Night School (1981)

User Rating:

3.2/10   

Director:

Ken Hughes

Writer:

Ruth Avergon (writer)

Release Date:

24 April 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A lesson in terror [USA theatrical] [as Night School]

Plot:

Who's been decapitating the innocent girls at a local night school? The police are baffled. Who really cares?

Plot Keywords:

Police | Police Detective | Serial Killer | Night | Boston

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Leonard Mann	...	Lt. Judd Austin
Rachel Ward	...	Eleanor Adjai
Drew Snyder	...	Vincent Millett
Joseph R. Sicari	...	Taj
Nicholas Cairis	...	Gus
Karen MacDonald	...	Carol
Annette Miller	...	Helene Griffin
Bill McCann	...	Gary
Margo Skinner	...	Stevie Cabot
Elizabeth Barnitz	...	Kim Morrison
Holly Hardman	...	Kathy
Meb Boden	...	Anne Barron
Leonard Corman	...	Priest
Belle McDonald	...	Marjorie Armand
Edward C. Higgins	...	Coroner (as Ed Higgins)

Also Known As:

Terror Eyes

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Norway:16 (orginal rating) (cut) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 (1990) (cut) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Fiducial Resource Industrial

Trivia:

The feature film debut for actress Rachel Ward.

Quotes:

Judd Austin: Don't you ever take your job seriously?
Taj: Come on, Judd. If we did that we'd end up in the funny farm!
Judd Austin: [they arrive at the car and get inside] Duck ponds, bucket, now a fish tank.
[pause]
Judd Austin: 'The hell are you eating?
Taj: A sandwich. Want some?
Judd Austin: [after a moment's pause] Yeah, give me some.
[Taj hands him half the sandwich and he takes a bite out of it]
Judd Austin: What kind is it?
Taj: Tuna fish.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Halloween (1978)

Unfortunately rubbish, but not a complete dead loss

Overall, I have to rate Terror Eyes as a shame, as it has so much going for it; but unfortunately, most of it is lost under terrible plotting, which often reduces the film to merely a lot of death scenes strung together. Terror Eyes appears to take a lot of influence from the popular Italian Giallo sub-genre, and that is never a bad thing; although the film still fits firmly into the slasher sub-genre, which often is a bad thing. The modus operandi of the killer here is rather odd, but it works rather well as we follow a biker dressed all in black leathers who enjoys going round decapitating various members of a night school, before dumping their heads in the nearest container of water. Naturally, all this carnage prompts a police investigation; but the officers on the case are more interested in spurting terrible lines of dialogue than finding the killer, and so the murders continue. We are introduced to several red herrings along the way, although suspicion often seems to fall on the school's anthropology professor.

My only reason for seeing this film is due to the fact that it was included on the DPP Video Nasty list back in the eighties. However, it turns out that this is one of the many films that don't deserve their place on a list of notorious films, as there's very little blood and even macabre incidents such as severed heads being thrown into fish tanks etc never seem very shocking. The film is directed by Ken Hughes, the same man responsible for both the James Bond spoof Casino Royale and, rather more shockingly, children's classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! It's seems obvious that one of the film's problems is that the director isn't experienced in directing horror films, and this is shown through the almost complete lack of suspense and blasé attitude when it comes to the plot. The film doesn't feature any big name stars, although Rachel Ward makes a mark and the rest of the support cast aren't too bad considering the material they were working with. Overall, I'd like to have liked this film more; the Giallo influences are good and the film has potential, but this is not realised and Terror Eyes is merely a mundane slasher flick.