With its sly wit and restrained gore, the film rises above the genre. Although the line between horror and psychological thriller are pretty thin here, there are genuinely unsettling (perhaps supernatural) moments in the film, particularly during the phone calls. This film features a good performance by Olivia Hussey as a pretty tough heroine, as well as a crazy performance by Margot Kidder, who appeared to be completely out of it in all of her scenes and never appears without a cocktail in her hand. Shelley Winters plays the boozy housemother and adds lots of humor to the film and don't forget to look for Andrea Martin in an almost unrecognizably straight role. John Saxon, that mainstay of horror films, shows up as a police detective and in a great departure from many horror films, the police are concerned and helpful to the sorority girls.
As it was filmed in 1974, this film sports some truly hilarious clothing and hairstyle decisions. One of the girls' boyfriends goes around sporting a giant (GIANT) fur coat and it's pretty much impossible to concentrate on anything he says. For a film set in a sorority house and made in the 1970s, it has a refreshing lack of t & a-type exploitation. Especially considering that Bob Clark went on to film Porky's (and A Christmas Story)! (Note: This film was remade in 2006, which was apparently a big year for remaking classic horror films of the 1970s. See also The Wicker Man. )
