PopHorror Let's Get Scared
My introduction to director Rolf Kanefsky was 1990’s brilliant There’s Nothing Out There, but my introduction (apart from a fleeting Tromatic glance) to horror film goddess Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley) was Kanefsky’s equally brilliant The Hazing. Having only seen it on bootlegs of dubious quality and streaming, I jumped into the new, cleaned up, transfer from Wild Eye Releasing with both feet!
Synopsis
A group of college pledges are sent to a crumbling mansion for initiation, but the night turns deadly when a deranged professor begins killing them one by one. Trapped inside, they must uncover his motive-and the traitor in their ranks.
Five college co-eds, pledging to their chosen Greek houses, are trapped in an old mansion for the night as part of their initiation. Unbeknownst to them, the occult obsessed Professor Kapps, as part of an ancient ritual, has sacrificed his student, Jill (Brooke Burke; Dancing With The Stars) to usher in an unspeakable evil to this World. Unfortunately, the good professor (Brad Dourif; Child’s Play) is “accidentally” impaled while some students try to pilfer the book, but, as is often the case in horror films, he isn’t quite dead, and is still pretty focused on the task at hand.
Soon the hapless kids: Delia (Nectar Rose; Not Another Teen Movie), Roy (Jeremy Maxwell; Captain America; The Winter Soldier), Doug (Philip Andrew; Power Rangers: Wild Force), Tim (Parry Shen; Hatchet) and Marsha (the incomparable Tiffany Shepis) are being picked off one-by-one, all whilst trying to discover who isn’t quite telling the truth.
Ambitious, entertaining, and with production values that belie it’s modest budget, The Hazing was (and still is) a benchmark for early oughts horror. With a superb cast that work incredibly well together, the film features the perfect combination of: gore, camp, self-awareness, sexiness, and genuinely disturbing effects. Where else can you find a group of college kids looking for a signed Bruce Campbell photo?
It’s this kind of wink-and-nod homage to the genre classics (think Night of the Demons meets Evil Dead, with some Lovecraft thrown in) that make Kanefsky’s work so charming and appealing. Rose is really convincing as the not-quite-a-ditz blond, Shen is amazing as always, and what else can I say about Shepis? She’s just getting comfortable as a (and I loathe this term, but here it fits) scream queen in this film, she commands every scene she’s in, and just is the embodiment of a sexy, confident, and yet vulnerable, leading lady (and, the silver costume…Brav-fucking-O!).
There’s a reason why virtually all of the cast went on to stellar careers, and the talent is evident here. With unrelenting action, inventive kills and buckets of gore, The Hazing is already worth frequent re-watches, but the new restoration/transfer looks incredible! Updated to stand with modern hi-def films, the picture is crisp and deep, a much welcome alternative to streaming, and the sound is even as well. The DVD (which I can’t imagine is inferior to the blu) features new cover art, and is pretty lean on the extras, just a few trailers.
The Hazing is a wildly entertaining, updated take, on the normal slasher tropes, sheds off it’s more obvious influences and become it’s own film-a gorgeous, violent and fun 87 minute ride, with plenty of sanguinary spillage, a knock out cast (*sigh* Tiffany Shepis…), an inspired script (with a feminist tilt) and is a pre-cursor to what came next for everyone involved (check out the one-two punch of Kanefsky and Shepis again in 2006’s Nightmare Man). Quality stuff. Buy a copy.
Wildeye Releasing’s Special Edition DVD and Blu ray of The Hazing is available now from fine retailers.
