The Haunting of Sorority Row (TV Movie 2007) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
13 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
5/10
The dead also rises
sol12188 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Interesting but very predictable movie about revenge from beyond the grave that creates havoc in this super secret and snobbish collage sorority house. It turns out that one of the member of the sorority-Jenna Thorn-had to spend the night locked in a coffin in order to qualify to become a full member. This lead Jeanna to die of acute shock when the very claustrophobic young girl ended up dying of fright! Or did she?

Pretty Samantha Willows, Leighton Meester, is all over the place in trying to find out who's murdering her sorority sisters with the realization that they somehow had it coming. This is when Samantha and her collage roommate Jane,Kailin See, find out that those, the sisters in the sorority, are being knocked off because they had something to do with Jenna's disappearance a years earlier.

The four members of the sorority who were involved in Jenna being entombed suspect that it's her boyfriend Colin, David Flemming, who's the person trying to hunt them down and do them in for what they did to his fiancée and soon to be wife Jenna. Colin for his part has just one scene in the movie, more or less to introduce himself to the audience, and is never seen or heard from again!

Samantha for her part gets to the bottom of this mystery with the help of her nebbish boyfriend Oliver, Adrian Petriw, who's a strong believer in the supernatural and life after death. But in uncovering just who the killer is and the reason for his, or her, actions doesn't help the four sorority members, those responsible for Jenna's disappearance. The four young ladies ended up being iced and in once case boiled, like a lobster, and put away in the hospital morgue until farther notice.

The movie did start off promising enough but quickly fell apart with it practically telegraphing, in a number of very obvious clues, to the audience who the killer is. You had to sit through almost 90 minutes of mindless nonsense until you were hit with the films "surprise ending" which only seemed to have surprised Samantha who should have seen it coming from the very beginning! In the fact that it was her, and no one else, who was handed all the clues to the killers identity, by non other then the killer himself, and still didn't have a clue to what they were!
10 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Poor weak production
SnoopyStyle3 February 2014
Samantha Willows (Leighton Meester) is a college freshman pledging a prestigious sorority. However something supernatural is killing its members. There was a mysterious girl missing from the previous year's pledges. Meanwhile, Sam's high school boyfriend has come along to college but is jealous of her new life.

This is a low budget weak production horror. The supernatural is revealed right off the bat. The big mystery is revealed before it even asks the questions. The CG is poorly done. The only good thing here is Leighton Meester. She takes this weak material and makes a little something. However, the production is so low that there isn't even enough members in this sorority. It's just weak overall.
3 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Light Made-For-TV Paranormal Fright...
vnssyndrome893 August 2023
THE HAUNTING OF SORORITY ROW/DEADLY PLEDGE (TV Movie 2007)

BASIC PLOT: Samantha Willows (Leighton Meester) is having a blast her freshman year at college. She's pledging the hottest sorority on campus, and has made lots of new friends. Her new roommate, Jane Horten (Kailin See), is a bit odd, but she's still nice to have around. The only problem? Jane never sleeps. She's always awake, and she never seems to eat either. There's something unusual about Jane, but Samantha chalks it up to freshman jitters, and tries to keep up with pledge week.

Samantha is also having problems with her high school boyfriend, Oliver (Adrian Petriw). He's always been a great guy, but lately, he's been a bit smothering. After Oliver makes a scene at a sorority party, Samantha decides to let him down gently. She wants to see other people, and Spencer (Carlo Marks) fits the bill.

After leaving a heartbroken Oliver, Samantha is approached by Collin, the boyfriend of a sorority sister who disappeared last semester. He tells her a strange story about his girlfriend Jenna Thorne (Lara Gilchrist). She disappeared during pledge week last year, a week after they got engaged. He knows she'd never run out on him, or college, and he tells Samantha to be on the lookout for her engagement ring.

Things get weirder and weirder for Sam, she knows the older sorority sisters are hiding something about Jenna Thorne. One by one, they either disappear or die, and the question becomes, does someone know what they did last summer? And is that someone human?

WHAT WORKS: *This movie uses actual music, AND gives credit to it at the end. It makes the all difference, and enhances the storytelling. In the scene where Samantha breaks up with Oliver, the haunting song, "Goodnight, Moonshine," by Dusty Rhodes & The River Band, sets the mood.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *Why does Sam make fun of Spencer (Carlo Marks), when he tells her he likes theater, more than regular frat guy behavior? She's not a bobble head, so why? The whole scene doesn't work, it should give them something in common, but instead, it makes Sam look cruel.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys light paranormal frights. It's not scary, but it is entertaining. Remember, this is a made-for-tv movie, not a big budget picture.

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a Made-For-TV movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews. Hope I helped you out.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
You must be kidding me
jeswartz6 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Let me get this straight. This is the most prestigious sorority on this campus. And there are, count them, a total of only THREE active members of this clan and only FIVE pledges? In my house we had 120 members including pledges. Even in the wee hours there was more activity than at this sleepy hollow.

But this yarn gets better. People keep dying and there's no alarm, everyone just hangs around, and there's no police or campus officials looking into things? Where do the bodies go? Do they just vanish and then the survivors just hang around waiting to be next? And roll in the hay with the frat boys as if nothing happened? Is this sorority house on the moon or something? Ludicrous beyond belief. Is a zero possible here?
11 out of 14 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Not only beyond the grave but beyond belief...
Doylenf25 October 2010
This is another of those teen-age sorority flicks where the girls are so stupid you wonder how they ever got to college in the first place. It starts out looking as though it might be a good thriller, but the events involving the revenge of a dead spirit are so mindlessly foolish that you wonder how the script managed to find someone willing to produce it.

The acting is better than the story deserves but that's no compensation for a Halloween type of thriller that lacks common sense in the telling. Production is well mounted with slick camera work and an appropriately tingling background score, but the story seems padded to fit a two-hour TV schedule and it becomes a by-the-numbers sort of thing where you just have to wait patiently for something to happen. They do happen on cue and that's the whole trouble with the silly story. Nothing seems real and none of the explanations ring true.

My advice: skip it.
9 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Above-average Lifetime horror effort
kannibalcorpsegrinder23 April 2015
Attending a new sorority, a new pledge discovers her terrifying visions and hallucinations are brought about by the return of a hazing ritual that killed a former initiate who is now haunting and killing them one- by-one.

This one turned out to be quite a decent Lifetime thriller. One of its better attributes is its engrossing mystery, which is far creepier than it has any right to be and is given plenty to work with. This one has some great parts during the beginning focusing on their visions of the coffin and the secretive nature of the previous ceremony, and when brought about with the nature of sorority and it's got a pretty decent time through the first half. This is really aided along by several really freaky moments where the ghost goes into action with it's death scenes, including a pretty harrowing sequence that's rarely seen in this kind of entries on the channel as well as a pretty chilling revelation of the ruse through the back-story and some wicked haunting scenes which give this a nice horror feel. There's still a few flaws here, mainly in the opening introductions to sorority life with the different rituals and traditions as well as the hazing portions coming off as really tame and traditional due to their being featuring in many different films, and when it focuses on the strained high-school romance is when the film's pacing lags considerably during these sections. In addition, the rather overblown CGI in the finale is out-of-place with the more naturalistic efforts of the rest of the film. These are the film's true flaws.

Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence and Language.
3 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Very Suspenseful
Jeremysnow922 July 2008
Warning: Spoilers
"Well swore to take our secret to the grave" "A haunting on sorority row" is a phenomenal film. The storyline is solid, and the acting was very flexible. I was up late, restless, watching the mystery channel and I thought.. "Another Soroity Girl Horror Movie" But boi, was I wrong. It has a feel similar to "I know what you did last summer", A killer who "dies" and comes back to wreak revenge one year later. This film revolves around a girl named Sam, who is trying to live through Pledge week (hell week) at a sorority she is trying to make it into. One by one, the sorority sisters disappear, and the mystery of Jenna is in the air. Now, its up to Sam to stay alive, and show Jenna the little goodness left, her love. I even went forward to buy this movie. It was a straight to DVD release, and i don't see why, anyway, 3 thumbs up!
19 out of 40 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
A Good Old Fashained College Horror Film...
lathe-of-heaven21 July 2012
I feel that the current rating of 4.x is not really indicative of how good this film is. Sure, it is not a masterpiece or anything and the CG is cringe-worthy in places, but overall it is an entertaining addition to the College Horror Sub-Genre. Especially for a Telefilm.

It is competently done and well presented, but it's not gonna win any Oscars (I don't think it did : ) Not terribly original but well put together; so, I give it a 7 to balance out the somewhat low 4.x that it now has. It probably falls around a 6 or so. If you are not expecting too much more than the genre normally delivers, than you should have a reasonable amount of fun watching it.
4 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
average
mattkratz8 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This was average at best. It did provide a few chills, and it had an excellent surprise ending and a good performance from Leighton Meester, but not too much to recommend to it. It was a standard horror/chiller involving sorority pledges and a secret. The other sisters had a secret involving a death with another pledge, and strange things start happening.

There were a few good scenes, and some of the death scenes were well done, and I liked the mystery, but it could have been better.

** out of ****
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Very Well Done Thriller with Great Plot Twists
penelope_u19 October 2009
Leighton and her director prove that you do not need tons of blood and gore to come up with a good scare. I won't give away any details on the plot, but I am a great fan of the genuine thriller genre, and this movie struck just the right tone with surprises, characters that you care about, and a few great effects. I think this would be appropriate for tweens and teens and they will enjoy it---finally a new scary movie that doesn't use chain saws. The plot and characters keep you guessing and move this story, and it is actually shot very beautifully. The acting is solid, especially Leighton is excellent, and nothing about this is overdone. Fun to watch! I will definitely keep this on my Halloween rotation.
14 out of 28 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Not bad but could of been better.
dlmyst-2981326 July 2020
The movie did start off promising enough but quickly fell apart with it practically telegraphing, in a number of very obvious clues, to the audience who the killer is. I ended up figuring it out about half way through the story who the killer was. Do to this I was a bit bored and kept checking on the time that's left over of the film. It is an above average movie due to the actors and the story premise. But I wouldn't watch it again even if someone asked.
1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Better Than Expected
bangel332210 July 2013
Wow I think 4 is way harsh for this film. Yes, it is a made for TV film so it is going to have certain flaws that a big budgeted movie wouldn't have, but I have to say that this film really surprised me. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The storyline was original; I have never seen a story like this in another film and in my opinion, the plot deserves a 9 out of 10. However, I need to deduct a point for some of the actors, deduct a point for production, half a point for pace and half a point for the quickie climax at the end. So my overall mark is seven, but if they had changed the ending slightly, made the duration of the film more intense, had more money to cast better actors and incorporate better effects, then this would have been a nine, maybe ten.
1 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A Good Film, Deserves a Better Rating
PrincessPeachx27 September 2012
I was really surprised when I watched this movie and liked it! I've watched it a few times now and each time I love it even more.

Usually I don't watch Lifetime or any other television movies, but this one I was interested in, probably because I LOVE ghost stories and anything creepy.

The story was written well and I didn't expect the 'twist' at the end (maybe I wouldn't call it a twist, but a surprise, for sure!) If you are bored one night, watch this movie! I was actually a little creeped out the first time I watched it. The CGI is cheaply done (I never like special effects in horror movies and wasn't expecting anything great for a TV movie) but it isn't cheesy. Plus, this movie is better than some I've paid $10 to see at the movie theater.

I gave this film a 10 to balance out the people who left such horrid reviews, though I'd probably rate it an 8. I really enjoyed this film, and you will too if you don't expect to see "Insidious" or "Scream" or "A Nightmare on Elm Street." It's NOT a scary movie in that sense. Yes, it's a creepy and suspenseful film, but I wouldn't classify it as horror. Take the time to watch this, but don't expect to see any award winning original material.
5 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed