Sisters Of Death

JUNE 19, 2007

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: DVD (BUDGET PACK!!!)

None of the transfers on my budget pack look better than a duped VHS tape, and by now I am pretty used to it. But Sisters Of Death was seemingly transferred with a special sort of blur filter that allows the film to look OK enough but to render the credits entirely unreadable:

That’s not even the worst one. Another one, swear to Jebus, just looks like a red line made with Microsoft Paint.

The movie itself is a decent enough piece of 70’s cheese. We have a lame cult (the full on blue robed girls are initiated by ‘surviving’ a round of Russian Roulette, yet when one actually dies, they seemingly disband and become sorority girls?) reuniting under mysterious circumstances, as they are all invited Ten Little Indians style to some mansion in the middle of nowhere. But the movie blows it’s wad by not only revealing who is behind the invites, but also WHY, like 20 minutes in. It’s the dad of the girl who got killed. He thinks one of them killed her on purpose. Also along for the ride are two typically 70s guys, one of whom is played by Nat from the Peach Pit. Instead of his usual credited name of Joe E. Tata, he is simply Joe Tata, playing a character titled Joe, who everyone calls Joey. Has your head exploded? Mine has.

Because of the blurry credits, I cannot discern who composed this masterpiece (nor is it listed on the IMDb), so perhaps it IS Harry Manfredini composing the film, but if not, he ripped him off blind when he composed the Friday the 13^th score a few years later. It’s almost identical. Like, Bloody Birthday identical.

While you’re on the subject, I’d like to point out that this film would probably work better as a solely audible experience. The music is great, and the sound editing is something of a national treasure. Scenes of our 5 heroines talking at an equal level, overlapping one another, result in what may be considered virtual schizophrenia. There’s also a hefty dose of inane dialogue. At one point, the grieving father delivers this haunting bit: “And then you calmly watched while her head, her beautiful head, was broken into a hundred fragments!” There’s also a yoga-y type guru who offers what sounds more like a riddle than any sort of meaningful advice: “There is no true anywhere; the true is nowhere to be seen. If you think that you have seen seen the true, then your seeing is not a true one.” Deep, man... DEEP.

The audio track more than makes up for the inept picture. Clearly the cameraman, DP, etc were more interesting in being 70s than paying the fuck attention. Because, much like the credits, the picture leaves much to be desired. Some examples:

Hey there Mike!

Where the fuck are our heads?

But nothing compares to this unintentionally hilarious bit of editing. There’s an electric fence around the mansion, keeping them from escaping. Joey is being chased and he runs into it, electrocuting himself to death. We then immediately cut to another character, who yells “Joey found a power source!” Hahahahaha, oh man, it’s fucking beautiful.

What say you?