The Dorm That Dripped Blood
Encyclopedia
The Dorm That Dripped Blood is a 1982 American horror movie, directed by Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow
, and written by Carpenter and Stacey Giachino. The movie is a slasher film
that stars Laura Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow and Pamela Holland as four college students who are clearing out a dormitory
which is due for demolition
. In the course of their work they are stalked by an unknown assailant
who uses various industrial tools to dispatch his victims.
After helping them, Debbie's parents arrive in the evening and wait for Debbie (who is searching for Joanne's inventory list). Her father gets impatient and leaves the car to find her, only to be murdered with a spiked baseball bat by an unseen killer. Her mother is then strangled in the car with thin wire. Debbie finds them dead, and faints in horror. The killer moves her body and drives over her head and squashing it. He then dumps all the bodies in the car and drives off.
The next day, Patty sees a weird guy hanging out by the dumpsters, John Hemmit, who is not supposed to be at the dorm. Later that day, the caretaker Bill complains that one of his drills has been stolen, while Joanne muses that it was John. Joanne then meets Bobby Lee Tremble, a local salesman who is purchasing some of the tables from the dorm. Not long after, Bill is killed in the toilets with the stolen drill. Craig and Bryan see John walking by the dorm and try to warn him away. The group play pool in the evening but Patty sees John peering it at them through a window and freaks out. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, the group decide to search for him around the building, but are unsuccessful in finding him.
The group prepare dinner, when Craig notices some of the food is missing and he sees John fleeing. While the group search again for him, the killer smashes up their dinner with the spiked bat. Returning and seeing the carnage, they call the police and report John. Later that night, Joanne hears footsteps on the roof of the dorm and calls the others to her room when the power cuts out. On his way to the room, Bryan encounters someone shining a torch in his face, before he is attacked. Patty and Craig make it to Joanne's room but Bryan doesn't show up, so Joanne stays behind while Craig and Patty go downstairs to try to reconnect the power. In the kitchen, they get separated and Patty is grabbed from behind and knocked unconscious by the killer, who then drops her into an industrial pressure cooker and closes the lid.
Craig makes it back to Joanne's room, claiming he'd been knocked out and that he can't Patty anywhere. Joanne is eventually cornered by Hemmit while she discovers Bryan's mutilated corpse in a storage room. She flees from him and makes it back to Craig, when they both team up and manage to kill him. At this point, Craig reveals that HE was the killer the whole time, and that John knew and was trying to warn Joanne. After being chased by him, Joanne is shown the corpses of Patty, Debbie and her family while Craig explains that he loves her and got rid of anyone who clung to her or ruined his chances with her.
Joanne attempts to flee again, when Bobby Lee turns up. Craig knocks Joanne out and is then cornered by Bobby. The police turn up however and believe Bobby is the prowler the group had reported and shoot him down when he attempts to kill Craig. The police leave to get reinforcements and medical help, while Craig resolves to kill Joanne as he knows he will never have her. With her still unconscious, he dumps her body into an incinerator and seemingly escapes, while the police outside wonder if the smoker (from the incinerator) should smell so bad.
, most probably because of the drill killing sequence, and for the cover artwork which depicted the spiked bat. It was assumed that the BBFC had worries that because the killing weapon was depicted clearly, it was imitable. The film was not successfully prosecuted however, and was removed from the list eventually.
in the US under the name Pranks and was released under its original name on Blu-ray Disc
(in a combo pack, containing a DVD copy as well) on April 26, 2011.
Jeffrey Obrow
Jeffrey Obrow is a movie director and a professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts. He has also produced many music videos with Propaganda Films.-Filmography:* The Dorm That Dripped Blood * The Power * The Kindred...
, and written by Carpenter and Stacey Giachino. The movie is a slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
that stars Laura Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow and Pamela Holland as four college students who are clearing out a dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
which is due for demolition
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
. In the course of their work they are stalked by an unknown assailant
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who uses various industrial tools to dispatch his victims.
Plot
The film opens with a young man fleeing from an unseen pursuer. Hiding in the bushes, he seems to have escaped until he is grabbed from behind and killed. Joanne and her boyfriend Tim attend a college party, with Joanne talking about how the building (Morgan Meadows Hall) is to be renovated before being demolished. She along with friends Bryan, Patty, Craig and Debbie, are staying behind during the Christmas holiday to renovate the building. Tim leaves the next day for a skiing trip, while Debbie reveals that she can't stay as her parents are picking her up later in the day.After helping them, Debbie's parents arrive in the evening and wait for Debbie (who is searching for Joanne's inventory list). Her father gets impatient and leaves the car to find her, only to be murdered with a spiked baseball bat by an unseen killer. Her mother is then strangled in the car with thin wire. Debbie finds them dead, and faints in horror. The killer moves her body and drives over her head and squashing it. He then dumps all the bodies in the car and drives off.
The next day, Patty sees a weird guy hanging out by the dumpsters, John Hemmit, who is not supposed to be at the dorm. Later that day, the caretaker Bill complains that one of his drills has been stolen, while Joanne muses that it was John. Joanne then meets Bobby Lee Tremble, a local salesman who is purchasing some of the tables from the dorm. Not long after, Bill is killed in the toilets with the stolen drill. Craig and Bryan see John walking by the dorm and try to warn him away. The group play pool in the evening but Patty sees John peering it at them through a window and freaks out. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, the group decide to search for him around the building, but are unsuccessful in finding him.
The group prepare dinner, when Craig notices some of the food is missing and he sees John fleeing. While the group search again for him, the killer smashes up their dinner with the spiked bat. Returning and seeing the carnage, they call the police and report John. Later that night, Joanne hears footsteps on the roof of the dorm and calls the others to her room when the power cuts out. On his way to the room, Bryan encounters someone shining a torch in his face, before he is attacked. Patty and Craig make it to Joanne's room but Bryan doesn't show up, so Joanne stays behind while Craig and Patty go downstairs to try to reconnect the power. In the kitchen, they get separated and Patty is grabbed from behind and knocked unconscious by the killer, who then drops her into an industrial pressure cooker and closes the lid.
Craig makes it back to Joanne's room, claiming he'd been knocked out and that he can't Patty anywhere. Joanne is eventually cornered by Hemmit while she discovers Bryan's mutilated corpse in a storage room. She flees from him and makes it back to Craig, when they both team up and manage to kill him. At this point, Craig reveals that HE was the killer the whole time, and that John knew and was trying to warn Joanne. After being chased by him, Joanne is shown the corpses of Patty, Debbie and her family while Craig explains that he loves her and got rid of anyone who clung to her or ruined his chances with her.
Joanne attempts to flee again, when Bobby Lee turns up. Craig knocks Joanne out and is then cornered by Bobby. The police turn up however and believe Bobby is the prowler the group had reported and shoot him down when he attempts to kill Craig. The police leave to get reinforcements and medical help, while Craig resolves to kill Joanne as he knows he will never have her. With her still unconscious, he dumps her body into an incinerator and seemingly escapes, while the police outside wonder if the smoker (from the incinerator) should smell so bad.
Production
It was one of the films deemed a video nastyVideo nasty
"Video nasty" was a colloquial term coined in the United Kingdom by 1982 which originally applied to a number of films distributed on video cassette that were criticized for their violent content by the press, commentators such as Mary Whitehouse and various religious organizations.While violence...
, most probably because of the drill killing sequence, and for the cover artwork which depicted the spiked bat. It was assumed that the BBFC had worries that because the killing weapon was depicted clearly, it was imitable. The film was not successfully prosecuted however, and was removed from the list eventually.
Release
It is available on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the US under the name Pranks and was released under its original name on Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
(in a combo pack, containing a DVD copy as well) on April 26, 2011.