I know what you’re thinking: didn’t you just review this movie, Wil Forbis? Incorrect, mein Freund. I recently reviewed “Initiation,” a 2020 slasher with heavy themes. This is “The Initiation,” a 1984 slasher featuring Vera Miles of “Psycho” fame.
Got it?
And how was it? An absolute blast! Just when you think 80s horror has been wrung dry, you find another lost classic.
It has a bonkers beginning. A young girl finds her mother having sex with her father. The girl stabs her father with scissors, then another man comes in and, after a struggle, is set on fire. Then—bam!—the scene shifts, and a twenty-something college girl wakes from her bad dream into a kind of occult sorority initiation. There are lots of girls in négligées holding candles (and, in true 80s fashion, several of these “sorority“ girls look to be in their mid-thirties.)
The story goes from there, involving patients escaping from an asylum and a serial killer stalking people through a shopping mall. There’s also plenty of the Freudian mumbo jumbo about the killer’s motives that I love in these films.
“The Initiation” is pretty funny, too. One visual gag involves a character dressed up as a giant penis for a frat party; it’s an image I’ll never be able to un-see.
I also liked this bit of dialogue between a psychiatrist and a slutty sorority sister.
“I suggest you take two aspirin and go right to bed.”
“With who?”
The main character is played by Daphne Zuniga, who was a bit of a celebrity crush of mine back in the day. She also starred in “The Fly II” and “Spaceballs” but made her bread and butter in the prime-time soap opera “Melrose Place.”
The twist at the end is a well-worn trope, but effective. I did not see the killer’s identity coming.
I hadn’t heard of the film, but it was an absolute blast of 80s horror goodness. Highly recommended.
