David DeCoteau’s low budget 1988 cult film “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama” is one of my all time favorite video store gems, and the follow up to it has been in the works for almost thirty five years, oddly enough. I don’t know if we really needed a sequel, but nevertheless we have “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 2” as brought to us by director Brinke Stevens.
The babes are back. And so is everyone’s favorite wish-grantin’, murder-lovin’ mischievous gremlin, the Imp. The Pi-Ep sorority house has seen better days, but the girls are intent on gaining some new recruits. With housemother Auntie Snake as their guide, the naughty hi-jinks and hilarity begin. Meanwhile, though, the Bowl-O-Rama bowling alley has had a break-in, and a breakout. With the escape of the magical and murderous Imp, it’s a fight for survival, with only one mysterious girl holding the answers to the riddle of the Imp’s wish.
The premise for “Sorority Babes 2” is pretty similar to the first film, except Stevens’ movie is noticeably tighter in budget and clocks in at a little over an hour. Not that that’s a bad thing, mind you, as the sequel is filled with padding. The writing takes its sweet time bringing the babes and their idiotic male sidekicks to the Bowl-O-Rama. Before that we’re given a half hour of literal T&A shots and a ton of exposition by Kelli Maroney as Auntie Spider. Linnea Quigley declined to return as Snake.
The script also wastes time injecting footage from the original film in to preceding rather than allow us to seek out the first film on our own. If anything the movie does know exactly what it is from the jump, as it opens with the theme song paired with a sequence of the girls doing aerobics in skin tight outfits. From there the cast does a pretty solid job with their respective roles, supplying the T&A but also offering up some genuinely clever gags here and there. Katie O’Neil is especially funny as the suck up Tiffany, and Glory Rodriguez is (reminiscent of character Spider) a lot of fun as the rebellious heroine Bitsy.
The producers also make good on their promise of old uncle Impy, bringing back the classic monster design in the flesh. It looks about as goofy and stiff as ever, and Derek Jeremiah Reed is great taking over the voice role. Brinke Stevens is clearly able to work around the miniscule budget and tight working conditions, and while the flaws almost destroy the overall experience, “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 2” is a solid follow up with a fun sense of humor.
Streaming on Full Moon Features.