Sorority Row (R, 2009)

A remake of the obscure 1983 horror film House on Sorority Row, SORORITY ROW stands out mainly for the cynicism involved -- and not just that of filmmakers who are commercially peddling unoriginal gore-horror leftovers and party-hearty school imagery to impressionable young moviegoers. The movie's campus-bound characters are particularly nasty and practically deserve to be slain (the murderer basically says so at the end), and what little entertainment value to be found here lies in the film's satirical touches -- tongue-in-cheek dialogue (especially from Jessica) that emphasizes what awful people these are and actresses willing to take their bitchy sorority personas way over the top.

Still, the bulk of the movie is just cruel sadism and violent death, not comedy, and it seems to take forever to get to the uninteresting revelation of the slasher's true identity. The usual clichés of violent attacks and characters wandering in darkened basements aren't made any easier by wobbly, dim, hand-held camerawork -- it's as though the onscreen binge-drunkenness spilled over onto the cinematography crew.