You gotta respect low budget director Jim Wynorski: he never pretends that his films are more than what they are, and he knows how to deliver silliness and sleaze in equal measure. He demonstrates that with this dumb but fun melding of a "Die Hard" homage with a supernatural slasher flick. Five ultra sexy babes from a temp agency are hired to do the inventory for a lingerie company, but they'll have their mundane task interrupted by a killing spree while a storm rages outside their office building. Could the killer be the off kilter janitor (Peter Spellos) on the premises? Or is something else going on? "Hard to Die" comes off as a true mans' fantasy in that our protagonist babes are dressed skimpily and sexily right from the start, and they're a delight to behold, particularly when towards the end two of them are toting machine guns. Hotties and firearms DO always make for an irresistible combination. In addition, Wynorski shows early on that he will go for a cartoon like, tongue in cheek quality, and this extends to such things as sound effects, not to mention the fact that good old Orville the janitor proves to be completely impossible to kill. The acting is just right for this sort of thing. Gail Harris is delectable as Dawn, our plucky heroine, and Karen Mayo-Chandler, Deborah Dutch, Melissa Moore, and Bridget Carney round out the quintet of potential victims. Toni Naples, as a police detective, and Carolet Girard, as a porno actress, add even more eye candy to the proceedings. Wynorski works with regulars such as adorable Kelli Maroney as the porno wife and Monique Gabrielle, who's unrecognizable in a character role as the delivery woman. There's a sizable role for the legendary Forrest J. Ackerman of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" fame, and Wynorski himself appears, uncredited, as the porno director. Composer Chuck Cirino contributes a typically catchy electronic score, and Wynorskis' pacing is up to snuff; the movie clocks in at a fairly short 84 minutes long. It's got a couple of in-jokes, posters of the directors' past efforts, archive footage taken from "The Slumber Party Massacre", and is well worth watching for the generous screen time devoted to ogling the main actresses' assets. Seven out of 10.

Orville Ketchum is back in this sleazy slasher by Jim Wynorski.Skimpy clothed chicks in a skyscraper of of the Acme Lingerie Company are being stalked and eventually murdered by demonic Egyptian killer.Like "Sorority House Massacre II" "Hard to Die" is an exercise in tasty sleaze and schlocky humor.It works as some sort of a sequel to "Sorority House Massacre II".Orville Ketchum is fantastic as creepy janitor and there is also memorable cameo of Famous Monsters creator Forrest J.Ackerman.If you like gore and gratuitous nudity you can't go wrong with "Hard to Die" aka "Sorority House Massacre III".Naked bimbos having long showers and touching their naked breasts.Count me in.7 bloodied boobs out of 10.

"I just want to get my clothes on and get the hell outta here!" shouts Jackie hysterically. It may hide behind the alternate title "Hard to Die," and utilize the stage name "Arch Stanton" (the name on the grave in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) for director Jim Wynorski, but with most of the same cast returning and with reused ideas and recycled flashbacks, Sorority House Massacre III is still very much the same cheesy movie. The character names have changed (except for Orville Ketchum, now the janitor, and through the majority of the film practically a zombie), the goofy synthesized piano music is back, and the cleavage is as prominent as ever. Since the film doesn't take place in a sorority house, the working titles "Hard to Die" or "Tower of Terror" are more appropriate, but the film is practically identical in story and tone to the series the director took over.Four department store employees (Dawn, played by Robyn Harris; Jackie, played by Deborah Dare; Tess, played by Melissa Moore; and Shayna, played by Bridget Carney) arrive for the yearly inventory at Acme Lingerie and meet up with the newly hired girl Diana Farrow (Lindsay Taylor). While working in the dusty basement, the sprinkler system is accidentally activated, getting the group of seductresses suitably wet (yes, that was a major plot point). After cleaning up in the manager's office, they discover a mis-delivered occult witchcraft soul box that unleashes an evil (and poorly animated) spirit. The mysterious package was intended for Dr. Newton (a man who casually reads from the book "Demonology and You") at the museum, who attempts to warn them of the dangers - until the phone goes dead. Meanwhile, the same two detectives from Sorority House Massacre II decide to investigate the lingerie store and their old pal Orville, who they both finger as a mass murderer. As the five isolated girls wait for a Chinese food delivery, they are quickly slaughtered by a hooded assailant, armed with a diabolically evil metal hook.It's especially funny to see the desirable vixens talk about the sorority house massacre that happened in the previous film, considering they played the victims, most of whom didn't make it out alive. And that film reused an introductory plot from the Slumber Party Massacre films. It's like a remake of the previous film, shot for shot, but with a new location; it's even more absurd if you've just seen the previous movie. Both of Wynorski's sequels are completely unrelated to the first Sorority House Massacre, rendering that film obsolete for either understanding the inconsequential plot or enjoying the scatterbrained characters and their extremely toned bodies. Even the first fight scene with Orville is choreographed in an identical fashion (the knife to the guts is in the same place, as is the strangulation by handy extension cord). The repetition is just plain obnoxious (except for the copious nudity, which somehow never gets tiresome).The same girl manages to take a shower first again (Melissa Moore), her spontaneous undressing moderated by remarkably silly saxophone riffs. And the others aimlessly slip into sexy lingerie in short order. Even the creepy janitor eyes the girls in the same way, and once the bloodletting starts, the splattering of blood and gore is all too familiar. The only major difference is the immoderate amount of machinegun fire. Some people consider this to be a softcore parody of Die Hard, but it couldn't be further from it – if anything, it was simply a gimmicky title choice. Ultimately, who cares? There's plenty of flesh on display, and none of it is unappealing (except maybe for the odd food delivery girl dressed like a clown). It's all in the interest of conceding to the target audience's poor tastes.Mike Massie

You have got to admire a movie that sets and then surpasses its own goals. HtD gets right up in your face and asks you if you want to see a slasher movie with five luscious babes (each with a distinct personality, of course) dressed in lingerie (unless they're in Daisy Dukes or in the shower without any clothes at all) running around a building after-hours and firing automatic weapons. Of course you do! Well, HtD delivers. Throw in Orville Ketchum, some irrelevant filler material shot at a porn filming session, and a bizarre cameo by Forrest J. Ackerman, and you've got a most-excellent B-film! Keep in mind that Jim Wyrnoski is not shy about using material from other films. In Sorority House Massacre II (which beats out HtD only marginally as the best B-movie, because it actually features a haunted house,) he used lengthy unrelated scenes from Slumber Party Massacre as back-story to SHM II. In HtD, he uses the events of SHM II, as well as the same footage from SPM, as a back-story. What makes this more than mildly amusing is that most of the actors/actresses, and many of the scripted characters, in HtD are the same as in SHM II. HtD acknowledges the events of SHM II with a wink at the fact that most of the characters in that movie died. You owe it to yourself to see SHM II prior to seeing HtD.I won't spend a lot of time on the plot. Let me just say that, through a series of improbable and illogical events, the five female leads end up wearing virtually nothing as they are stalked through a closed office building one Saturday. Quite a few people die, though usually off-camera and unrealistically, and "Orville Ketchum" lives up to his reputation as one of the funnier and more-difficult-to-kill B-movie actors. (The scene where he staples a bandage to his abdomen is priceless.) One final observation...unlike many of the straight-to-video movies being churned out today, HtD actually has some decent production standards. Cheap, yes, but competent. The film has been correctly exposed and color-compensated. The audio levels and re-recording are quite acceptable. There are no artsy-fartsy camera angles or unnecessary CGI effects. It is simply a better-produced movie than most of the dreck out there today.And it is a hoot! Either you get it, or you don't. Highly-recommended for nekkid-wimmen-in-slasher-films fans.