Thursday, September 3, 2009

Major Secrets Surround Sorority Row

When five sorority girls inadvertently cause the murder of one of their sisters in a prank gone wrong, they agree to keep the matter to themselves and never speak of it again, so they can get on with their lives. This proves easier said than done, when after graduation a mysterious killer goes after the five of them and anyone who knows their secret in Sorority Row.

Don't think too hard, or at all, and Sorority Row works. The opening scene, in which an unsuspecting, cheating boyfriend gets set up by the Theta Pi sisters for the ultimate fake-out, which quickly escalates into a very real dead body, is pretty convincing. Sure, you can think, Why is there an abandoned mine shaft nearby? But don't bother. Of course, good gal Cassidy (Evigan) wants to do the right thing, whereas ringleader Jessica (Leah Pipes) is all about covering it up. Eventually, the rest of the group falls in line with J's way of thinking and the stage is set to see how far the well-off will go to stay well-off. Once the body count starts piling up, the "sisters forever" mantra starts to fall apart.

The trick with this kind of pic is keeping the audience's attention with more than just clever kills (which the film does have—hello flare gun!). Screenwriters Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger focus their attention on the dynamic hate-you, hate-you-more relationship between Cassidy and Jessica. Both actresses play their parts to the hilt, and it's great fun to watch. Evigan has grown up and has that It factor, which any would-be scream queen requires. But it's Pipes as Jessica who breaks out as the queen bee. In fact, she may have more hilarious one-liners than Rachel McAdams did in Mean Girls. Willis plays weak link Ellie with just the right amount of OMG-we're-all-gonna-die attitude that you don't want to see her get offed (yet). And Margo Harshman plays slutty gal Chugs, whose so-over-it mentality made us smile. With way-hip casting—Briana Evigan, Rumer Willis and Audrina Patridge—this splatfest is exactly the type of movie it should be. Cringe, laugh, and wonder if this is what happened to that hot sorority girl that you dated back in college. Did she really just stop calling you? This gets a 3 on my "Go See" scale.

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