Following the exploits of a pair of pledges on initiation night, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama is a ridiculous good time. The the sorority hopefuls are teamed up with a trio of horny guys and tasked with breaking in to a mall bowling alley to steal a trophy. While there, the group unknowingly sets free an ancient imp that offers them the desires of their heart but then traps them in the mall and tries to kill them.
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama is a classic, although often overlooked, exploitation, horror film. It is full of sex and nudity that is completely irrelevant to the plot but that’s what makes it so memorable all these years later.
Like a lot of films of its kind, the acting is not great; Linnea Quigley’s performance as Spider is the only one that isn’t gag inducing. However, one does not watch a film called Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama looking for meaning, depth, or inspired performances. Sorority Babes knows its audience and panders to it. There is a scene where the pledges are spanked for disobedience, sprayed with whipped cream, and then told to take a shower to clean off.
Horror fans will be pleased to see Brinke Stevens (in all of her glory) as one of the pledges. Stevens doesn’t demonstrate a lot of acting chops in the film but since she spends most of her screen time nude, one might argue that she doesn’t really need to turn in a masterful performance. Another showing worthy of mention is Hal Havins as Jimmie; horror enthusiasts will recognize him as Stooge from Night of the Demons. Havins pretty much plays the same role in this as he did in Night of the Demons but he is enjoyable and a welcome addition, nonetheless.
As is the case with a lot of low-budget films, the biggest problem with Sorority Babes is the lighting; there are some scenes that are so dark it’s difficult to make out exactly what’s going on. The film got a re-release from Full Moon Features (Puppet Master Series) a few years ago but it doesn’t appear that the distributor did anything to enhance the visibility or clean up the picture. While it was great to see Sorority Babes get reissued at a reasonable price (it was previously out of print and commanding a King’s ransom on Amazon) it would have been nice to see Full Moon put a little more effort in to improving the quality like we have seen Scream Factory and Synapse do with reissues in the past.
The film has a relatively short running time – it’s roughly an hour an fifteen minutes in total – but it makes effective use of every sleazy minute. Once the film starts, there’s no downtime: Almost every second offers some kind of sex, nudity, or death related theme. This picture embraces its grindhouse nature and never shies away from being as exploitative as possible.
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama is a classic grindhouse sleaze fest and a must see for any horror or exploitation fan that hasn’t had the chance to check it out. The film is exactly what you would expect it to be from the title.
