***A rockabilly driller-killer menaces Crystal Bernard & friends***

Courtney (Crystal Bernard) is a survivor of the first film and is now in an all-girl rock band in high school in Los Angeles. On a weekend getaway, they venture to a condo outside of town to practice & party with a few invited guys. Unfortunately Courtney is haunted by the past, suffering post-traumatic neurosis marked by a rockabilly driller killer in her nightmares.

“Slumber Party Massacre II” (1987) improves upon the unimaginative bluntness of the first film (1982) with a superior cast of females, highlighted by winsome Bernard and blonde Heidi Kozak as Sally. Juliette Cummins is also on hand as redhead Sheila, who previously appeared in “Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning” (1985) and “Psycho III” (1986).

The film clicks with kinetic mojo and is almost ingenious in the way it dares to sneer at horror conventions for the first two-thirds. Instead, it focuses on establishing the quality characters, the fun antics of their outing and Courtney’s bloody nightmares, the latter of which borrows from “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984).

Like “Friday the 13th Part V,” the movie emphasizes the lingering negative aftereffects of an episode with a mad killer. The driller killer from Courtney’s nightmares is curiously part rockabilly greaser and part mid-80’s metal maniac; naturally a little reminiscent of the rock star killer from “Trick or Treat” (1986), Sammi Curr, but less dead serious and more comical.

I suppose some of the editing in the suspenseful last act could be chalked up to amateurish filmmaking (e.g. when the girl falls from the ledge), but perhaps it better reflects what’s really happening. I’d say more but I don’t want to give away spoilers. Let’s just say 2 + 2 = 4. This original element was borrowed by later flicks.

The film is short and sweet at 1 hour, 17 minutes; it was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B