Horror Hunt 15 (Sept 2019): boxd.it/3JrCO
Clue 10: Watch a Clu Galagher film
Everything pornography taught you about sorority initiations was wrong!
In the initiation a group of sorority girls are forced to break into a store as part of their prank for orientation. Once in the building they become stuck and have to fight off an evil menace. You wait a damn hour for them to get to the store and then it's not even that interesting. None of the characters are developed and the pacing is way too slow for the concept. Not a recommend.
Solid slasher set in one of my fav locations a MALL! Throw in recurring nightmares, burn victims, tits, hot chicks on rollerskates, sorority houses, nerds trying to get laid, mirror magic, Daphne Zuniga, and Clu Gulager and you have a good time! Great ending shame everything leading up to the mall hijinx is such a slog, they really needed to get to the mall setting quicker but once they get there the bodies start to hit the floor with some gory kills even if they are lacking somewhat in creativity. Not a top-tier slasher or a particularly good mall movie either just about serviceable. Maybe they should have just let the robots from CHOPPING MALL loose on the entire cast instead.
That sense of joining a tribe. I have been remiss in my Letterboxd activity this past week. There is always a conscious effort to read and - if not completely offended by the view expressed - like the complete output of the merry band I follow on here (to the point where I'm concerned my participation is bloating your activity log - a source of anxiety), but with Fall in the air, it has become an uphill battle. Efforts are being made to get on top things - but I felt the need to apologize. Fortunately the social routine turmoil overshare segues nicely into frat horror...
A sorority initiation sees a number of young women locked in a mall with…
SLASHICS #27
60
“Dammit, Alison, I just peed all over my leg!”
Average slasher with fun characters and fun kills. Did I mention I’m really missing my Blu-ray collection? Cause I’m getting really tired of having to watch all of these on YouTube and streaming sites. 😒 Happy 4th of July if that’s your thing, guys. We’re doing fireworks at home and eating burgers, cause that’s the way to do it.
“I suggest you take two aspirin and go to bed.”
“With who?”
Fire and burn scars, boobies and blood. Cozy little sorority slasher that tries to be funny, tense and clever, never really achieves any of that, but it doesn't matter, because its '80s atmosphere is forgiving and just as familiar as Daphne Zuniga's face. Mirrors are important for the story, location for the horror. The final act takes place in a big mall and that's a wonderful playground no matter what. The kills lack a bit of creativity, but there's something with a harpoon gun, so I shouldn't complain. A nice filler. With a wall worthy poster.
There is an abundance of films with kids grabbing a knife after seeing parents shagging.
Be warned its not just teenagers that get offed for fucking, kids will cut you up too parents!
Anyway does she have amnesia? Have they loony binned the Da just because he walked in on his wife bouncing about with his workmate? Pretty brushed under the carpet activities that only a trip to the Mall can sort out.
Its alright.