Sorority Row Information

Sorority Row is a 2009 American slasher film, centred around a college prank that goes wrong and comes back to haunt the sisters of Theta Pi. It is a re-imagining of the 1983 slasher film The House on Sorority Row. It was directed by Stewart Hendler, written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger, and stars Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung, Margo Harshman, Audrina Patridge, Caroline D'Amore and Carrie Fisher.

The film was nominated for two Teen Choice Awards in the category Choice of Movie Actress in a Horror film for Audrina Patridge and Rumer Willis' performances.

Plot

After discovering that her boyfriend Garrett (Matt O'Leary) cheated on her, sorority sister Megan (Audrina Patridge), with the help of her sorority friends - Cassidy (Briana Evigan), Jessica (Leah Pipes), Ellie (Rumer Willis), Claire (Jamie Chung), and Chugs (Margo Harshman) - Garrett's sister - pulls a prank on him: she fakes her own death while making out with him. With the help from the sisters, Garrett brings Megan to a steel mill, intent on dumping her body in the lake. After Jessica mentions they need to release the air out of her lungs so her body will not float to the top, Garrett stabs Megan through the chest with a tire iron, killing her for real. The group decides to dump Megan's body in the mine, along with the tire iron. Eight months later, the girls have grown apart and put the incident behind them, although Cassidy still feels guilty about the incident.

During the party held after graduation, the girls all receive a picture sent to their phones: a robed arm holding the bloody tire iron Garrett used to kill Megan. Suspicion immediately falls on Garrett, but Chugs insists he's changed after the incident and is not mentally competent. Jessica takes the lead and insists it is merely a sick joke by him and continues with the party. Megan's younger sister, Maggie (Caroline D'Amore), arrives, wanting to honor her sister's memory by attending the party. Later, Chugs leaves to go to her therapist appointment. Not knowing that her therapist was killed, but instead thinks he is playing a sexual game, she lies down and drinks champagne when she is suddenly murdered by a mysterious killer wearing a hooded black robe and uses the spiked tire iron. A little later, in the sorority's shower room, Claire and Jessica discussing about the incident.

After they leave, a sorority girl named Joanna, who overheard their conversation, is murdered by the mysterious killer with the same tire iron. That night, the large graduation party is thrown. Claire dumps her boyfriend, Mickey, for his pervertedness and he continues hitting on a few girls at the party, including Ellie, but keeps getting rebuffed. He is then attacked and murdered by the hooded killer, with Ellie witnessing it. Cassidy, Claire, Jessica and Ellie regroup and all receive a text containing the video of Megan's death and a message telling them to go to the steel mine in 20 minutes or the video will be sent to the police. The girls drive to the mine shaft, and encounter Garrett, who has cut his wrists. Thinking Garrett is the one stalking them, Jessica runs over him with her vehicle. However, they discover afterward that Garrett has been receiving the same text messages they have.

Ellie suspects that Megan is the killer, believing that she did not actually die and is seeking revenge. To prove that Megan is dead, the girls lower Cassidy down the shaft to check, but instead of finding Megan's body, she finds a message written in blood says "Theta Pi must die". Back at the now empty sorority house, the girls receive a text from Chugs' cell phone, telling them that she is dead. Afterward, Claire is shot in the mouth with a flare gun. Searching the house for Jessica's boyfriend, Kyle (Matt Lanter), the girls run into Maggie and their house mother, Mrs. Crenshaw (Carrie Fisher). After discovering about the incident, Mrs. Crenshaw tells the girls to lock themselves in a bedroom and to call the police while she searches for the killer, who is in the house. Maggie is shocked when she realizes what happened to her sister and leaves the room to find Megan.

After a game of cat and mouse in the kitchen, Mrs. Crenshaw is killed. The girls hear the shots from Mrs. Crenshaw's shotgun and believe that she killed Megan. With no cell phones around, Cassidy and Jessica decide to find Mickey's body and use his cell, telling Ellie to run if she gets the chance. Downstairs, the killer confronts Maggie and throws a Molotov cocktail at her, setting the house on fire. Cassidy and Jessica find Mickey's body but run into Kyle, who injures Jessica after getting into a fight with her. Cassidy and Jessica flee to an under-renovation bathroom where they find Megan's decomposing corpse hanging in the shower. Kyle attacks them there and knocks out Jessica. Before he can harm Cassidy, Kyle is killed with an axe by Andy (Julian Morris), Cassidy's boyfriend, who reveals himself to be the killer.

Andy at first protected them by keeping the knowledge to himself. Since Andy wanted to have a perfect future with Cassidy, but she was always at risk of being found out. So, Andy decided to kill everyone who knew of Megan's murder. Andy then kills Jessica and tells Cassidy that they need to kill Ellie too. Cassidy is opposed to this, but Andy says that the geekish Ellie is the weakest and reveals that Ellie was the one who confided in him all about Megan's death, so she will be likely to tell someone else. Devising a plan, Cassidy plays along and tells Andy that Ellie is in the basement, and while Andy goes to look for her, Cassidy fetches Ellie from upstairs and they try to run out the front door, but are attacked by Andy, who is hurt that Cassidy would betray him. Urging Ellie to flee, Cassidy hits Andy with a lamp and tries to escape, but stops as she hears the cries for help of Maggie, who is trapped in the flames.

Cassidy tries to rescue her, but Andy comes and tries to kill Maggie, though Cassidy stops him. The floor then crumbles underneath Cassidy, and she is left hanging over the burning basement. As Andy is about to finish her off, Ellie appears and shoots him with Mrs. Crenshaw's shotgun. He falls backward onto the burning floor, which collapses under him and he falls to his death into the flames. With Andy dead, Maggie wraps a blanket around herself and escapes the flames, and the two then pull Cassidy back up from the hole in the floor. Cassidy, Ellie, and Maggie escape from the burning sorority house, just as the fire department and other emergency personnel arrive. 15 months later, Theta Pi is being renovated from the fire and Maggie is now a Theta sister. As the girls sing the Theta Pi song, a man comes into view, holding a garden trowel. The camera pans up to his wrist, revealing scars, implying that Garrett is still alive.

Cast

• Briana Evigan as Cassidy Tappan
• Leah Pipes as Jessica Pierson
• Rumer Willis as Ellie Morris
• Jamie Chung as Claire Wen
• Margo Harshman as Chugs Bradley
• Audrina Partridge as Megan Blaire
• Julian Morris as Andy Richards
• Caroline D'Amore as Maggie Blaire
• Carrie Fisher as Mrs. Crenshaw
• Matt O'Leary as Garret Bradley
• Matt Lanter as Kyle Tyson
• Maxx Hennard as Mickey
• Nicole Moore as Joanna
• Ken Bolden as Dr. Rosenburg
• Rick Applegate as Senator Tyson

Production

Sorority Row entered pre-production in January 2008. Principal photography began on October 16, 2008 in the Pittsburgh area. Although set in Anytown, USA, producers of the film wanted to take advantage of Pennsylvania state tax credits (much like the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine) and the strength of local film crews. The film was mostly shot at night in Munhall, one block from the Carnegie Library of Homestead, where about 10 houses were dressed to resemble a sorority row. The graduation scene for the film's school Rosman University, a fictional east coast school (named after the writer/director of The House on Sorority Row) was shot outside of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. Interiors of the Theta Pi sorority were filmed on sets built in a warehouse near Crafton, Pennsylvania. Filming ended on March 26, 2009. The film was officially completed on May 2, 2009.

Soundtrack

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The film's soundtrack was released by E1 Music on August 31, 2009, and featured music by musical artists such as Shwayze, Ladytron, Lykke Li, Aimee Allen, and Camera Obscura, among others. The album received 2.5 out of 5 stars from Allmusic, stating: "Of the 15 tracks, only a few are even remotely memorable (Ladytron's "Ghosts," Camera Obscura's "Tears for Affairs," and Dragonette's "booty" anthem "I Get Around" come to mind), but there's hardly a dull moment."

Track listing

1. "Tear Me Up" — Stefy Rae
2. "Get U Home" (Paul Oakenfold Remix) — Shwayze
3. "Ghosts" — Ladytron
4. "I Get Around" — Dragonette
5. "42 West Avenue" — Cashier No 9
6. "Get Up" — A.D.
7. "Alcoholic" — Cash Crop
8. "Break It Down" — Alana D
9. "I Like Dem Girls" — Sizzle C
10. "This Night" — Ron Underwood
11. "Say What You Want" — The DeeKompressors
12. "Tears for Affairs" — Camera Obscura
13. "Doin' My Thing" — King Juju
14. "I'm Good, I'm Gone" (Black Kids Remix) — Lykke Li
15. "Emergency" — Aimee Allen

Reception

Critical reception

Reviews for Sorority Row were generally negative, although the performances of Briana Evigan and Leah Pipes were praised. Review website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 21% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 68.

Box office

The film grossed $5,059,802 during its opening weekend, placing sixth in the process. It then fell more than 50% during its second weekend of release, while finishing with $8,965,282 in total. Internationally its performance was mixed compared to its domestic run. It did manage fourth place in its debut in the UK, while it missed the top ten in both Australia and Mexico.

Release

A teaser trailer premiered at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International along with the main cast discussing the film's premise and how it felt working with the crew. Sorority Row was released on September 9, 2009 in the UK and September 11, 2009 in the USA. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc were released on the 11th January 2010 in the UK and the 23 February 2010 in the US.