Night School (1981)

1981
Directed by Ken Hughes
Starring Leonard Mann, Rachel Ward and Drew Snyder

Unlike a lot of the movies that I review here on the blog, there's no big sentimental back story when it comes to the movie in question today.  Mainly because I just saw it for the first time four days ago.  Seeking out the movie with that awesome "these are the best times, of our lives, these are the best times" flick from my youth (for the uninitiated, it was Killer Party) also yielded this particular cinematic masterwork from the golden age of slasher flicks.  Lo and behold, it wasn't released on DVD until 2011.  After watching it, I can kind of understand why.

As directed by Ken Hughes, Night School definitely has that trademark early '80s slasher movie atmosphere going for it.  It's dark, it's drab and it's dreary, and that all works to the movie's advantage.  Unfortunately, there are also a few things that work against it, which we'll be getting to in due time.  Enough chit-chat, let's get to the show.

The movie combines the tried-and-true slasher tropes with just a bit of giallo thriller, as we've got a "mystery killer" flick on our hands here.  It starts with a young teacher's assistant getting murdered (on a piece of playground equipment, no less) by a figure in full motorcycle regalia.  The head is dumped in a nearby can full of water, and that's our giallo-style clue that will continue to haunt us for the remainder of the running time. 

Within short order, we're introduced to our core group of characters.  Chief among them is detective Judd Astin (Mann), smart guy from Harvard who truthfully has a little bit of an air of superiority about him that comes off as dislikable.  Or maybe that's just the performance.  Leonard Mann toiled about in nothing roles for the vast majority of his career, and I've got to say that it's poetic justice, because the guy is simply not very good.  He's supposed to come off as heroic and inquisitive here, but instead just screams "douchebag" from the jump.  When another victim crops up, he sets his sights on anthropology professor Vincent Millet (Snyder) and his live-in assistant/girlfriend Eleanor (Ward).  Of the three principal leads, Rachel Ward easily has the most charisma and personality, and it's no wonder that director Hughes quickly focuses a lot of the attention on her character. 

For a slasher film released in 1981, we don't get much in the way of creative deaths.  That said, the movie does do a pretty decent job during its death sequences creating a sense of dread.  Complete with some of the most dreadful synthy music that I've heard in any horror movie, there actually are a couple scenes in this movie that made me wince - especially the long, drawn-out stuff after Ward is chased into her home by the movie's resident peeping tom.  The less said about that guy, the better.  All of the deaths revolve around the college coeds romantically linked to professor Miller, as the dude is a ladies' man of sorts who isn't satisfied by having the insanely hot and loyal Eleanor around. 

In a way, this plot device leads us to one of the most unsatisfying mysteries out of any horror film I've seen.  Roughly halfway through, it becomes painfully obvious who the red herrings are and who the killer will inevitably be, and it removes every ounce of suspense that the movie had going for it in the early goings with the synth score, the cool "curved" knife that the killer employs and the bits where the heads of the victims inevitably turn up in water.  Combine that with the fact that detective Astin manages to get more douchy and unlikable as the story uncoils, I found myself wishing for the movie to be over on more than a few occasions.

That's really a shame.  Night School really starts out strong, with a great murder sequence, a great Boston setting and an interesting concept for its killer that felt like a slightly cooler version of the Prowler from...um...The Prowler.  Whenever Ward gets a chance to speak, she does her absolute damndest to salvage the material, but she can't bring it up from the mediocrity that it was destined to become.  But then again, what do I know, as this movie has actually amassed a pretty decent cult following since 1981.  In which case, go for yours, brothers.

Oh, and don't even get me started on Astin's police partner.  He kinda looks like John Kapelos, and he'll kinda make you ant to throw a brick through your TV.  You've been warned.

** out of ****.  It's worth checking out for history's sake if you're a slasher movie diehard, but it's worth avoiding for anyone else.