gwnightscream This 1982 horror film stars Laurie Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow, Pamela Holland and Daphne Zuniga. This features a group of college students, Joanne (Lapinski), Craig (Sachs), Brian (Snow) and Patti (Holland) who are helping to clean out their campus that's about to be torn down. Soon, a mysterious killer stalks and kills them one by one. This isn't a bad 80's slasher with a decent cast, some gruesome deaths and chilling score by Christopher Young as usual. Zuniga (Spaceballs, The Initiation) appears briefly as Joanne's friend, Debbie and the film is also known as "Pranks" and "Death Dorm." Fans of the genre should give this a chance.

Toronto85 A deranged killer attacks a group of students in 'The Dorm That Dripped Blood'. Five university students volunteer over the Christmas break to close up the dorm, clean up things around campus. PRetty soon we see that some maniac has the intention of killing them. He or she knocks off a couple of students (violently), and then starts playing pranks on our main group left at the campus. The psychopath destroys a huge dinner they make, cuts the phone lines, fixes the lights to shut off, etc. Very soon, the murderer starts attacking our main group leading to the identity being revealed in an interesting little ending.I thought 'The Dorm That Dripped Blood' was a good addition to 80's slashers, but didn't have the same flash that some of the other films at that time had. Production values seemed low in this one, so a lot of the film is poorly lit. The acting isn't the best ever, Laurie Lapinski was okay as the lead heroine. Daphne Zuniga, who is probably the most famous in the cast, puts in a good performance. Nothing spectacular, but nothing that took away from the film in a negative way. The scares are well done, the location of the dark dorm/campus helps in that! We get some stalking scenes with the killer and the characters which were creepy. The killer's identity is weak, but doesn't make this a bad film at all.I highly recommend 'The Dorm That Dripped Blood' to all horror fans. It is a relatively unknown slasher film that I don't believe has ever had a proper DVD release in North America. Check it out if you can! 7/10

lost-in-limbo Nothing sets it apart from the conventional textbook 80s slasher offerings, but I always thought it wasn't as terrible as it's made out to be. Sure this almost poverty row production is amateurish and crude in some aspects, but the setting is surprisingly atmospheric (a condemned college dorm soon to be torn down) and the tone remains grim to the very twisted ending. Directed in tandem by Jeffrey Obrow and Steve Carpenter (who would get better upon each following movie; "The Power" and "The Kindred"), their pacing can get become meandering due to the threadbare plot… where walking about the corridors and rooms seems to be a focal point. The plot sticks to the clichés (the crazy looking, loner weirdo red herring is shoved in our faces.. Oh no the power's out, do you know.. ) and what formulates is predictably telegraphed, despite some randomly contrived inclusions which either plays some important part in the scheme of things (a character who's sees one man's trash is another man's treasure) or is just simply there. Like the scene with the topless chick… you gotta have one of those. The leaden direction plays more upon building up an uneasy mood, where the spaced out instrumental music score ominously finds its way in. It's a humdinger. When they hack out the jolts, it's a gruesome display more often that happens off-screen with some choppy editing, plenty of leering killer POV shots or framing the shoes and blood spurting here and there. Some imagination to it (where can you see the killer plug in a drill before using it), but the cheap execution gives it that plain feeling (where the photography is grainy) however it never loses that primitive, nasty streak where it cooks up to a fittingly intense, grimacing finale. The performances are diverting by Laurie Lapinkski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow and a small, but memorable (not for her performance though) debut by Daphne Zuniga.

AngryChair College students, who are clearing out a condemned dormitory, are stalked by an elusive killer.The Dorm That Dripped Blood (aka Pranks) is a bit of a mixed bag for slasher fans. The movies production values are pretty low and the story for the most part is pretty routine, there's even a creepy bum hanging around for a red herring. In fact much of the story's build-up is pretty forgettable, save for one or two brutal murders. But the movie is really made better by its surprisingly intense climax (in an atmospheric setting) and one fairly bold, unconventional conclusion.The cast is lackluster for the most part. Stephen Sachs is the best of the lot as he does a pretty nice turn in character. Also look for a young Daphne Zuniga as an ill-fated student.Over all this is a pretty standard B slasher effort, but the finale is well worth savoring and for this viewer saved the movie from being a complete ho-hum.** out of ****