TERROR EYES is a strange beast to be sure. My mind was already irretrievably boggled when I learnt that this slasher flick (and subsequent 'video-nasty'), was directed by the same man responsible for CHITTY, CHITTY, BANG, BANG!; but anyone hoping to see hysterical co-eds chased by the Child Catcher gone postal (God, that could be fantastic!), will be sorely disappointed- I know I was...

       The film's basic premise is that Boston is being terrorised by the 'HeadHunter'- a motorcycle driving killer who's always dressed head to toe in black leather; and whose identity is hidden by a shiny black crash helmet. The victims are decapitated (always off-screen) with a curved machete- their severed heads then submerged in the nearest container of water.

       The first victim we see (although not the killer's first victim- later we find out that another woman has been slain (her head deposited in a duckpond!), is a Nursery helper, Anne Baron, who, after waving off the last of the children, relaxes on the playground's merry-go-round as the light fails on a Winter's evening. Enter stage-left the 'HeadHunter' who approaches the woman and, despite her protests, starts to spin the merry-go-round- faster and faster. Instead of getting off, Anne just sits there screaming- going round and round. The killer then produces a flashing machete- taunting the victim-to-be by raising it up and down as she spins round. She has the good sense to duck- but still makes no moves to get off the darn thing. Finally tiring of the cat and, er...spinning top(?) games, the killer raises the machete up and brings it swinging down... Instead of a flying head the director plumps for that old bloodless standby- now, not quite as dumb as a cut to a bottle of ketchup going splat on a bap, but pretty close- the action cuts sharpish to a disco-bunny's chunky red knitwear as she walks away from the camera down a sunlit Boston street. Hmmm, classy...

       With the discovery of the woman's headless body we are introduced to hunky Police Lieutenant Judd Anderson (Leonard Mann) and his wisecrackin' partner who informs him as he arrives at the scene, "I hope you had a good breakfast this one's really messy!". They find Anne's head submerged in a bucket of water nearby and immediately make links with the previous murder. On further investigation they find out that the victim was en-rolled in Night classes at Wendell College for Women (the NIGHT SCHOOL of the US title); where she was studying Anthropology. Judd goes to the college and is introduced to a whole list of likely suspects, including the predatory lesbian principal Ms. Griffith; Professor Millett (Drew Snyder)- Anne's slimy, womanising Anthropology lecturer; Eleanor (Rachel Ward)- an English exchange student (and Millett's current bit of student crumpet; a fact amply demonstrated in a bizarre body-painting-in-the-shower ritual); Kim, Anne's twitchy best friend (who tells Judd that she thinks that the dead girl was seeing an older man); and a whole plethora of female students who look dodgy purely because of their pudding-basin hair cuts. Judd immediately suspects Professor Millett, not least because he seems to have de-flowered the whole school (bar Ms. Griffiths); but he's also prone to stating the bleedin' obvious- "You know Lieutenant, I think you're dealing with a psychotic killer here..", being one of his better revelatory bon-bons.

       Needless to say, as Judd makes no, er... headway- seemingly lost in a sea of red herrings, the killer continues to hack their way through the female population of the Night School...

Click on the video thumb to read page two of the review!