All Ya Need Is the '80s

Ah, the 1980s era slasher. A time when going to college meant surrendering yourself to the queen bee sorority head, being pretty came with your very own stalker, and amnesia was as ubiquitous as the iPhone.

Quick Plot: Kelly Fairchild (Princess Vespa herself, Daphne Zuniga) is a wealthy freshman tormented by a recurring nightmare and the process of pledging the typical rich bitch sorority inherent in any college-set slasher of the 1980s. A few extra credit sessions with a handsome psychology professor and his awesomely nerdy assistant help to establish that Kelly’s ‘dreams’ are most likely buried memories long covered by amnesia. 

Did I mention the awesomely nerdy assistant?

A quickie side note gives us a wacky insane asylum (as opposed to the un-wacky ones generally found in this genre) where a rachet-y nurse is brutally murdered by a batch of escaped inmates welding a small garden hoe to far better effect than anything done in Santa Claws. More garden hoe homicides lead back into Kelly’s town just in time for the grand climax that conveniently involves freshmen pledges and their beaus spending the night inside a shopping mall.

Let’s make a checklist:

-foggy dream sequence

-lots of cuts to creepy dolls

-amnesia

-mental institution

-shopping mall

-Clu Gulager

-more cuts to creepy dolls

-sorority hazing

Yes folks, this is an ‘80s slasher complete with a gloriously nonsensical twist ending that succeeds at shocking then can’t be bothered to explain itself. Along the way, there’s a strategically placed Tom Selleck Tiger Beat poster, a frat boy bravely sporting shorts far shorter than any of coed's, and a heartfelt confession from the token 'virgin' about how she was sexually abused by her music teacher when she was 12. Naturally, said moment of drama is followed by our plucky supporting character sleeping with the movie's token joke guy, thus surrendering her chances of surviving to the final reel.

In other words, we've got everything we need right here.

High Points

While none of the characters are breaking any new ground, Zuniga and pals are genuinely likable, making us care a little more than we typically would for such a fluffy slasher

Low Points

An ending as wacky as The Initiation’s deserves a proper denouement, sadly lacking here

Lessons Learned

If a woman is turned on in bed, she's insincere

The suppressed desires of your average college student circa 1984 include ballerinas, cowboys, showgirls, construction workers, surgeons, penises, KISS, and mimes

Like beheadings, scenes involving hypnosis are always funny

Look! It’s...

Soap opera queen Hunter Tylo sporting a different screen name (Deborah Morehart) and blond bob as a nymphomaniac pledge who hates bras and loves roller skates

Rent/Bury/Buy

As a breezy Netflix Instant Watch, The Initiation is a goofy good time. The cast is attractive and sometimes naked, the kills are rote but done with some care, and the story packs enough moments of silliness that you can't help but smile. This isn't a classic of its time or even a piece of cheese with, say, Chopping Mall qualities, but when you're looking for a fun scoop of fluff, it works.