In the first five years of the 80's the horror genre was cluttered with tons of low-budget slasher movies in the wake of the box office totals of films like Friday The 13th and the Halloween series. Most of them were low-budget, amateurish, and passable attempts and Splatter University falls firmly into that category.

It opens with an orderly at an asylum being knifed in the groin as a psychopath escapes and soon on the campus of St. Trinians College various students and faculty are getting killed-off in bloody ways (although most just get stabbed with a kitchen knife that's dragged up their body). New teacher Francine Forbes sets-out to try and find out the indentity and stop the killer.

Director Richard W. Haines would go on to minor (very minor unless you're a fan of trashy cinema anyway) success co-directing Troma's first Class Of Nuke 'Em High movie (Troma head Lloyd Kaufman is even credited as a "Creative Consultant" here) despite the fact he shows no inspiration or effort behind the camera as everything feels pretty static and uninteresting. Sure, he might try for something by having a close-up of a knife coming at the camera as the killer stalks someone, but for the most part his direction is as dull as the movie.

Generally this is a crappy little slasher that suffers from lackluster performances, standard deaths, and a script that doesn't even put much effort into it's "red herrings". Sure, slasher movies aren't supposed to be masterpieces of cinema - but at least they should be entertaining. There's nothing here to keep it interesting, not even any nudity. And check out that ridiculous finale with the revealed killer clutching at his genitals while chasing our heroine.

Was available on video in both R-rated and Unrated versions, I'm going to assume that Elite has given us the unrated cut despite the rating on the DVD box. (Chris Hartley, 11/10/04)

Directed By: Richard W. Haines.
Written By: Michael Cunningham, Richard W. Haines, John Michaels.

Starring: Francine Forbes, Ric Randig, Dick Biel, Suzy Collins.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The transfer here looks pretty washed-out and barely above VHS quality. It's soft, there's grain scattered throughout the movie, and it's just completely passable.

Extras: All we get here is a trailer and TV spot that help make the movie look better than it is.