Oct '19
I've made it a quest in my life to watch as many 1981 slashers as I can, because this was the pinnacle year for the slasher subgenre. Somehow, most of them end up being pretty decent because the genre wasn't fatigued yet. Filmmakers were enthusiastic about it still, and they had a few good ideas up their sleeves. Most importantly, they still took themselves seriously, and camp value didn't destroy the integrity of slasher movies yet.
When they made slashers back in the day, it all about finding the right ingredients. This meant an original look for the killer, a unique weapon, a proper M.O., and a setting. For this one, we have a black clad biker whose identity is concealed by a helmet. This killer wields a kukri and is terrorizing the female students of a Boston night school, cutting off heads left and right.
We have a few prominent characters throughout, such as the male professor who has relations with all of his students, his sexy foreign assistant/"lover", a dumb peeping tom, and a couple of detectives investigating the murders around it all.
There are a few good moments here and there, some violent slashings, and a decent score by Brad Fiedel of Terminator and Just Before Dawn fame. It's a whodunnit, but the twist shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering we're only ever following a handful of characters, but it's decently crafted, and I've definitely seen worse.
When they made slashers back in the day, it all about finding the right ingredients. This meant an original look for the killer, a unique weapon, a proper M.O., and a setting. For this one, we have a black clad biker whose identity is concealed by a helmet. This killer wields a kukri and is terrorizing the female students of a Boston night school, cutting off heads left and right.
We have a few prominent characters throughout, such as the male professor who has relations with all of his students, his sexy foreign assistant/"lover", a dumb peeping tom, and a couple of detectives investigating the murders around it all.
There are a few good moments here and there, some violent slashings, and a decent score by Brad Fiedel of Terminator and Just Before Dawn fame. It's a whodunnit, but the twist shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering we're only ever following a handful of characters, but it's decently crafted, and I've definitely seen worse.
Anyway, Night School is decent. Like so many horror movies we talk about here, I haven't seen it in eons, but I liked it at the time. From memory, there seemed to be a vague giallo/Argento influence too.