Full Moon promoted the hell out of the recent Blu-Ray release of Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. I don’t blame them. This is a cinematic relic which deserves to be preserved on the very best formats. You know, for historic purposes… and because of boobies. I hate to fault such an admirable sleaze flick, but it takes forever to introduce the villain: an imp who’s been trapped in a bowling trophy like a genie in a lamp.
Once the imp’s out, you’ll wish he had stayed there because the terrible puppet soaks up valuable screen time, which would have been better spent on boobies. Not that I mean to insinuate there’s a disappointing lack thereof; this movie probably would have been deemed too weird and racy for late night premium movie channels. In fact, this film’s director later made Beach Babes from Beyond, which is hands down the raciest movie I have ever seen on Skinamax.
But there is a disappointing lack of blood and gore in Sorority Babes. And for a movie that’s billed as a horror-comedy, the horror and the comedy are pretty damn weak, too. At least two of the kills involve shoving someone’s head into something off screen; one of the babes is ripped in two without spilling a single drop of blood; and somewhere along the way, the imp cartoonishly transforms another babe into the spitting image of the Bride of Frankenstein.
It all begins when a trio of nerds and a pair of freshmen girls are trapped in a bowling alley as part of a college prank. There they meet a tough-as-nails biker babe who’s ripping off the cash registers and arcade machines. Unfortunately for them, they accidentally release the imp, who offers to grant each of them a wish. As we’ve learned in countless Leprechaun and Wishmaster movies, you really must be careful what you wish for.
The nicest thing I can say about Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is it has some of the finest T&A ever committed to celluloid. Porky’s and Meatballs have nothing on this one, because those films didn’t star Linnea Quigley, Robin Stille, Brinke Stevens, and Michelle Bauer. I’m not being hyperbolic here: these are four of the best scream queens who ever lived. And although the film is reluctant to show any violence, I’m reminded of the words immortalized in Revenge of the Nerds: “We’ve got bush!”
I’ve mentioned three Animal House ripoffs because Sorority Babes aspires to be one. For reference, director David DeCoteau got his start with Roger Corman and later made some of the hardest softcore porn flicks ever produced. Later in his career, he defied convention by making the men the eye candy in his films. As one critic put it, “Although at first glance it’s not clear exactly who these films are aimed at—gay men? teenage girls? desperate housewives?—what is clear is that DeCoteau, who is actually a pretty talented filmmaker, knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Sorority Babes is what it is. I prefer it to Porky’s and Meatballs. Hell, I probably even prefer it to Revenge of the Nerds. Then again, I adore these actresses, so maybe I’m not the most objective person to review this film.
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