ROGER CORMAN and CHEESE part XVIII: "Slumber Party Massacre II" and Red Baron Brick Oven Supreme

"Wildly Original" is never a phrase that's given to a movie produced by Roger Corman, and that's okay (and kinda the point); the movies that were funded and/or released through his companies were built on familiarity. "Sure bets." Genre pictures designed/disguised as homages, spinoffs, and sometimes legitimate remakes. He'd produce half a dozen Women's Prison Pictures that were all basically the same, but on paper had nothing to do with each other. So whenever he initiated an honest-to-god sequel, you knew it was special. 

Then again, the idea of a "sequel" was, in and of itself, an homage to the 80s Slasher wave. That wave included 1982's The Slumber Party Massacre, which earned Corman & Co. $3.6 million (on a $220,000 budget). And since there was nothing passé about tacking a numeral onto the end of a recycled title, why not drill the same hole? Slumber Party Massacre II was conceived, advertised, sold, written, shot, and released in 1987 (and in that order). Per usual, apart from the supposed Roger Corman "mandates" (nudity/violence) Roger gave free creative reign to writer/director Deborah Brock, and hot damn! did she take advantage of that freedom. The first movie was a generalized satire of Slashers and the assigned gender roles in Horror - campy, but still aimed to scare. Nothing is "generalized" about the satire here: this is a full-blown Comedy Horror Musical (in that order) that pulls way less from Halloween and way more from Elm Street, while still being its own thing entirely. Slasher Flicks typically have long lulls of nothing as a phony means of creating "suspense" -- in place of that, this movie has original songs performed on camera by the whole cast. Even without comparing it to any other movie or category, it has a reckless energy that actually almost feels experimental. When we hear "1980s Cult VHS Exploitation" we're only ever hoping for something exactly like this. 

Also, whenever we hear "frozen pizza" we're really hoping for something like Red Baron - it's basically the standard that all the others have to live up to. And sometimes it's just too damn stressful to "fuck around and find out" and just stick to what you already know best - and this is best. Actually, this specific variety of toppings is new to us, but with a name like Red Baron Supreme, how could one go wrong? Obviously in 'za terms, "Supreme" just means lotsa stuff on it, and in this case is means sausage, green & red peppers, pepperoni, and onions. It's a true testament to its quality that none of these ingredients actually compromise the pizza in any way, but instead they magnify it. By some miracle of culinary arts & sciences, the peppers and onions on this frozen ass pizza taste completely fresh -- some wizardry that most definitely utilized some not-so-fresh methods to create that illusion. Whatever, this activity was never about nutrition, it's about total sensory gratification, and all those requirements were met. 

The Movie: A

The Pizza: A