To All a Good Night (1980)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

David Hess

Writer:

Alex Rebar (writer)

Release Date:

30 January 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

You'll scream till dawn!

Plot:

A group of teenagers at a party find themselves being stalked by a maniacal killer in a Santa Claus costume.

Plot Keywords:

School | Teenager | Christmas | Santa Claus | Strangulation

Cast

Jennifer Runyon	...	Nancy
Forrest Swanson	...	Alex
Linda Gentile	...	Melody
William Lauer	...	T.J.
Judith Bridges	...	Leia
Katherine Herrington	...	Mrs. Jensen
Buck West	...	Ralph
Sam Shamshak	...	Polansky
Angela Bath	...	Trisha
Denise Stearns	...	Sam
Solomon Trager	...	Tom
Jeff Butts	...	Blake
Bill Martins	...	Jim
Jay Rasumny	...	Dan
Dan Stryker	...	Pilot

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Australia:R | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:(Banned) | Iceland:16 (re-rating)

Company:

Four Features Partners

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Certainly not in the same league as "Silent Night, Deadly Night" or "Black Christmas," but definitely better than the god-awful "Don't Open Til Christmas" and "Christmas Evil," this is an ultra-low budget film that tried to be effective and original, but fails in many aspects. It is, as far as I know, the first slasher film that utilizes a killer disguised in a Santa suit which became so controversial with 1984's "Silent Night, Deadly Night."

After a dream-like, and silly opening scene, (some sorority girls accidentally kill one of their sisters in a childish game of tag) the film deals with a spooky sorority house where we meet up with very, very cardboard sorority sisters who we care nothing about who are staying at their house for Christmas break. A group of their boyfriends show up in an airplane (???) to spend the weekend with them. Well, before we can say, 'have yourself a Merry little Christmas' they teens begin getting murdered one by one by a killer in a killer Santa suit who uses such weapons as an axe, a bow and arrow, a piece of thin wire, and the airplane propellars. The main problem with this film is that it lacks any direction or characterization. We meet a character, and 2 second later, they are dead. The lighting is horrible and makes it nearly impossible to know what is going on in many parts of the film. The acting is god-awful, even from "Charles in Charge" star Jennifer Runyon. She is so whiney and downright annoying here that it is hard to have any feelings whatsoever for her. I guess the films only redeeming factors is the pacing and the murders, and the "twist" at the end when the killer is revealed. It's not as obvious as one might think who is behind the Santa costume. I would only recommend this to those people who don't expect Oscar-worthy efforts with EVERY film they watch...remember, this IS an early 80's slasher film. Keep that in mind and you may find this to be an interesting, if not slightly entertaining film. 4 out of 10