Sorority pledge Kelly Fairchild has problems. Not only is she plagued by
a recurring nightmare in which she stabs her father, but sorority bitch
Megan is jealous of Kelly’s father’s wealth and therefore continuously
gets on her back.
Every year the sorority sisters of Delta Ro Kai set a final task for their
pledges, if they achieve the task they become members.
This year as a way of causing trouble for Kelly, Megan decides that the
task will be for Kelly and her fellow pledges to steal the keys to Kelly’s
father’s mall, sneak in and only leave when they have managed to steal the
nightwatchman’s uniform.
At first the task seems easy, but with Megan and a group of boys sneaking
in to scare Kelly and the girls it’s gonna be tough! Especially as a
psycho killer is in the building with them.
I first saw this on cable in the early ‘s and have never forgotten it.
After years of searching for it I was finally able to see it again and it
was just as great as I remembered.
The first minutes are all about setting up the story whilst giving
enough intrigue and thrills to build tension. The remaining minutes
however are all out fun and gore, with a bunch of horny teens trapped in a
mall in the dark, with a knife wielding, axe swinging, crossbow firing
killer.
Director Larry Stewart uses the mall setting to his every advantage. He
makes the lights go out, elevator doors open and close on their own, and
further unsettles the viewer by focusing on freakish window displays,
which we expect will have a killer lurking amongst them.
The mall is an obvious location for teenage girls to shop till they
drop…..DEAD and therefore I can’t believe it hadn’t and hasn’t been used
more (with the exceptions of ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Chopping Mall’ and
‘Phantom of the Mall’).
This film has stayed with me due to it’s creepy, cold atmosphere, a great
killer who remains off screen and has a great revelation (I did figure it
out, but I probably remembered from years ago) a decent score and an
appearance by genre vets Vera Miles and Clu Gulager.
OVERALL SUMMARY
A really good and fun slasher film. Perhaps it scared me so much because
I personally work nights in a shopping centre and know just how scary it
can be in a dark, empty, echoing back corridor late at night.
