Pledge Night (1990)

An Exercise In Nonsense

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Definitely not the worst movie ever made, but I still found this movie to be ridiculous. I was intrigued to buy the VHS based on the cover, which is probably the only redeeming factor of this film, either that or the soundtrack by Anthrax. By watching this, I wasted 90 minutes of my life that may never be lived again.Sidney "Acid Sid" Snyder (Played by Anthrax's Joey Belladonna) accidentally died in a fraternity prank gone horribly wrong in the 1960s. 30 years later, new pledges are going through initiation rituals. In spite of his mother's warnings, one of the pledges, Larry Bonner still wants to join. During the weekend, Don, one of the senior pledges goes bananas and kills one of the fraternity brothers. Turns out, he was possessed by none other than Acid Sid, who later bursts out of Don's stomach. How original...not. Sid is basically a hippie version of Freddy Krueger who just goes around cracking jokes that I could tell better myself. Sid's real purpose in the movie, revealed at the end was a total joke.I have noticed that people have a soft spot for this film, and while I respect that, I just simply cannot begin to understand why. This was director Paul Ziller's first film, and I can understand that as well. However, it does not excuse the fact that, as CritconOnline.com said, Ziller copped out and displayed the victims' bodies after the murders. Thankfully, this film has yet to receive a DVD release.I would probably only recommend this to hardcore horror fans as well as HARDCORE (And I mean hardcore) fans of Anthrax. Otherwise, don't bother.EXTRAS: Grow some hair on that chest as a trailer for No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990) appears at the beginning of the tape. This time, it's family!

In 1968, a young hippie frat pledge was killed in a hazing mishap, burned to death in a tub of muric acid. Two decades later, his demonic corpse returns to the frathouse during "Hell Week"(wherein hazing rituals take place). As bodies pile up, the new pledges are left to determine if the grisly goings-on are a terrible reality, or just a mean-spirited prank intended to further debase them.The first half of this gonzo slasher mess is devoid of horror elements, and plays out like an edgy gay porn flick with a hazing theme(okay, let's face it...there's always been serious homocore in the whole fraternity thing anyhow). I think it's safe to say that this is the most ass-happy horror film of the ages, and even features a death scene which involves a small explosive lodged in a dude's ripe punani. Once the bloodshed starts, however, there's actually some fun to be had here(and the sheer lame-brainedness of it all is clearly intentional). Don't expect a high quality product(like you really would, right?), but if you put your brain on pause for 90 minutes, you might find yourself enjoying this slice of very 80s cine-crap. 4/10

College students fall prey to the ghost of a pledge that died at the same fraternity 20 years earlier on pledge night. Slow paced horror film seems more concerned with male nudity and creating some of the dumbest death scenes in horror film history, then trying to scare or entertain the audience. Poor special effects don't help its case much either.Rated R (After being edited to avoid an X-rating); Nudity, Graphic Violence, Sexual Situations, Profanity.

The producers Shapiro/Glickenhaus, who were also responsible for one of my all time-trash favorites (Frank Henenlotter´s "Frankenhooker") made another "Friday"-rip off possible, which is better than most of the reviews say about it (What does not mean that "Pledge Night" is a good film!)...The story is about a sadistic student´s establishment-ritual, where the newcomers have to drink from toilets or get branded... (That´s the first half of the film..!). One night however the monstrous Acid Sid, who looks like Alice Cooper with a cauterized face, returns and starts to take bitter revenge, because the trick they played on him about twenty years ago has been a little bit too deadly!Probably the most interesting fact is that Joe Belladonna, former vocalist of the US-Speed Metal-Band Anthrax, has a small role. The rest is business as usual: some dumb youths get killed one by one, just with the difference that you mostly don´t see the murder, only the results... The most grotesque death is when a guy is strangulated by a spine.It´s okay to watch "Pledge Night" one time, if you haven´t seen it you won´t miss anything!