Movie Review: Sorority Row
Stephen Schaeffer - Boston Herald
Sep 14, 2009
Don't Rush to 'Sorority'
Grade: C-
"Sorority Row's " sisters of Theta Pi are a nasty dose of high- heeled, back-stabbing bitchery and arrogant stupidity.
Looking more like whores than coeds, they're introduced during a libidinous house party where they spring a half-baked revenge plan on two-timing boyfriend Garrett (Matt O'Leary) because "You cheat on one Theta Pi, you cheat on all Theta Pis."
But lovely Megan ("The Hills" alumna Audrina Patridge), the girl he two-timed, dies when the plan goes wrong.
Worried that this sister's demise might harm future partying and marriage possibilities, the five sisters dump her body in an empty mine shaft and take a vow of secrecy.
At graduation six months later, something comes calling on the cruel quintet - could it be Megan's ghost?
Brain-dead as to motivation, plotting or common sense, Stewart Hendler's "Sorority Row" scores where it counts: The carnage escalates, nicely tinged with black humor.
Acting honors go to Leah Pipes' blond queen bee Jessica, who rules this roost but not her beau, the son of a senator (a colorless Matt Lanter). Pipes is a scary parody of Reese Witherspoon's Tracy Flick in "Election," focused on just one thing: herself.
As the group's good girl who struggles with her conscience - and then abandons it - Briana Evigan actually seems like someone who's opened a book and could be engaged to class valedictorian Andy (Julian Morris).
That's true as well for Rumer Willis' Ellie, a perpetually nervous, scared bunny.
The two sex-crazed Thetas - Jamie Chung's Claire, who has never seen a hot tub she didn't want to play in, and Margo Harshman's Chugs, who trades sex with her shrink for pills - are the most likely candidates to follow Megan to that campus in the sky.
"Sorority Row" puts its Hollywood up-and-comers through the usual splatter-movie settings - dark halls, dank basements and loud, impersonal parties where a corpse would hardly be noticed.
Also on hand, but not having much fun, is Carrie Fisher as a housemother who knows exactly what's going on.
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