Rish Outfield's reviews
I've seen a lot of horror movies--a lot of them bad ones--but this movie SUCKED!
Tyranist summarized the movie well, and I won't attempt to add to it. I'll simply say that Party Crasher had the barest, tiniest potential in the story, but even that was unexplored. Since it was basically an amateur film, I tried to cut it slack at first, focusing on the script rather than the filmmaking, but every time I thought there might be an interesting development, it got spat back in my face. There was a psychic link between him and his sister that made me think, "Hmmm, this will be interesting." But she only appeared in one scene and was never mentioned again, nor were his powers. Someone's been writing messages in excrement. Is Henry to blame? Is he being set up? If not, how is he getting out of his cell to do it? Is this part of his powers? Whose excrement is it? Of course, none of these questions are ever answered. They go to great lengths to make us feel sorry for the killer, and it really works, but it all turns to shite in the end, where we find out he's evil and insane and his victims need to get away.
It's this kind of hypocrisy that made me regret ever buying a VCR. There was also a nude scene that was so lascivious and obligatory that I felt sleazy for the rest of my life. Or maybe just an hour or so. And the acting was sub-par, even for porno. It was utter crap, folks.
The only up-side was that it was a no-budget film, shot on video, made by a couple of kids. The movie sucked, but at least lessons might be learned by viewing it.

The tyranist's thoughts
The real reason that Halloween was such an influential film is not that it was the first slasher and not that it was a relatively cheap independent film. Instead, it was the first slasher that everybody saw and loved. Since then there have been tons of slashers made. Some are good, some are bad. Party Crasher is somewhere in the middle
Any Halloween fan will recognize a bunch of little homages to that first influential slasher, but beyond that this one is somewhat original in its slasher fare. There is a real effort to get the audience to identify with Henry. The source of his psychopathy is explained and we do see him before he has gone completely nuts. Not long enough to get to know him and love him, but a little so that later he is a little more human. Additionally, they tried very hard to surround him with characters who loved him. Well, one character.
So little Henry is having a birthday party down at the hotel pool when someone slips a huge dose of hallucinogenic drugs into his drink. He goes a little nuts and tries to kill a bunch of people. One survives, but this will never be used again in the movie. Flash forward 15 years (sound familiar?) and his parents are bringing the psychopath home. Well, you can't keep him locked up forever.
The movie had a distinctly '80s slasher feel due possibly to both the small budget as well as the script and direction. In that respect it was very nice. The movie was actually completed in 1995 and has only seen the light of day this year thanks to First Rites and their independent film distribution efforts. Still, it doesn't show its age like some do and will.
The acting was on par for an independent film with Mark Mason doing a fine job as Henry. The dialogue was never violently bad and there were even a few good lines.
My biggest problem with the movie actually lies in the unresolved subplots. They very obviously and deliberately gave Henry a sister who he could communicate with telepathically. Once that fact was established she did not appear again in the movie. To me at least, this was a big oversight. After going out of their way to get her in there, they completely abandoned the possibilities, although I would hope that they pick it up in any sequel they may be planning. Another subplot that was left out in the cold was the criminal case that initially brought the cops into the case. It was used as a little bit of exposition and then dropped like a handful of excrement that may or may not have been used to graffiti up some doors. Give us some resolution there. It was like the cops didn't even care once they had interviewed the people we needed to be introduced to.
Little things like this brought the movie down for me. Still it is much better than a lot of slashers out there and worth the effort spent to rent it. Don't expect Halloween but you can still enjoy this one.