Review by David Paul Hellings
@HellingsOnFilm
“Marking TV star Daphne Zuniga’s debut in a leading role, The Initiation ranks amongst the finest of the college-based stalk-and-slash flicks – now finally restored in glorious High-Definition!
Kelly’s new sorority has a special initiation ritual in store for her – an after-hours break-in of her father’s department store. But what begins as a night of harmless college fun turns sour when, once inside the enormous mall, Kelly and her fellow pledges find themselves locked in for the night… with a deadly intruder stalking the corridors.
Arriving in 1984, The Initiation might have been late to the slasher party, but, alongside the likes of The House on Sorority Row and The Mutilator, it remains one of the stronger entries to emerge in the latter days of the slice-and-dice boom”.
– via Fetch Publicity
Review:
Slashers were plentiful in the early 80s, and sorority films especially popular, easily grabbing the video market’s male audience. Director Larry Stewart’s slasher may have been ‘late to the party’, but it’s still an effective, fun watch with more than a nod towards the Argento classic “Suspiria”, and remains a worthy member of anybody’s sorority horror collection.
It’s a surprisingly good cast including legends Vera Miles (“Psycho”) and an underused Clu Gulager (“The Killers”, “Return of the Living Dead”); plus it’s another reminder that girls at every American high school seem to hate each other, the supporting cast presenting a fine ensemble of general meanness.
Stewart’s film is smartly paced and makes perfect use of excellent locations to deliver a film that’s well worth your time. It’s often an overlooked piece, coming towards the end of the early-eighties horror revival, where low-budget filmmakers were already scraping around to find a market for their quickly made products.
If “The Initiation” hadn’t been released immediately after “A Nightmare On Elm Street”, it would have been in with a bigger shout at a larger slice of the horror box office, but Craven’s hit outshone it and everything else around it and was largely responsible for the final nail in the coffin of the low budget ‘nasty’ and helped usher in studio-made horror for teens and the family (an area he’d push further with ever decreasing results in his “Scream” franchise).
Larry Stewart’s film is one of the last hurrahs of the classic slasher period of filmmaking, launching Daphne Zuniga in the process. It’s aiming to do something fresh and it often succeeds, while still retaining the raw quality of the genre. “The Initiation” has that nasty girls hierarchy we’ve come to expect with high school movies, but happily (spoiler) the same nasty ends we’ve come to expect from sorority horror films. Good fun for fans.
This is a strong, natural restoration, excellent in image, colour and sound.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new restoration from original film elements
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary by The Hysteria Continues
Brand new interview with actor Christopher Bradley
Brand new interview with actress Joy Jones
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn
First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic James Oliver
Release Date: 07/11/16
Region: AB/2
Duration: 97 minutes
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: Mono
Discs: 2 (BD/DVD)
Colour
UK Cat No: FCD1382
UK Barcode: 5027035015507
RRP: £19.99
Directed by: Larry Stewart
Starring: Vera Miles, Clu Gulager, Daphne Zuniga
