Influential feminist writer and activist Rita Mae Brown, best known for equating heterosexuality with oppression and co-authoring a series of mystery novels with her cat, wrote a screenplay called SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, about high school girls being stalked mid-sleepover by a drill-wielding maniac, satirising the stalk n slash craze in the late 70s/early 80s. Brown's precise vision for the film is not that clear as first-time director Amy Jones, best known for writing the screenplay for 'lovable' pooch movie BEETHOVEN, along with the influence of a behind the scenes team that at some point included Roger Corman, decided to retitle Brown's screenplay SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE and film it mostly straight. Thus SLUMBER PARTY's reputation as a feminist horror movie is ill deserved.
Not treating the parodic elements with any kind of conviction SLUMBER PARTY just appears kinda dumb, the only difference being that horror films which are genuinely dumb often provide funnier and more accurate (albeit inadvertant) satire than SLUMBER PARTY's confused lack of focus or drive. It's not until the climax - which features the killer wielding his drill between his legs telling his female victim "You know you want it", before the girls turn the tables on him by castrating his drill with a knife and finally killing him - that Brown's politics properly pop their head through the indifferent treatment of her material. Remove the female crew credits and SLUMBER PARTY is just another inept HALLOWEEN/BLACK CHRISTMAS cash-in.
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