The Film (4/5)

    I popped on Nightmare Sisters after watching a few other films during a marathon run on a recent Saturday night. It was a little after midnight, and immediately the film’s campy charms began to work on me. The film right away felt like something one would catch on USA Up All Night, and it indeed felt familiar. A quick Google search helped me to discover that the film did play in a censored version (included on this very Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray) on the show in 1991, at the point I was first watching that show.

   Nightmare Sisters is a film made in 1987 by David DeCouteau as a Roger Corman style cheapie. It was shot in 4 days with leftover film stock from another film he had recently shot, and with a trio of scream queens (Michelle Bauer, Linnea Quigley, and Brinke Stevens) that he had worked with on other films in the past. The film has a slow open, but uses comedy in place of horror to keep the audiences attention before he lets loose on the mayhem in the latter half of the film.

   The film stars Quigley, Bauer, and Stevens as a trio of sorority sisters at the Tri Eti Pi sorority who are alone for some unstated reason. They decide to alleviate their boredom by calling on some geeky boys from the nearby Frat Kevin, Duane, and Freddy. Unfortunately, before the boys can leave they are stopped by the heads of the frat and told that because they are simple pledges they can't hang out with sorority girls without permission, and they simply don't have it.

  This doesn't stop them, and they sneak out.  The "party" starts out with snacks and twister before they have a seance. This channels the decapitated medium Omar, who ask the girls to touch the crystal ball he is in to protect themselves from evil. Unfortunately for the 3 this backfires, and they turn into sexy succubi.   Of course, the 3 frat leaders interrupt the party, and get involved with the 3 succubi who want to feed their way through the boys.

    Nightmare Sisters is an absolute hoot. If you are in the right frame of mind, this is just a great way to kill 80 minutes. DeCouteau creates an essential blend of camp, humor, and horror that is hysterical from the first scene.  The performances from the main cast are a blast. Stevens, Quigley, and Bauer have a great chemistry, and seem to be having a great time in their roles, from their nerdy beginnings, all the way through to the succubi second half.  DeCouteau paces the film perfectly. The film’s 80 minute running time flows by in a flash.

Audio/Video (4/5)

   Vinegar Syndrome provides a stellar looking transfer to Nightmare Sisters. The Blu-ray looks and sounds marvelous. It is presented in a 1080p encoded 1:85:1. Detail and textures are excellent, colors are nicely reproduced, and black levels are inky and deep. There is some damage present from speckling to some vertical lines, but they are rare, and not overly distracting.

    The DTS-HD MA 1.0 mono track in English (with optional subtitles) sound excellent with dialogue and score coming through crisp, clean, and clear. I did not detect any issues on this track.

Extras (4/5)

    The main extra is the censored TV version of the film (trying to censor this one must have been hell). There is also a commentary with Linnea Quigley and David DeCouteau, an on camera interview with Kenneth Hall (writer of the film), an intro to the film by DeCouteau, and a blooper reel.

Overall

    Nightmare Sisters is a hoot. This film is seriously a cheesy, fun, and campy blast of 80's horror from director David DeCouteau. The Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome looks and sounds fantastic, and has a nice slate of extras. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.