Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Leofwine_draca A piece of dirt slasher film, lacking even that elementary 'veneer' or level of polish which makes it look like a sophisticated film. Instead this looks like just what it is, a cheap-as-chips slasher effort with a routine plot, no memorable twists or surprises, and some shoddy gore effects thrown in during a desperate attempt to entertain the horror crowd. God, if only this cheesy film wasn't so boring, it might even have been kind of fun, as we watch an unknown killer going around bumping off various uninteresting characters for the duration of the film. In fact, the only imagination here comes from the variety of the weapons wielded by the psycho, ranging from an electric drill to a garrote, an axe, a knife, a car, and even a deep fat frier. Sadly either the rather poor gore effects are nevertheless cut by those butchers at the BBFC, making the Vipco re-release an almost pointless exercise.The cast is a bunch of unknowns who act like amateurs, and as is usual for these affairs, the only person of note is the lead. Here it's the slim and pretty Daphne Zuniga (THE FLY II), appearing in her first motion picture, if you can call it that. She's marginally less annoying than most scream queens you'll have the opportunity of seeing if you're a horror fan. Amusing supporting characters include a bonehead jock, a weirdo-type with frizzy hair, a strange guy who would rather hunt around in a skip than watch his wife strip off her nightie, and some typically dumb cops.Although the run time is only eighty minutes, it seems like an age as the murders are spaced out too far and nothing happens in between. Most of it takes place in the dark in depressing locations, but the similarities with the horrific MANIAC end there. Instead this is dull and derivative through and through, not worth watching even for those with a penchant for this kind of cinema. Watch it only for the amusing hand-slicing-via-knife nightmare opening shot.

Mr_Ectoplasma "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" follows a group of four college coeds who are staying behind on campus to help clean out an old dormitory hall that is scheduled to be demolished. As is par for the course, an unseen killer is lurking around with an arsenal of weapons— a drill gun and a spiked bat, to name a couple. Is it a local squatter wreaking havoc? Or someone else?Also released as "Pranks" and "Death Dorm" in the '80s, "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" is one of the darker entries in the genre, and has been something of a lost film for decades now. It was infamously chopped up by censors, and even the restored Blu-ray edition, which is the most complete version of the film to date, is sourced from secondary materials. While the film's rocky release history adds to the allure of the picture, what we have here is actually a solid slasher flick that is dripping with atmosphere; the cold, foreboding concrete dormitory setting lends the film one of its greatest strengths, as the killer lurks in the shadowy stairwells, atop the roof, and in the cavernous basement. The film was written and directed by UCLA students Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter (Carpenter is behind the popular television series "Grimm" these days), and the direction is stylish and gritty, while the script makes some creative spins on slasher conventions; we don't have your typical villain walking around with a butcher knife here. The industrial theme of the killer's murder weapons seems to take influence from "The Toolbox Murders", and the film is also rather similar to that one in terms of tone as well— both are darker and more abrasive than the average slasher fare. Unlike some of the more visually polished campus slashers of the era ("The House on Sorority Row" and "Final Exam" come to mind), "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" tends to trade gloss and comic relief for a general mirthlessness. The cast is made up of unknowns, most of whom were probably fellow film students of Obrow and Carpenter, though it does feature Daphne Zuniga in her debut screen role— Zuniga, who later became famous on "Melrose Place", would star in the sorority slasher flick "The Initiation" in 1984, though I think "Dorm" is the better film in her slasher repertoire. The twist in the film's finale is overshadowed by its remarkably downbeat ending, which was a daring yet admirable move on part of the filmmakers. The special effects here are also impressive given the film's shoestring budget, and the the killer's brutal use of the spiked baseball bat has a disturbing and effective presence on screen.Overall, "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" is an oddball among its campus slasher peers of the 1980s, but not really for bad reasons. It's conventional in the way that it's framed, but surprisingly unconventional in the tone of its contents— it's a dark and unsettling slasher film that betrays and provokes its audience with a unique sort of success. The lack of big-budget polish really works in the film's favor, providing additional atmosphere and foreboding. Highlights: Daphne Zuniga's dad getting bludgeoned with a spiked bat in the dormitory stairwell, and everything about the demoralizing conclusion. Oh, and did I mention the pressure cooker? 8/10.

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 ****

slayrrr666 "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" is a more than acceptable slasher entry.**SPOILERS**Attending a college party, Joanne Murray, (Laura Lapinski) Debbie, (Daphne Zuniga) Patti, (Pamela Holland) Brian, (David Snow) and Craig, (Stephen Sachs) overhear from her boyfriend Tim, (Robert Frederick) that the dorm is being demolished. Volunteering to stay behind over Christmas break to remove items inside and make it suitable for demolishing, they soon get to work and are able to get the work started. Hearing strange noises around, they each go off in search of the source, and find handyman John Hemmit, (Woody Roll) is still on campus. As the noises continue and the group soon starts to mysteriously disappear. As the group begins to notice the disappearances, they finally realize that a psychotic killer is in the school and is targeting them, forcing the survivors to band together to get through the night.The Good News: While not a perfect slasher, this is still a very enjoyable one. Perhaps it's best attribute is that it manages to do what most others think is a lock but rarely achieve, the perfect setting for the slaughter. Being inside a building slated for demolition ensures that the victims will be completely isolated since it's going to be marked off anyway, and thus providing insurance against those trying to help out. The place itself is quite a perfect setting, as the place really looks like it's condemned and able to be torn down and makes it all the more believable. The long, extremely dark corridors provide tons of areas to trap people in, chase them around or keeping their corpse around without fear of discovery yet come across as being part of the design of the place, not merely because of anything on the killer's part. There's some great stalking going on as well, with some pretty chilling scenes popping up here and there. The dorm kill is absolutely chilling, the scene in the bathroom has a macabre sense of chills and once the lights go out, it's simply packed with suspense. The entire final chase through the pipes and darkened hallways is completely suspenseful, and manages to come away with a large amount of tension. There's a real sense of urgency through the scenes, coming up with some great, innovative scenes here that are creative and quite necessary under the situation and make it all the more fun. There's even some pretty juicy kills in here. There's a razor-wire strangulation, a head crushed when a car drives over it, a hole bored in the back of the head with an electric drill, a spiked baseball bat bashed into the forehead, a hand split open from a machete and being dunked into a boiling vat of water among more that really helps this along. There all quite brutal and manage to get a jolt out. The film's last great quality is it's spectacular ending. It's one of the best twists in the genre, coming out of nowhere and being completely shocking as well, which is then upped all the more from the fact that even after that, there's a second series of twists that comes out which is such a departure from the others out there that it just makes it all the better and more fun. Overall, this is a highly impressive slasher effort.The Bad News: There isn't a whole lot here that doesn't work. One of the main things is that there's a really long portion in the beginning of the film before it really gets going. There's way too many senseless point-of-view shots that don't mean anything to the long, stalking scenes that are thrown in for no reason at all and don't even conclude in a false scare. These, along with the scenes of them running around doing their work or with each other that really make the beginning a little longer than normal. It's also quite a stretch to believe that so many of them would be so clueless about what's really going on. It takes place over several days, and the ones that are knocked off early are made to seem like they just dropped off the face of the earth, and these are then dismissed out-of-hand and forgotten about instead of causing cause for concern, especially as it grows later in the film. The last really big flaw is that the revelation of the killer and their motives is a little tough to swallow. They're not all that bad, and the reveal is a nice shock, but the fact that it's who it's revealed to be and the reasoning behind it don't really make any sense. That's the main problem with that one. These are pretty obvious ones, and while they may not be really relevant, they are important from keeping this from a classic slasher.The Final Verdict: While not all that bad, it's few minor flaws manage to keep this one out of the greats of the slasher genre. It's still a really entertaining entry, and that in itself should enable slasher aficionados to seek this one out, as it's a really enjoyable, but those seeking a definitive slasher should look elsewhere.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and Brief Nudity