The original Slumber Party Massacre came out in 1982 and is considered a cult classic. Grossing over $3 million at the box office, the film series would go on to spawn two sequels. While the sequels did good numbers, they never achieved the level of success the first film did. We sit down with the brilliant mind behind the ‘Slumber Party Massacre’ remake, director Danishka Esterhazy. In this interview we find out how she made this her own movie while also honoring the first film and its filmmakers.
GVN : What are your thoughts on the original Slumber Party Massacre?
DE: Yeah, well, that’s a good question. I have a complex relationship with the original Slumber Party Massacre trilogy. I both love them and also feel disappointed by them. They’re a really important franchise. They are the first slasher films to be written and directed by women. But they’re also films of their era. So, they’re a film that didn’t necessarily empower the women, writers and directors who made them. They faced a lot of very strict rules about what they had to deliver in those films. So, the films don’t necessarily reflect the vision of the storytellers. I think one of the things that really excited me about the chance to make this film is to really kind of honor the intentions of the original filmmakers, and then maybe go a little farther than they had the opportunity to go.
GVN: Great. I really like how there was like a gender flip, which I think was really brilliant. And I was wondering, was it fun to kind of turn the tables on the guys and have them be kind of scantily clad for once?
DE: It was fun (laughs), but it was also very awkward. We had to have a lot of conversations together with the actors. I explained what I was trying to do. And they honestly, were so amazing, and brave and committed. The entire cast understood the mission and really committed 100% to telling the story and flipping the tables. I made sure that all the actresses watched the original films, and I showed lots of clips from other various slasher films. I did this to give them the sense of how the camera objectified women in so many of these films, and what the tools were that allowed for that objectification. And, I would say to them, “I’m going to treat you that way with the camera. We’re doing it for fun but also, we’re doing it to make a point. So, it’s still probably gonna feel pretty, pretty weird”. But we made sure everybody felt safe, and everybody was valued on set. But I think everybody had a lot of fun. It was, because we’ve talked it through so much in advance, we felt like they were in on the joke.
GVN: Okay, great. That seems to perfectly lead into my next question which is, the movie has a lot of great meta-humor, and it subverts gender roles. Was this something that intrigued you or brought you on to want to do this project?
DE: Absolutely. What an amazing feast this film gives to a filmmaker. To look at those original movies and to be able to play with that imagery and also have a conversation with the audience about these shared films that we all understand and enjoy. But also, to be able to call back to specific moments and specific themes and the specific angles and composition. It was a rich smorgasbord of ideas and completely new ideas, like I wanted to do like a horror gender swap. I don’t think it would have been nearly so rich without pulling on this history of the films.
GVN: I think it was really fun to see all the nods to the sequels and other 80’s horror movies. Would you say you enjoyed doing peppering in these little easter eggs?
DE: Well, I love putting easter eggs in films, because as a fan, I respond to them and enjoy them so much. Whether it was a piece of costume, prop or recreating a shot with the same lens. I knew that there would be people who had never seen the original films. So, I wanted to make sure that the film was still enjoyable to someone who didn’t have that shared history. But I really, really wanted to leave gifts for the fans who know the original film well. I tried to make some of them really obvious and in your face, and some of them a lot more subtle that maybe people don’t see on the first viewing. There’s a real range in how subtle those easter eggs are.
GVN: Excellent! So, what are you working on next?
DE: I’m right now I’m in Newfoundland, Canada for a new TV series for SyFy. It’s called Astrid and the Lilly Save the World. It’s about young women who fight monsters, and it’s pretty cool. It should be out next year.
GVN: Great. Thanks so much for chatting!
Slumber Party Massacre (2021) Premiers on SyFy Channel tonight at 9pm EST
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Big film nerd and TCM Obsessed. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema from Schiffer Publishing. Resume includes: AMC’s The Bite, Scream Magazine etc. Love all kinds of movies and television and have interviewed a wide range of actors, writers, producers and directors. I currently am a regular co-host on the podcast The Humanoids from the Deep Dive and have a second book in the works from Bear Manor.