Search - Sisters of Death on DVD

A low-budget but surprisingly enjoyable thriller

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 05/03/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While far from perfect, Sisters of Death (1978) does have a few things going for it that a plethora of 70s low-budget thrillers do not. First and foremost, there is former Playboy Playmate Claudia Jennings, a beautiful and really quite talented actress whose life would come to a tragic, premature end in a traffic accident the following year. The other actors and actresses are certainly competent and play their roles fairly well, but there is nothing really special or memorable about them. The plot itself manages to hold up pretty well, making its way through a decent set of twists and turns to keep the viewer constantly unsure about his/her own theories until the very end. The ending, by the way, is especially nice. I was just thinking how cool it would be if a certain last twist took place in the final seconds, when lo and behold, my wish was granted. Sisters of Death begins with a sorority initiation in which Russian roulette serves as the final test for initiates; the gun isn't really supposed to go off with a live bullet, but try telling that to the young blonde who soon collapses with a couple of fresh, nasty holes in her head. The Sisters, as they call themselves, are all veiled so that it is not possible to go back and determine who did what in the ceremony. We then move to seven years later, when the Sisters find themselves invited back for a reunion. The five former friends find themselves out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by an electrical fence, aided only by two men who were supposed to leave after dropping the girls off, trying to avoid the type of final justice the young dead initiate's father plans on exacting from them all. This film is by no means gory or bloody, it can be a little annoying at times, and its low-budget nature is clearly evident at all times (you can actually see the boom mike above the actors' heads during one whole scene), but it proved just unpredictable enough to keep me from knowing just how things would play out in the end. I found Sisters of Death to be quite an enjoyable movie experience."

Sisters of Death

Steven Hellerstedt | 03/05/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"During an college sorority initiation ceremony, a pledge in the Secret Society of Sisters is accidentally shot and killed. Seven years later the six remaining members receive invitations (and $500) to attend a reunion. Only one of the Sisters knows the invitation was sent by the dead girl's father.
From the Farrah Fawcett hairdos to the Starsky & Hutch clones, the low-budget SISTERS OF DEATH looks like a made-for-tv movie. This 1978 movie stars 1970 Playboy Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings (Sorry, no nudity in this one.) The girls, driven to a remote desert estate by Starsky & Hutch, soon find themselves prisoners behind a powerful electric fence. Papa's hidden somewhere inside, packing gunpowder into some nasty looking bullets when not roaming through hidden passages.
The plot of SISTERS OF DEATH is tried and true and a little tired, and a few too many twists are thrown in at the end, but the movie is pleasant enough.
"

Thrills, chills, and spills!

Draconis Blackthorne | The Haunted Noctuary | 08/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The film begins with a Sorority initiation of two prospective members attired in virginal veils who kneel before a Council with obscured faces, who play a game of Russian Roulette with the initiates until one is shot - yet this was supposed to be a test of trust, no bullets were to be in those guns. A few years go by and the girls receive mysterious invites containing a sizable amount of cash to a reunion at some unknown location, as if they were bribed. They all gather and are all collected by a Starchky & Hutch-looking twosome, and driven to a mansion deep in the isolated countryside where they find their accommodations. They all begin to wonder who their host is, eventually making an appearance - it turns out to be the murdered girl's father! Here is where the real fun begins as he carefully orchestrates each girl's demise in various suspenseful ways. At some point, the drivers who had dropped the girls off decide to "crash the party", as it were, propelled by their libidos in hopes the girls desire male company. So all enter, but none can exit, primarily because of the electrified fence {which would be a marvelous implementation for the nation's borders, in My opinion}; there is a touching scene in which the father undergoes his sad ritual at a shrine he erected to the memory of his daughter in which he plays a recording of her performing the flute, which he so compassionately replicates. Personally, I felt he had every right to avenge his daughter's death - and when loopholes in the legal system yield no justice, he took it in his own capable hands, and thus initiated his own version of "The Most Dangerous Game" of sorts, although the prey here are rather weak overall, and his vigilantism is actual justice, eye for eye and kind for kind. A distraught father seeking justice for his precious little girl - quite a noble endeavor.

Towards the finale, the last living girl fires what probably has to be the luckiest shot in all of cinematic history, and she dos reveal her true colors in a very surprising twist at the very end.

Quite entertaining in a Death Wish sort of way, I grant this film a 4/5 for the Lex Talionis perspective."

There's nobody to hear you scream...except your killer...

Zacc | 06/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"During an all girl secret society initiation, one of the new members is killed playing russian rulette. many years later, the survivors are invited to a reunion at a lavish estate, which turns out to be owned my the crazed father of the girl who died. CREEPY, but very good story!"