Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama
It’s the midnight initiation ceremony of new pledges Taffy and Lisa to the Tri-Delta sorority, braced for what they expect will be humiliation at the hands of Babs, Rhonda and Frankie, unaware that they are also being spied on by the horny boys of the local fraternity, nerdy losers Calvin, Jimmie and Keith, caught in the act when they break in to try to get a better view and forced to participate.
Sadistic Babs deciding the final challenge, for Lisa and Taffy to break into the bowling alley and steal a trophy accompanied by the three boys, it is a trap, the mall run by her father meaning she can spy on them via the security cameras, but the true danger is elsewhere, the trophy selected harbouring a demonic spirit which is released when it is dropped, granting twisted wishes to the unwary.
His resume now over a hundred projects, among the first of director David DeCoteau was Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, written by Sergei Hasenecz and starring Brinke Stephens, Michelle Bauer, Robin Rochelle, Kathi O’Brecht and Carla Baron as the titular “sorority babes,” with Andras Jones, Hal Havins and John Stuart Wildman as the trio who qualify as slimeballs.
A film entirely absent any redeeming qualities, catering to the male gaze with Taffy and Lisa clad only in their underwear as they are spanked then squirted with whipped cream before a lingering shower scene, what is most astonishing is how tepid and stale the scenes which were presumably intended as titillation become, as dull and functional as the rest of the film.
The guys little more than poorly formed parades of hormones without personality, only The Return of the Living Dead’s Linnea Quigley maintains a shred of dignity as “Spider,” breaking into the alley at the same time as “Uncle Impie,” voiced by Dukey Flyswatter, tempts the easily led by appealing to the lowest common denominator, a plot ostensibly inspired by The Monkey’s Paw but lacking atmosphere or any sense of the cruel balancing of the scales.
The exposition of March 1956 seeming more interesting than what is on screen, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama was released in 1988 but with forgettable performances and dialogue, static camerawork throughout and a central puppet limited in its versatility and hence how it can be shot, it is a disappointing cousin to similarly situated bargain basement horrors such as Chopping Mall and Phantom of the Mall or sorority screamer The Initiation of Sarah or even, ticking both boxes, The Initiation.
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is available on Shudder now
