NIGHT SCHOOL (1981)
Directed by Ken Hughes
Key Video VHS
Reviewed 07.06.06
Review by Dan Budnik

THE FILM
“I’ve got an idea for a movie.”
“Tell me about it.”
“It’s set in Boston. Someone is killing young women, decapitating them and immersing the heads in water.”
“I like it. Possibly too much.”
“It all has something to do with a girl’s college and a professor who sleeps with his students.”
“Brilliant. How can I help?”
“We need a writer. I’ve got the idea but we need a script.”
“I know someone. A good friend of mine. She’s a writer.”
“Is she good?”
“She’s a writer.”
“What are her strong points?”
“Writing.”
“Character?”
“No.”
”Dialogue?”
“Nope.”
“Structure. Plotting. Does she have a great imagination?”
”Not really.”
“Umm, so what does she do well?”
“If you need someone to write something, to get words on paper, she’s the one to do it. Tell her when you need it. Give her some money. She’ll have it written.”
“She’s hired!”

I’ve read Adam Rockoff’s Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978 to 1986 so I know this is not how the script for Night School was written. But, a man needs to keep his dreams alive sometimes even in the face of the truth.

Night School is one of the better-made slashers from the First Wave. It is directed by Ken Hughes, who knew a thing or two about movies, and stars some guy, who tends to speak far too loudly, as a Harvard detective. The film has a decent pace and some rather brutal moments. The killings start off relatively calm and then build from there, becoming gorier and more unpleasant as we go. And, as my imaginary producer mentioned, all heads are found immersed in water.

I think Night School is a good “One Watch” film. It’s a much more efficient film than a lot of its clumsy brothers and sisters. But, apart from a few moments, it doesn’t really have a lot going on that’s exemplary. Characters stumble in, then they stumble out and other characters show up and do the same thing. After 88 minutes, it’s over and credits roll. The detective has a sidekick who is incredibly unfunny and annoying and you can tell this before he speaks a word. The head of the girl’s college (who looks like she was halfway to morphing into Kate Mulgrew when the special effect stuck) is, of course, a lesbian. Just as the male professor we meet is there to sleep with all the girls. Misogyny High? Possibly. I really don’t think the writer had anything more in her mind than aping other successful films of this type. When you rip off things without paying complete attention to what you’re doing, sometimes certain elements can become magnified. That happens here but really the film’s not interesting enough to warrant too much attention. (Although, if you pushed the issue...)

I would like to take a moment here to mention my favorite scene in the film, the scene that sticks in my memory. Two words: Beef Stew. There’s no gore and only a briefly glimpsed severed head but it is a gross one. The ingredient that makes it so great is that it features a lot of beef stew. Sloppy, gloppy beef stew in a big, big pot. And, for extra kicks, two fat construction workers eat it. One even pulls a hank of hair out of his stew-filled mouth. Then, the glop gets poured from one large pot to another. Watching all that ploppy stew flow by is grosser than the heads. It is almost hypnotizing. “No one directs stew better than Hughes!”

Night School is a slasher you could, probably, show to average folks. Call it a “Thriller”. Apart from a few moments, it looks like a film, which is more than can be said for some other slashers. Of course, those slashers are curious, re-watchable beasts. There’s nothing curious about this one. I hadn’t seen it in almost ten years when I sat down to watch it for this review. I couldn’t remember much. There’s a reason. Apart from glorious stew, there isn’t much to remember. Killings and filler. I was still hungry for a slasher. Instead, I had a sandwich.

AUDIO AND VIDEO
A lot of lovely hiss made me feel like I was in some sort of Slasher Spa, deeply relaxed & comfortable. The picture looks fine. Early 80’s stamped all over it. Moments are a little too dark but overall, A-OK. I couldn’t really tell if much picture had been lost due to the standard pan-and-scan. But frankly, if Lorimar doesn’t want me to see this in its proper aspect ratio, who am I to argue?

EXTRAS
Key Video logo!

FINAL THOUGHTS
Sit down with some popcorn, a two-liter of Shasta and enjoy 88 minutes of vintage slasher. Night School isn’t that great but any excuse for popcorn, I say.

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