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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad., July 6, 2000
This review is from: Night School [VHS] (VHS Tape)
A slasher flick with more action elements than suspense elements, really, and a definite pull away from horror and toward mystery. This unfortunately makes it less successful than it might have been as either (a horror film or a mystery) and the "twist" is pretty standard for a horror film (and strains credibility). But the acting is above par as are the overall production values, and there isn't a lot of padding--there's something of a story with characterization and so on rather than a series of murders held together by nothing. One could certainly do (much) worse in picking a slasher film from this era.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rachel Ward is the highlight, February 15, 2006
This review is from: Night School [VHS] (VHS Tape)
[good things]
Rachel Ward is definitely the bright spot of this movie, regardless if we get to see her naked or not, her shower scene really makes the movie watch able, at least up to that point. The director (Ken Hughes) really does a good job, making a marginally good movie out of a dull, lifeless script. The movie has it's fair share of it's Red Herrings, twists and turns. The premise of this movie is great. A school killer, killing students by removing their heads. Sounds good, right? Well, let's say that the script did not carry the story out to it's full potential.
[the bad]
The movie was flat out-- flat. The direction took the movie and made it watchable, but where's the blood? It's a slasher movie. The killer is decapitating it's victims, sounds like it would be bloody right? Even though the story wasn't at all horrible, I just could not get into the whole "professor sleeping with his students" sub-plot. The movie didn't feel like a slasher. So much could have come from this movie if there was more blood, or at least bloodier kills. I am a huge fan of blood, and this movie did not satisfy my craving for it.
[final thoughts]
One of the lost slashers of the early 1980's. Probably a movie that will never see a home on DVD either. The movie isn't bad, but it really has no UMPH... it has nothing to carry the movie except beautiful women, who really don't show anything. Hopefully if the movie is someday released on DVD, a uncut version of this will be released. Until then, the movie is a snoozer and should be left for one of those Sundays to play in the background while you're doing homework.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
You really have to keep your head about you to succeed at this night school, December 21, 2007
This review is from: Night School [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Night school: the kids come to get ahead, the teachers come to get some head, and more than a few wind up losing their heads. Let me just caution you not to get too excited about this forgettable slasher film from 1981, though. Yes, we are talking about a girls-only night school full of sexually active young women, and, yes, the killings all end in decapitation. Unfortunately, the girls aren't all that hot, a discrete shower scene is the closest you'll come to seeing any nudity, the only hint of lesbianism is less than erotic, and we never get to see an actual beheading. In other words, Night School is basically as flat as a fritter - especially if you figure out the killer's identity early on (which isn't all that hard to do). Some say Rachel Ward is the film's only saving grace, but she doesn't rate too highly with me. She's OK to look at, but that voice - none for me, thanks.
I'll give the film some props for the opening murder scene, as it at least shows a little ingenuity, but it's all downhill from there. As the decapitations begin to add up, Boston police can only put their finger on one connection: the victims attended night school at Wendell College (well, that and the fact that each of them has her head stashed in water, but the cops can't make heads or tails of that). Since the early victims numbered among the students of anthropology professor Drew Snyder (Vincent Millett), Lt. Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) pays him a call. Snyder can't tell him very much about the girls, but even a dumb cop like Austin eventually figures out that the good professor has been giving private tutoring sessions to a number of his students, including those recently separated from their heads - one big hint is the fact that the guy is living with his young research assistant, Eleanor Adjai (Rachel Ward). That pretty much puts the good professor on the radar screen. Oh, by the way, the randy professor isn't even the biggest pervert on the faculty.
Among the list of those thanked for their services is a wide assortment of purveyors of alcoholic beverages - that actually says quite a lot about this 1981 film, particularly the ending (which, once you think about it, is pretty great - unlike almost everything that came before it). Personally, I think this film could have used a lot more gore. There's one scene in particular that really, really sets up a gruesome shot sure to make many in the audience recoil - then, for some exasperating reason, the filmmakers pull back and once again show us nothing. It makes for a pretty frustrating experience. If you're wondering why Night School hasn't been released on DVD yet, you obviously haven't seen the movie.
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