Three college girls, Jennifer, Vivia, and Phoebe (Joanna Johnson, Sherry Willis-Burch, and Elaine Wilkes), are pledging a sorority together and going through the normal hazing rituals, the last of which puts them in a spooky house where a pledge was killed years ago. It looks like things are going smoothly, but Jennifer is afraid they have awakened an evil presence and fears the upcoming April Foolâs party that is taking place in that same house.
The theme here is unfulfilled expectations.  Killer Party starts with undead horror at a funeral, but that turns out to be a fake, just a movie being watched by some â50s era teens. Soon, zombies attack andâŚoh wait, thatâs just a music video. Finally, the story begins, following the activities of three pledges in a sorority sex-comedy. Of course that means flesh, so frat boys show up with a jar of bees to get the naked girls to leap out of a hot tub and run around, and the girls doâŚwith towels wrapped around them. Later, one of the pledges is told to grab her ankles so she can be spanked, and thenâŚshe isnât. Sex comedies also have superficial romances which are setup in Killer Party, but then tossed aside as the film switches to Slasher mode. First there are a series of bloody killings, which are all April Fools jokes and everyone is really OK. Then the serious killing begins, and that means blood and gore. Actually, it doesnât as almost all the killings take place off screen. The Slasher story has no climax as the movie switches once again, this time to a demonic possession film, with full Exorcist-style growling and drooling.
The whole film is a very successful tease, one long April Fools joke. And if I jab myself in the hand with a fork, I will be very successful at causing myself pain. Sometimes, success isnât a good thing. Being taunted for an hour and half isnât a lot of fun. It might kill the point, but the film needed to deliver.
Looking at Killer Party as a joke (it has an alternate title of The April Fool) is the only way to explain the inappropriate, peppy â80s song which chimes in with the lyrics âThese are the best times of our life, these are the best timesâ when all thatâs left are corpses, pain, and a demon.
Not that Killer Party is a bad flick, by Slasher standards. I found nothing to complain about in the cinematography, sound, or acting. The always-funny Paul Bartel shows up as a college professor, inserting some humor into the sex comedy segment. And Joanna Johnson manages to turn some questionable material into something worth seeing (but Iâm afraid youâll have to watch to see what that is as it is late in the film).