A piece of dirt slasher film, lacking even that elementary 'veneer' or level of polish which makes it look like a sophisticated film. Instead this looks like just what it is, a cheap-as-chips slasher effort with a routine plot, no memorable twists or surprises, and some shoddy gore effects thrown in during a desperate attempt to entertain the horror crowd. God, if only this cheesy film wasn't so boring, it might even have been kind of fun, as we watch an unknown killer going around bumping off various uninteresting characters for the duration of the film. In fact, the only imagination here comes from the variety of the weapons wielded by the psycho, ranging from an electric drill to a garrote, an axe, a knife, a car, and even a deep fat frier. Sadly either the rather poor gore effects are nevertheless cut by those butchers at the BBFC, making the Vipco re-release an almost pointless exercise.The cast is a bunch of unknowns who act like amateurs, and as is usual for these affairs, the only person of note is the lead. Here it's the slim and pretty Daphne Zuniga (THE FLY II), appearing in her first motion picture, if you can call it that. She's marginally less annoying than most scream queens you'll have the opportunity of seeing if you're a horror fan. Amusing supporting characters include a bonehead jock, a weirdo-type with frizzy hair, a strange guy who would rather hunt around in a skip than watch his wife strip off her nightie, and some typically dumb cops.Although the run time is only eighty minutes, it seems like an age as the murders are spaced out too far and nothing happens in between. Most of it takes place in the dark in depressing locations, but the similarities with the horrific MANIAC end there. Instead this is dull and derivative through and through, not worth watching even for those with a penchant for this kind of cinema. Watch it only for the amusing hand-slicing-via-knife nightmare opening shot.

I'm surprised at how unappreciated this vicious slasher is. Maybe it helped that before this, I saw the truly inferior slasher 'Drive-in massacre' and was happy to be able to see what was actually going here, but I'll try to explain why I liked this one even beyond that.The characters are all slasher-worthy; American (post-)teens with their typical problems, played by enthusiastic amateurs (as far as I know and can tell). Laurie Lapinski's lead character won me over in a second, and it was especially nice to see Daphne Zuniga, as well. To say anything about one particular other actor, I would have to get into the plot, which I do not want to do, other than have you know that how 'Death dorm' unfolds is pretty awesome (even if storywise, this is no brilliant feat - at all). Then there's a good load of gore, which must be considered one of the key ingredients for slashers. Another one of those ingredients, gratuitous nudity, is rather poorly represented, but still, it's there.The film is nicely shot, which always helps. This one wins by surplus of perfect slasher elements, rather than being a perfect slasher. A good 7 out of 10.

College girl Joanne Murray takes on the unenviable job of readying the student housing building to become apartments,which includes selling the unneeded furniture This takes place during a break,so a mysterious psycho is stalking the nearly-empty premises on campus."Dorm that Dripped Blood" is a low-budget slasher flick that is quite entertaining.The acting is pretty bad,the plot is predictable,but the gore effects are quite good.The film was made by UCLA film students Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow for next to nothing.Soon a dreamy ambiance kicks in,very similar to the enveloping forests of Jeff Leiberman's fantastic "Just Before Dawn".7 out of 10.It's great to see Daphne Zuniga of "The Initiation" fame run over few times by a car.

"The Dorm That Dripped Blood" is a more than acceptable slasher entry.**SPOILERS**Attending a college party, Joanne Murray, (Laura Lapinski) Debbie, (Daphne Zuniga) Patti, (Pamela Holland) Brian, (David Snow) and Craig, (Stephen Sachs) overhear from her boyfriend Tim, (Robert Frederick) that the dorm is being demolished. Volunteering to stay behind over Christmas break to remove items inside and make it suitable for demolishing, they soon get to work and are able to get the work started. Hearing strange noises around, they each go off in search of the source, and find handyman John Hemmit, (Woody Roll) is still on campus. As the noises continue and the group soon starts to mysteriously disappear. As the group begins to notice the disappearances, they finally realize that a psychotic killer is in the school and is targeting them, forcing the survivors to band together to get through the night.The Good News: While not a perfect slasher, this is still a very enjoyable one. Perhaps it's best attribute is that it manages to do what most others think is a lock but rarely achieve, the perfect setting for the slaughter. Being inside a building slated for demolition ensures that the victims will be completely isolated since it's going to be marked off anyway, and thus providing insurance against those trying to help out. The place itself is quite a perfect setting, as the place really looks like it's condemned and able to be torn down and makes it all the more believable. The long, extremely dark corridors provide tons of areas to trap people in, chase them around or keeping their corpse around without fear of discovery yet come across as being part of the design of the place, not merely because of anything on the killer's part. There's some great stalking going on as well, with some pretty chilling scenes popping up here and there. The dorm kill is absolutely chilling, the scene in the bathroom has a macabre sense of chills and once the lights go out, it's simply packed with suspense. The entire final chase through the pipes and darkened hallways is completely suspenseful, and manages to come away with a large amount of tension. There's a real sense of urgency through the scenes, coming up with some great, innovative scenes here that are creative and quite necessary under the situation and make it all the more fun. There's even some pretty juicy kills in here. There's a razor-wire strangulation, a head crushed when a car drives over it, a hole bored in the back of the head with an electric drill, a spiked baseball bat bashed into the forehead, a hand split open from a machete and being dunked into a boiling vat of water among more that really helps this along. There all quite brutal and manage to get a jolt out. The film's last great quality is it's spectacular ending. It's one of the best twists in the genre, coming out of nowhere and being completely shocking as well, which is then upped all the more from the fact that even after that, there's a second series of twists that comes out which is such a departure from the others out there that it just makes it all the better and more fun. Overall, this is a highly impressive slasher effort.The Bad News: There isn't a whole lot here that doesn't work. One of the main things is that there's a really long portion in the beginning of the film before it really gets going. There's way too many senseless point-of-view shots that don't mean anything to the long, stalking scenes that are thrown in for no reason at all and don't even conclude in a false scare. These, along with the scenes of them running around doing their work or with each other that really make the beginning a little longer than normal. It's also quite a stretch to believe that so many of them would be so clueless about what's really going on. It takes place over several days, and the ones that are knocked off early are made to seem like they just dropped off the face of the earth, and these are then dismissed out-of-hand and forgotten about instead of causing cause for concern, especially as it grows later in the film. The last really big flaw is that the revelation of the killer and their motives is a little tough to swallow. They're not all that bad, and the reveal is a nice shock, but the fact that it's who it's revealed to be and the reasoning behind it don't really make any sense. That's the main problem with that one. These are pretty obvious ones, and while they may not be really relevant, they are important from keeping this from a classic slasher.The Final Verdict: While not all that bad, it's few minor flaws manage to keep this one out of the greats of the slasher genre. It's still a really entertaining entry, and that in itself should enable slasher aficionados to seek this one out, as it's a really enjoyable, but those seeking a definitive slasher should look elsewhere.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and Brief Nudity