Watch The Dorm That Dripped Blood For Free

Strong and Moving!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"The Dorm That Dripped Blood" follows a group of four college coeds who are staying behind on campus to help clean out an old dormitory hall that is scheduled to be demolished. As is par for the course, an unseen killer is lurking around with an arsenal of weapons— a drill gun and a spiked bat, to name a couple. Is it a local squatter wreaking havoc? Or someone else?Also released as "Pranks" and "Death Dorm" in the '80s, "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" is one of the darker entries in the genre, and has been something of a lost film for decades now. It was infamously chopped up by censors, and even the restored Blu-ray edition, which is the most complete version of the film to date, is sourced from secondary materials. While the film's rocky release history adds to the allure of the picture, what we have here is actually a solid slasher flick that is dripping with atmosphere; the cold, foreboding concrete dormitory setting lends the film one of its greatest strengths, as the killer lurks in the shadowy stairwells, atop the roof, and in the cavernous basement. The film was written and directed by UCLA students Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter (Carpenter is behind the popular television series "Grimm" these days), and the direction is stylish and gritty, while the script makes some creative spins on slasher conventions; we don't have your typical villain walking around with a butcher knife here. The industrial theme of the killer's murder weapons seems to take influence from "The Toolbox Murders", and the film is also rather similar to that one in terms of tone as well— both are darker and more abrasive than the average slasher fare. Unlike some of the more visually polished campus slashers of the era ("The House on Sorority Row" and "Final Exam" come to mind), "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" tends to trade gloss and comic relief for a general mirthlessness. The cast is made up of unknowns, most of whom were probably fellow film students of Obrow and Carpenter, though it does feature Daphne Zuniga in her debut screen role— Zuniga, who later became famous on "Melrose Place", would star in the sorority slasher flick "The Initiation" in 1984, though I think "Dorm" is the better film in her slasher repertoire. The twist in the film's finale is overshadowed by its remarkably downbeat ending, which was a daring yet admirable move on part of the filmmakers. The special effects here are also impressive given the film's shoestring budget, and the the killer's brutal use of the spiked baseball bat has a disturbing and effective presence on screen.Overall, "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" is an oddball among its campus slasher peers of the 1980s, but not really for bad reasons. It's conventional in the way that it's framed, but surprisingly unconventional in the tone of its contents— it's a dark and unsettling slasher film that betrays and provokes its audience with a unique sort of success. The lack of big-budget polish really works in the film's favor, providing additional atmosphere and foreboding. Highlights: Daphne Zuniga's dad getting bludgeoned with a spiked bat in the dormitory stairwell, and everything about the demoralizing conclusion. Oh, and did I mention the pressure cooker? 8/10.

"The Dorm That Dripped Blood" or under its UK title "Pranks" is another one of the long line of 80's slasher movies, but what set this apart is that it simply ended up on the Video nasty list, which I can't see why, but this movie is more grittier than most of the slashers that came from this period and it does succeed in some places, but it does falter in others. The opening murder really does set the tone of what's to come and there are plenty of deaths to keep the gore hounds happy even if some of them are a bit badly done and this movie does well at keeping the viewer in suspense and the mystery element is handled rather well and the final showdown was quite brutal and shocking for it's time.But what does let this movie down are the wafer thin characters, which were dull and uninteresting and personally didn't feel for any of them and the dialogue was sleep inducing most of the time. Laurie Lapinski gave us a one-dimensional and extremely unapproachable final girl, whilst the rest of the cast were never offered anything authentic to escape their stereotype. Even Daphne Zuniga gets no chance to shine in her short screen time, despite her gruesome death scene.All in all "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" has all the right ingredients, it just has something missing and could have been a whole lot better if it had a better more convincing cast.

College students Joanne (Laurie Lapinski), Craig (Stephen Sacks), Brian (David Snow) and Patti (Pamela Holland) take on the job of emptying an old abandoned dorm of its furniture before its torn down. They soon find themselves stalked by a killer.Bottom of the barrel slasher flick. The budget is (obviously) VERY low, the script is terrible and the acting is lousy--even for a slasher flick! The killings themselves are OK but obviously faked and there's the expected gratuitous female nudity that's so obviously shoved in that I felt sorry for the poor actress who had to do it. It all leads up to an admittedly good ending that I didn't see coming. However one good moment doesn't make the rest of the film even remotely bearable. This is only of interest for the then unknown Daphne Zuniga in her screen debut--but she's killed off early on. Even the most forgiving slasher movie fan will hate this one. Skip it.

Don't believe all of the negative reviews this movie receives. Yes, it is cheaply made. Yes, the gore is laughable. And, yes, the acting is sub-par. However, this is a textbook example of an early slasher flick, and if that is your "thing" (its mine!) then you will enjoy this one. There are enough good aspects to this movie to more than compensate for the drawbacks. For one, the score by a then unknown Christopher Young is very creepy and accents the violence perfectly. The ending is a welcomed break from the predictable upbeat endings of most movies. And last, but not least, the setting is what made the film for me. The makers of this film could have done a much better job "dressing" the set to make it more believable as a college dorm. However, if you can overlook this flaw, the setting is great. Four collegiates all alone in a huge, abandoned, condemned building just waiting to be torn down.... it reaks of possibility. When watching, allow your imagination to do some of the work and you may enjoy this film as much as I did.