Death Dorm (The Dorm that Dripped Blood, Pranks) Review!

The early eighties were the prime time for slasher films. Friday the 13th kicked it off in 1980 and then the sequels plus countless clones. Enter a whole new sub-genre of stalk/slasher movies; the college/high school slasher. Films such as Final Exam, Graduation Massacre, Slaughter High, Cheerleader Camp, etcetera. 

Death Dorm (a.k.a. Pranks, The Dorm that Dripped Bood) falls into this sub-genre nicely and has developed an infamous reputation as a video nasty in the U.K. Numerous murder scenes featuring prolonged gore effects were trimmed. Synapse Films came along and re-released the film uncut (under the title The Dorm that Dripped Blood), so all the gore is intact. Truth be told the gore is nice but it’s not plentiful and by today’s standards films have stretched and surpassed those limits of what is considered obscene. There are a couple of memorable/well done kills here including a nail spiked baseball bat to the head repeated times and a power drill to the back of the head.

Probably the most meanspirited kill has a whole family being executed, including a father, mother, and daughter. It seems the second half loses a bit of steam on the delivery. The kills become sloppy and non-gory or happen offscreen. The set ups for some of the kills are ridiculous including the infamous head drill scene. First off, it’s an electric drill and the victim, a grown man, never puts up much fight and just accepts his death! He doesn’t try to unplug the drill, lol. It’s laughable but so is the logic of all standard ‘80s slasher films in general. Another laughable death has a girl getting knocked out and thrown into an oversized industrial steam kettle/cooking pot in the colleges mess hall kitchen (this scene was used as an official poster for the film (titled Pranks), which made it look like a hokey comedy). 

Death Dorm features your typical array of grown ass adults supplementing as college kids. Everyone is leaving for the Christmas holidays at the school but a select few are staying behind  to shut down a dormitory set to be demolished. Leading the group is Joanne played by Laurie Lapinski. Laurie’s boyfriend Tim played by Robert Fredrickson (Pumpkinhead) wants her to go skiing but she is apprehensive in the relationship. 

The others shutting down the dorm with Joanne are Craig played by Stephen Sachs (Days of Our Lives, Chips), Brian played by David Snow (The Devils Harvest, The Lords of Magick) and Patti played by Pamela Holland. Debbie played by Daphne Zuniga (One Tree Hill, Melrose Place, Spaceballs) helps the group briefly before her parents come to pick her up for the holidays. The group have two weeks to get the place in order, but this will prove difficult as a killer is tormenting them and picking them off one by one.

We get your typical red herrings. In this case its John Hemmit played by Woody Roll (The Power). Hemmit is seen wandering around the deserted campus rummaging through garbage bins and standing outside windows creeping the girls out. We get bizarre characters like Bobby Lee Tremble played by Dennis Ely (Deadly Sunday) whose purpose is not clear except his pervy fascination with Joanne. Then we get fodder for gruesome kills such as the maintenance man Bill Edgar played by Jake Jones (The Power). Bill can’t seem to find his power drill, but he does eventually as its used to burrow deep into the back of his fucking head by the killer.

The twist ending was a bit of a let-down and not what I expected. The ending itself is downbeat as hell and not typical by any means. It also speaks ill of the police and the way they handle the situation at the end of the film, which is reminiscent of the ending for the 1989 slasher film Intruder. 

Death Dorm is not a classic but it’s an infamous video nasty slasher with some decent kills and a strong first half. It eventually sinks in the last half with a lack of gore, implausible scenarios, and an uninteresting killer with a dull backstory and motive. Death Dorm has got its highlights and still brings me back to the golden era of slasher films and the college/school slasher sub-genre. 

AKA:, The Dorm that Dripped Blood, Pranks, La maison de sang, Sypialnie ociekające krwią, A Mansão Ensanguentada, Крвави зидови студентског домаb Дом, где падает кровь, La mansión ensangrentada, Todestrauma

Directed by: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow
Written by: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow, Stacey Giachino
Produced by: Jeffrey Obrow
Cinematography by: Stephen Carpenter          
Editing by: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow
Music by: Christopher Young
Special Effects by: Matthew W. Mungle
Cast: Laurie Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow, Pamela Holland, Dennis Ely, Woody Roll, Daphne Zuniga, Jake Jones, Robert Fredrickson
Year: 1982
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 28min

Studio: Jeff Obrow Productions
Distributor: New Image, Synapse Films