First things first: if you like scary movies, you’ve already seen this one. You’ve seen the basic setup in the original “The House on Sorority Row” from 1983. You’ve seen the plot in the “I Know What You Did” movies from the nineties. You’ve seen the cast members mugging their way along the bottom rung of showbiz for the past few years, from “Step Up 2: The Streets” to “The Hills.”

Despite all that, “Sorority Row” is better than you might expect. In a move that will hearten everyone who likes their horror with a little grit, Summit Entertainment released this film with an “R” rating. For years, scary movies and comedies have been trimmed down to a PG-13 to allow the largest possible audience. This generally makes them suck. How terrifying can a movie be and still be OK for 7th graders?

The films is tightly wound and moves very briskly through its paces. The death scenes are clever and the score is intense without being aggravating. No one’s going to put it in a time capsule, but it gives me some hope that there may be some directors left with the knack for making 80’s style slasher films that are scary without being torture porn.

One thing that does seem strange is that the typical “Final Girl” scenario in this film is toyed with quite a bit. In 70s and 80s horror films, everyone who is slutty or mean gets killed. One girl who has managed to remain clothed, chaste and pure-hearted
gets to stick around long enough to see the baddie get their just reward. I won’t spoil anything here, but even though that’s what I expected to see here, I’m still trying to figure out what virtue in this movie means.

Many bonus points for Carrie Fisher as the angry house mother. If you liked slasher films when they were still kind of fun, it’s a worthy matinee choice.