The Initiation

R

Released Apr 28, 1984

1 hr. 37 min.

Horror

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Reviews

32%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

An amnesiac sorority pledge (Daphne Zuniga) has nightmares about her parents (Vera Miles, Clu Gulager) and a stranger.

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michael b

This was A Very Good horror and suspense movie,Good Acting-good Action,First Time Seeing This,Love It.😀😀😀😀

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Overflowing with nighties, feathered hair, and soon-to-be soap opera stars, The Initiation provides devotees of late-period slashers one last gasp of unironic, cheesy fun before Freddy and the Cenobites began dominating a sequel-soaked horror landscape.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

The Initiation is a good solid teen slasher horror film and ending you won't believe.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/19/20

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Audience Member

Like everyone else said, very "typical" (unoriginal) 80's slasher movie. Back when a dozen of these low-budget, copycat horror movies came out every summer and got a short run at drive-in theaters, cable TV, and VHS video. This one imitates John Carpenter's camera style and creepy synthesizer music. No point trying to follow the plot, like the point of the initiation (breaking into a shopping mall?), Kelly's nightmare and psycho-therapy, or why the killer used a gardening tool for the first 3 murders, then switched. Or why major stars Vera Miles and Clu Gulager agreed to be in this.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

This has all the visuals and story and twist you want when you feel like a good old slasher.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Audience Member

Better than average slasher ripoff.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Larry Stewart

Director

Daphne Zuniga

Kelly

Vera Miles

Frances Fairchild

Clu Gulager

Dwight Fairchild

James Read

Peter

Marilyn Kagan

Marcia

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David Keyes

Cinemaphile.org

107 minutes of witless nonsense, populated by performers who would look more at home in after-school specials, and filmmakers who ought to have been left stranded on the unemployment line.

Rated: 1/4

Aug 11, 2018

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Anton Bitel

VODzilla.co

offsets fun, funny co-eds (bolstered by Charles Pratt Jr's arch dialogue) against deep psychological traumas - and its duplicitous narrative ends with a twist that is hard to see coming, yet satisfies by playing studiously fair with the viewer.

Jan 14, 2018

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 21, 2005

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Scott Weinberg

eFilmCritic.com

The Initiation is the worst kind of bad movie in that it often seems like two entirely different bad movies mashed together into one ungainly chore.

Rated: 1.5/5

Oct 3, 2002

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Synopsis

An amnesiac sorority pledge (Daphne Zuniga) has nightmares about her parents (Vera Miles, Clu Gulager) and a stranger.

Director: Larry Stewart
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 28, 1984, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 14, 2015

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