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54%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #10,053
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Five of Hollywood's leading scream queens get together in a creepy mansion and decide to get in the hot tub (as true scream queens would). They talk in the tub and exchange secrets on the do's and don'ts of being a scream queen.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: February 4, 2008
When it comes to horror parodies, no genre is quite as ripe for the picking as the old eighties slasher flicks. These were movies that relied on the time-tested "Three B's" (blood, breasts, and beasts - though a serial killer would suffice), and many a young actress made names for themselves in these movies by popping their tops and screaming at the top of their lungs. This was a time when stars were cast not by their acting abilities or previous films, but instead, simply by their bust sizes and willingness to show off some skin... and truth be told, this genre holds a special place in my heart above all of the other subgenres in the wild and wacky world of horror. This simplicity makes for a consistent movie-watching experience (if you like one of them, you'll probably like them all), and it also makes the genre an easy target for parodies. So, with that in mind, what happens when sleaze experts Fred Olen Ray and Jim Wynorski get a cast of legendary scream queens together and set out to parody the very genres that put their names on the map? Well...
The storyline, if you can call it that, begins when five of these scream queens - Brinke Stevens, Monique Gabrielle, Kelli Maroney, Michelle Bauer, and Roxanne Kernohan - are pulled together for a horror seminar of sorts. It's supposed to be a day of experienced actresses getting together and sharing tips and secrets from their trade, but when they arrive at the house where said seminar is to be held, they find that nobody is there. Undeterred, they decide to figure out what's going on by ordering a Ouija board (which comes complete with nighties for each of the ladies) and summoning spirits from the other side to get some answers. What do they discover? Well, they discover that there's a hot tub upstairs, and there, they tell stories about their work in the industry while also giving tips to the budding young actresses watching at home on such riveting topics as "how to properly perform a shower scene" and "how to do a striptease while handling a chainsaw."
Alright, first things first: this movie clocks in at just under fifty minutes, and those "stories about their work in the industry" that I mentioned are nothing more than clips from the movies that these ladies (and others) have appeared in. In fact, I'd venture to guess that more time is spent on these flashbacks that on the actual surrounding storyline and fresh material, but I have to give them credit for picking some damned fine clips to make their points. Want to see Linnea Quigley's infamous chainsaw dance from Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers? How about getting a good look at a pair of lingerie-clad women using machine guns to take down Orville Ketchum in Tower of Terror? Curious about Monique Gabrielle's softcore sex scene from Emmanuelle V? Well, the latter isn't exactly a highlight, but the rest - and the numerous similar scenes - were truly fun clips to watch once again.
Surprisingly, the parody elements that lead up to and follow these recycled clips were actually pretty funny, but this statement comes with a bit of a disclaimer: a lot of the jokes will fly right over your head if you're not familiar with this special brand of seedy slasher flicks. If you have no clue as to why these women would have to wear nighties to hold a séance (or the importance of a séance to begin with), this movie probably isn't for you. If you can't identify at least three of the five women who starred in this without resorting to looking them up on IMDb, the appeal of a film like this may be lost on you. If, however, you're an experienced veteran of these films and know how they play out, you'll probably enjoy Scream Queen Hot Tub Party as much as I did.
My only complaint about the film was that it simply wasn't long enough: I really wanted to see more clips and more lessons from these ladies. The material that was packed into those fifty minutes made for a nostalgic trip down memory lane while also providing some great laughs at the expense of the genre, and for that, I'm going with a 7/10.
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