To All a Goodnight (1980)

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

Director:

David Hess

Writer:

Alex Rebar (screenplay)

Stars:

Jennifer Runyon, Forrest Swanson, Linda Gentile

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Runyon	...	Nancy
Forrest Swanson	...	Alex
Linda Gentile	...	Melody
William Lauer	...	T.J.
Judith Bridges	...	Leia
Katherine Herrington	...	Mrs. Jensen
West Buchanan	...	Ralph (as Buck West)
Sam Shamshak	...	Polansky
Angela Bath	...	Trisha
Denise Stearns	...	Sam
Solomon Trager	...	Tom
Jeff Butts	...	Blake
Bill Martin	...	Jim (as Bill Martins)
Jay Rasumny	...	Dan
Harry Reems	...	Pilot (as Dan Stryker)

Storyline

It's Christmas break at the Calvin Finishing School for Girls, and the students are planning a big party while the president of the school is away. A group of boys show up and the fun begins, until mysterious killer starts bumping off couples one by one. The police show up and promise to keep everyone safe, but they prove ineffectual against the crazed psycho. Could the killings have anything to do with the girl who was killed in an initiation stunt at the school a few years earlier?

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Plot Keywords:

school | santa claus | police | christmas | teenager | 

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Taglines:

You'll scream till dawn!

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 January 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Goodnight - Die Nacht, als Knecht 'Blutbrecht' kam

Filming Locations:

Santa Barbara, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Four Features Partners, Intercontinental Releasing Corporation (IRC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot in ten days.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Silent Night, Deadly Night III: You Better Watch Out (2012)

User Reviews

Not as bad as popular belief

To all a Good Night has long since been touted as one of the worst of the genre pieces from the benchmark year in slasher shenanigans. But to be honest, it's really not that bad. Mark Shostrum's gore effects are great, and Jennifer Runyon makes a cute and approachable surviving girl. This is, of course, the first SLASHER movie to include a killer santa, which would be repeated in Santa Claws, Silent Night Deadly Night, Christmas Season Massacre etc. etc. Just for the sake of originality (!), Don't Open Till Christmas opted for a masked killer that killed people in Santa suits instead!

The only problems with To all a Good Night is that it's poorly lighted, a little off the wall and perhaps too under-produced. But it's certainly not the worst of its kind and is just about worth hunting out.