WS - Sorority House Massacre (Carol Frank, 1986)

To visit the IMDB page for Sorority House Massacre, click here.
This film was low budget, and wasn't very successful at the Box Office.

The film starts with really long opening credits (about 1 and a half minutes), with music over the top throughout these opening credits. The credits are written in a serif font, typical for a Slasher. The word massacre in the title 'splats' onto the screen looking like blood, which could be a sign of what is to come in the film. The camera shot during the opening credits is an establishing shot, showing the house where the majority of this opening scene is set. The camera could be a steady cam is it is wobbling noticeably. Towards the end of the credits the camera starts to zoom in on the house. Comparisons can be made between this, and the titles in 'Halloween' when the camera zooms in on the pumpkin, or the opening steady cam POV shot of the house.

Music is important in this film opening for building suspense and creating an eerie atmosphere. The music is very suspenseful, making the audiences heart rates increase: usually the aim of the sound in a Slasher film. The music also suggests that something is going to happen soon, which creates a fear within the audience. Music plays almost right through the opening scene, although the diegetic sound is heard above the music.


The house in the opening is a picturesque and large house; a good place for a killer to be able to stalk people, hide and flee from. During the credits, you can see the wind blowing the trees, which suggests presence. Shadows on the wall when the man is asleep show somebody is watching him. The high angle also suggests this and makes him look vulnerable. This could also suggest that death or pain is imminent; why else would anybody be doing it?


The film cleverly uses high angle shots to show vulnerability and to look down on characters. POV shots are probably the most common, moving down corridors as if somebody is in the building and looking for victims. The PoV shot also gets a persons perspective of what is happening, the house is dead and quiet; scary! The use of a blue tint during the opening adds fear, but could also be to show that what you are seeing is a flashback of a character and not something that is actually happening now: the blue tint could signify memory, but could also be to show danger, nightime and fear.

Below is a video that includes the opening to the film: