Night School

Needless to say, 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 …
 
NIGHT SCHOOL started life as TERROR EYES (the name it was released overseas in other English-speaking territories). It was filmed under its original title on location in Boston in the Spring of 1980 on a budget of $1.2 million and was adapted from a script by female writer Ruth Avergon, who went on to also co-produce. The film was a big deal in the city, whose only other claim to fame was the 1978 comedy THE BRINK’S JOB. Its production was widely covered in the local press at the time. In April 1980, The Boston Globe reported that filming in the city would utilise local talent and said the promotional blurb it had been given described the film as a “… a story of ritual and cross cults; of love and intrigue; of horror and mystery; following in the grand tradition of Alfred Hitchcock.” 

However, pre-production wasn’t smooth. Original director Alfred Sole - who had helmed the proto-slasher ALICE SWEET ALICE (1976) - left after disagreements. Some sources say that he walked, although Avergon claimed in 1981 that he had been fired from the project. Sole had picked Vanity (aka D.D. Winters) for the lead - who had just appeared in the recently wrapped Canadian slasher TERROR TRAIN (1980). The pair had previously worked together on Sole’s bizarre giant ape bonkfest TANYA’S ISLAND in 1979. She exited the project when he did, which left it in limbo. 
 
Seasoned director Ken Hughes was hired to take over the director’s reigns. It seemed like an odd choice, as he was arguably best known for the children’s film CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (1968) and his previous directorial credit was the notorious Mae West musical farce SEXTETTE (1977). Hughes even apologised to a reporter from The Boston Globe about that film and its octogenarian star, sheepishly telling him: “… what are you supposed to do with a leading lady who can’t walk, talk, sit or stand?” 

"... ​ she conceded that she could have “… had a field day” with the role if she had been more experienced - and admitted that she was more concerned with “… getting the lines out” than any attempt at great acting."  Rachel Ward on NIGHT SCHOOL

Although he was less candid about his leading lady in this movie who couldn’t yet act. Legend has it that Avergon pointed at a cover of a fashion magazine that featured Rachel Ward, saying she wanted someone just like that to play the female lead. Ward was available and got the role despite almost zero acting experience (her only previous credit was a 1979 TV movie). She made NIGHT SCHOOL before THE FINAL TERROR (which began shooting in October 1980 under the title THREE BLIND MICE). She later described both films as “forgettable” and said NIGHT SCHOOL specifically was “just horrible”, but conceded she was “thrilled” to get the part and credited that they gave her “practical experience.” She also said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 1982 of her movie debut - and very possibly making a joke about the decapitations in the film: “I’d never done any acting before. They were the biggest steps I could take at the time with no previous experience. You’ve got to take chances and stick your neck out. My timing couldn’t have been better.” In another interview with Screen International in 1982, she conceded that she could have “… had a field day” with the role if she had been more experienced - and admitted that she was more concerned with “… getting the lines out” than any attempt at great acting. In retrospect, the producers should have chosen someone who could carry what was a relatively complex role with a dramatic range well beyond Ward’s fledgling capabilities. She admits that, after her two horror movies, she swapped Night School for acting classes. Although her inexperience and wooden performance lends the film its best unintentionally funny moments. 

This includes the scene where Judd lets himself into Professor Millet's house and whilst poking around his study comes across a photo showing Millet and Rachel Ward's character on safari (complete with pith helmets); each holding a human skull aloft (in a clue couldn't have been any more blatant if the photograph had been attached to a sledge-hammer!). Enter Ms. Ward who mumbles: ”Isn't breaking and entering a crime, even for a policeman?". To which Judd replies with: "Isn't head hunting a crime ... even for an anthropologist?". He continues, "I suddenly find myself up to my neck in heads. Heads in duck ponds … in fish tanks … in buckets ... then I come here and I find more heads!". Incensed (or as near as she can muster) Ward attempts to defend the noble Head Hunters of New Guinea: "How can you make a comparison with this kind of butchery and the tradition of Eastern Culture?". And on it goes. Don’t expect a Rachel Ward NIGHT SCHOOL retrospective any time soon. 

Many of the rest of the cast were from the Boston theatre scene - and whose day jobs were usually in Shakespeare productions. Karen MacDonald, who played ill-fated waitress Carol, was acting in a production of ‘A Midsummer's Night Dream’ around the same time. Of her demise on film, she told The Boston Globe: “I had a long, painful scene which was a lot of fun to do. … It took altogether maybe 20 hours for 3 minutes of death, and I got raked with the blood bags and the glycerine to simulate sweat, and I got to fall over chairs and pretend that I was falling down stairs …” MacDonald’s enthusiasm had tempered somewhat by 1984, when she spoke to The Boston Globe again: “I’ve made one movie, a slicer/dicer called “Night School”, which starred Rachel ward. A real terrible horror. It’s funny Rachel Ward never mentions it when she talks about her career!”

NIGHT SCHOOL was a Lorimar production. Again something of an anomaly, as the company was better known for producing family-friendly fare such as THE WALTONS and soaps such as DALLAS. In an interview with Adam Rockoff in his book ‘Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film’, Avergon recalls of Hughes: "Ken had enormous energy ... I just loved working with him. He was a joy to work with. He really knew what he was doing. There wasn't a lot of second-guessing. He knew what shots had to be taken for our budget. The production value that he gave us, along with Mark Irwin [cinematographer], was wonderful. I thought they really captured a nice look for the film.” In an interview with the now-defunct website Master Cylinder, Irwin recalled: "Ken was a true genius with staging, blocking, timing, pacing and performance and had the classic British mix of sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. I learned a huge amount from him and would watch him formulate coverage as the actors read the scene.” Drew Snyder recalled Hughes as something of an eccentric, who he was surprised to find had a communist flag hanging at his house when he visited to discuss the role. Hughes also had a hand in rewriting the script and he was likely responsible for adding its more humorous moments. He told The Boston Globe that a prerequisite for successful filmmaking as a director was: “… a sense of humour about himself and his work.” Arguably, the film’s comedic elements sit ill at ease with the film’s sustained attack scenes of women which are played very much straight. And the film’s jokey coda (which was filmed in New York City after principal photography had concluded) seems particularly out of place. 

“Sleazy old film is being re-released because Rachel Ward’s a star now.”  - Showbiz columnist Marilyn Beck in 1982

Producer Larry Babb (who some sources say was married to Avergon) thought he had a sizeable hit on his hands and told the local press the film could be as successful as its obvious inspirations HALLOWEEN (1978) and WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979). However, he admitted that the relatively low budget on the film - which took advantage of 40 locations across Boston - rarely allowed for second takes. One such instance, where a second take was needed, was an unintentionally comical moment when the police turned up to what was meant to be an empty building and knocked on a door only for someone to actually open it and enquire what they wanted.
 
Lorimar had originally intended to release the film theatrically in the United States in the Fall of 1980. They had even produced a 1 sheet poster and lobby cards under the title TERROR EYES. It is unclear why this release didn’t happen, but the film was subsequently picked up by Paramount, who had hit it big with FRIDAY THE 13TH (another independently produced slasher they picked for distribution) earlier that year. It was here that the film gained the name it is best known. NIGHT SCHOOL was released in September of 1981 to US screens with little success - very possibly because it lacked the graphic elements of Cunningham’s film and the slasher movie subgenre was generally underperforming outside of sequels by this point. Variety noted that the film: “… tastefully avoided the explicit gore that makes such exercises marketable.” Somewhat ironically, after its weak box office the film was playing on a double bill with Paramount’s slasher parody STUDENT BODIES by October of 1981. I’d say on reflection that NIGHT SCHOOL is the funnier of those two movies! 

However, when Ward hit the big time with her appearance in Burt Reynolds’ hit SHARKY’S MACHINE (1981) in December of that year (which she made just after THE FINAL TERROR finished shooting) Lorimar picked back up the rights for a re-release to screens to capitalise on her new success - and especially her infamous nude body paint scene (which, incidentally, Drew Synder’s wife threatened to divorce him over after seeing in the script). A representative from Lorimar said: “Rachel’s a hot property now.” The news also led to movie columnist Marylin Beck saying in June 1982: “Sleazy old film is being re-released because Rachel Ward’s a star now.” The press seemingly sneered at the news and regularly called NIGHT SCHOOL a “low budget” movie - despite it having three times the budget of Sean S Cunningham’s FRIDAY THE 13TH. Beck further commented: “ [Lorimar] … is buying back its distribution rights from Paramount and plotting a broad re-release for that piece of steamy, seamy cinema.” There is some confusion as to whether this ever happened as I’ve found no cinema listings for this re-release. Regardless, Lorimar released the film to video in the United States in August 1982 through the Key Video label.
 
The critical reception to NIGHT SCHOOL was mixed, but the biggest surprise - given how hostile many critics were to slasher movies later - were those that pointed out the film’s lack of explicit violence. The Boston Globe noted that it was “… the first feature film released by a major studio to be completely shot in Boston.” But dismissed it as a B movie. Critic Michael Blowen reserved his biggest judgment for the lack of quality of the gore. When comparing it to Tom Savini’s work in FRIDAY THE 13TH he said that in NIGHT SCHOOL “… it looks as if the victims were doused in ketchup.” 

“It’s not a gory picture, it’s a frightening picture.”  - Producer  Larry Babb defends NIGHT SCHOOL during the backlash against slasher movies

Ed Blank in The  Pittsburgh Press led with “‘Night School’ Earns Barely Passing Grade”. Said the loud-mouthed audience he had seen it with had already worked out who the killer was after two scenes. He said it wasn’t as good as WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) - but that it was “much better than most pictures of its kind.”
 
Dick Flemming in The Daily Times led with “Horror Fails In ‘Night School’". He continued: “… the latest in a seemingly endless procession of low-budget horror movies, “Night School” has all the qualities that make movies of its ilk so disgustingly memorable - poor acting and production, a few feeble stabs at gallows humor and buckets of blood.”
 
Tom McEffresh in The Cincinnati Enquirer reserved his bile for Leonard Mann, who he said “… looks like a GQ cover model. His acting ability would be strained by buttoning up a shirt.” However, he praised the cinematography by Mark Irwin and Hughes’ restraint with the bloodshed.
 
Marylynn Uricchio, in The Post-Gazette, was the most hostile and gave the film an F, saying that Hughes’ past films “… gave no hint of the depths to which he could sink.”
 
Showing just how quickly the social and political climate was changing, Avergon and Babb defended the film in a September 1981 interview with The Daily Item saying the film had been very popular in Europe and won awards in France. The interviewer asked them if they were worried about releasing the film “Now that [horror] films are at a low point.” Babb said: “It’s not a gory picture, it’s a frightening picture.” Avergon further added: “We don’t think we have a typical horror genre picture.” 

NIGHT SCHOOL was released to UK screens under its original title TERROR EYES in July 1981 by the Rank Organisation with the misleading tagline: “MAN IS THE ONLY ANIMAL THAT KILLS FOR PLEASURE”. The poster looked amateurish, with a single eyeball staring out as a badly drawn ceremonial knife hovers above. It was awarded an X certificate after some cuts by the BBFC (the equivalent of an R rating in the United States meaning that no one under 18 would be admitted). One UK review (on a double bill with TERROR TRAIN (1980)) noted: “SHADES of the all-too-recent Yorkshire Ripper case hover unappetisingly over the suspenseful shocker.” It also made reference to the real-life Boston Strangler case that had terrified the city in the early 1960s (which was likely an inspiration for Avergon’s script). However, it wasn’t until its later release on video that the film gained its true notoriety. Despite its lack of gore, the Guild Home Video release typified many other horror covers of the time and showed a bloodied Elizabeth Barnitz menaced by the killer brandishing a machete. It was probably this element that attracted the wrath of the police and politicians. Although not one of the infamous Section 1 prosecuted films it was liable to seizure. An eventual 1987 UK release was shorn of 1 minute 16 seconds. Incidentally, it was released to Spanish screens as an unofficial sequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960) as PSICOSIS 2. 

" In a strange quirk, it turns out that NIGHT SCHOOL did some influencing itself. "

Lastly, perhaps the most intriguing thing about NIGHT SCHOOL is its similarities to the Italian giallo. The police investigation and the black leather gloves of the killer are just two things which are reminiscent of those slasher/thrillers which were so in vogue in the early 1970's in Italy. They were popular, too, in the United States through their distribution through the grindhouse and drive-in networks. Another similarity is the outdated notion of the so-called predatory lesbian (seen in such gialli as CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS (1972)). Even the use of the motorcycle leathers and helmet to disguise the identity of the killer was seemingly lifted from both WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (1974) and STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER (1975). Incidentally, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? played screens in New York City under that title in 1977. It was belatedly rereleased in 1980 (and perhaps earlier) to US screens as THE CO-ED MURDERS with the poster retooled to make it look like a post-HALLOWEEN slasher. It played in NYC in December of 1980 but was in regional rollout earlier (the earliest I could find was April 1980 in Indiana). However, it isn't too much of a stretch to think the producers saw it. Babb was actively promoting what became NIGHT SCHOOL as the new HALLOWEEN and WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, so it seems likely he and Avergon would have done their homework and done some research into past examples. Also, Leonard Mann was busy acting in Italian genre cinema throughout the 1970s, including many poliziotteschi and the giallo DEATH STEPS IN THE DARK (1977). The actor praised Ken Hughes as being a collaborative director, so perhaps his experiences in Italian genre film helped shape changes in the script. 

In a strange quirk, it turns out that NIGHT SCHOOL did some influencing itself. Dario Argento’s TENEBRE (1982) - which is sometimes earmarked as the director’s reaction to the success and ubiquitousness of the North American slasher movie in the early 1980s and the casual violence  he read about during his stay there - appears to borrow moments from the film with a magpie nature which suggests it was very much intentional. NIGHT SCHOOL was released to Italian screens ahead of its North American debut in July 1981 under the title IL KILLER DELLA NOTTE ( THE KILLER OF THE NIGHT). Italian critics noted its similarities to the Giallo. In its review of the film, the Italian newspaper La Stampa led with the headline “Imitazione Argento” (Argento Imitation). Given Argento’s delighting in the perverse, the lifts from NIGHT SCHOOL are probably a kind of wry joke on his part - as his film (which began shooting in May 1982) also borrows liberally not only from his own back catalogue but purposefully references Hitchcock and others, too. 

One of the bravura scenes in TENEBRE is when Argento’s camera swoops over and into the house where a lesbian couple are then brutally butchered. It is a much more flamboyantly filmed scene that somewhat mirrors the one in NIGHT SCHOOL where the killer murders Ms. Griffith and the young female student she has taken home to seduce (Holly Hardman). Although - in a rare moment of restraint - Argento doesn’t feature the severed head in the toilet bowl (which itself was borrowed for subsequent slashers CURTAINS and THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (both 1983)). However, Argento’s most explicit steal is from the murder of the character of Kim in the changing rooms at Boston’s Aquarium. Towards the end of the scene, Kim flails against a white wall leaving a trail of blood in her wake. This scene was recreated - again with much more blood and style - with actress Veronica Lario - whose bloody spray from her severed arm helped catapult Argento’s film into the Section 1 ‘video nasty list’.
 
Ultimately, I’ve warmed to NIGHT SCHOOL since when I first reviewed the film on this site probably over 20 years ago. It isn’t a great film, but it is an enjoyable one - sometimes for all the wrong reasons.


BODYCOUNT 7: 
Female 6 / Male 1

1. Female decapitated with curved blade (off-screen)
2. Female decapitated with curved blade (off-screen)
3. Female slashed and decapitated with curved blade (off-screen)
4. Female slashed and decapitated with curved blade (off-screen)
   
5. Female slashed and decapitated with curved blade (off-screen)
   
6. Female slashed and decapitated with curved blade (off-screen)
   
7. Male breaks his neck in motorcycle crash

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Acknowledgement: I would like to thank Bill Ackerman for his invaluable help with research.

For archival purposes the old review for NIGHT SCHOOL can be viewed here.

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