Hollywood seem to have something of a talent for churning out the most derivative, generic, cookie-cutter films in existence and SORORITY ROW is a case in point. Ostensibly a remake of a little-known slasher from the '80s, it turns out to be another completely unmemorable reworking of the hoary old I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER storyline.

A group of sorority sisters (the usual clichés: the sensitive one, the brash one, the slut, the nerd) accidentally kill one of their own and cover up the crime. Whaddya know, years later somebody starts killing them off one by one with the silliest weapon I've seen to date in a slasher: a tyre iron, of all things.

Directed by a no-name with a fine-line in copying other people's work rather than coming out with a style all of his own, SORORITY ROW is a complete bore. The characters are intensely irritating, and the script is alive with the same old tired lines and situations. Even for horror fans it's a letdown, with lame stalk 'n' slash sequences playing out in ways that are invariably predictable. Yet another modern "horror" film I'm glad I didn't pay to watch...

Sorority sisters Megan (Audrina Patridge) and Jessica (Leah Pipes) set up Megan's ex-boyfriend/Chugs' brother Garrett (Matt O'Leary) for revenge. They gather the other sisters Cassidy (Briana Evigan),Ellie (Rumer Willis),Claire (Jamie Chung),and Chugs (Margo Harshman) to pretend to dump Megan's body in a lake. The girls continue to pretend and Garrett stabs Megan in the chest to let the air out actually killing her. Jessica convinces the group to dump the body and the tire iron in a mine shaft. Cassidy disagrees so they wrap the body in her jacket. Eight months later, the girls are graduating. Cassidy barely tolerates Jessica and has Andy (Julian Morris) as her boyfriend. They all receive a picture of somebody holding the tire iron. Megan's younger sister Maggie (Caroline D'Amore) shows up. Then a hooded figure starts killing people with an implement shaped like a tire iron.

The girls need time and space to set up the characters better. Leah Pipes does the mean girl very well and put herself above all the rest. Briana Evigan is functional as the lead heroine but she needs to be a better foil to Jessica. The other actresses can do no better than 2 dimensional cardboard cutouts. Rumer Willis is reasonable as the brainy geek. The premise is not that original but it has good potential as standard horror fare. It just never rises above being a weak B-movie. There are also way too many characters to keep track of and without better characterization, it's questionable why the audience should care.

During a party in the Theta-Pi sorority house, the sister Megan (Audrina Patridge) plays a prank with her unstable boyfriend Garrett (Matt O'Leary) simulating an OD after using pills. Her sisters Jessica (Leah Pipes),Claire (Jamie Chung),Ellie (Rumer Willis),Cassidy (Briana Evigan) and Garrett's sister Chugs (Margo Harshman) suggest to dump her "body" in a lake and the stressed Garrett sticks the tire iron through the Megan's chest killing her. Cassidy decides to call the police, but the sisters are convinced to dispose the body in a shaft and keep in secret under the leadership of Jessica that blackmails Cassidy. Eight months later, in their graduation party, the sisters receive a creepy message with the picture of the tire iron in the beginning of a nightmarish night.

"Sorority Row" is another rip-off of the franchise "I Know What You Did…" and other sub-products of the slasher genre combined with "American Pie", with those sorority houses where the women are stupid sluts and the guys are stupid drunkards. The result is a plot absurdly imbecile and the characters Jessica and Maggie are simply unbearable. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Pacto Secreto" ("Secret Pact")