THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW

US, 1983, 90 minutes, Colour.
Eileen Davidson, Lois Hunt, Robin Meloy.
Directed by Mark Rosman.

The House on Sonority Row is one of many multiple-killing thrillers popular in the late '70s and early '80s after Halloween and Friday the 13th. Many of these were merely exploitive sex and violence melodramas. Others were used by young writers, producers and directors for experimentation and gaining experience in film-making.

This particular film is better than the average of this kind of thriller. It focuses on a group of nurses at their graduation - eventually, of course, they are terrorised and most of them brutally killed. The film has better characterisation than usual - and audience interest is generally maintained. There is a mad landlady who is the obvious villainess. However, by some complications that are very difficult to follow, she is not the murderer - it is
her son. The heroine of course remains alive until the end to
confront him.

While an average thriller with touches of grim brutality, the film is an interesting exercise in cinematic devices for suspense and shock.