Chiller Tuesday; VHS Review of 1981 'Night School'!
Welcome back to movie reviews from my VHS crypt! Next up we have “Night School”, aka “Terror Eyes” aka "The Eyes of Dread" aka "The Killer of the Night". Directed by Ken Hughes, as his final film, and Rachel Wards feature film debut, it was released in September of 1981. This movie is set in Boston, following 2 detectives as they investigate the decapitations of women at a local night school, seemingly in a ritualistic nature.
The film opens late night with a teachers aid on the merry go round at the playground. As the killer makes their entrance, she’s taunted with the killers signature weapon, the kukri knife, before meeting her demise! We follow a flirtatious anthropology professor who is painted as the main suspect, but could someone else be responsible for this string of deaths?
While this movie is classified as a slasher, it prompts themes of a crime thriller with giallo nods to the killers costume. Clad in all black along with a black biker helmet, there’s no telling who dun it until the costume is removed.
This movie did land itself on the infamous “Video Nasties” list, but don’t expect heavy gore. The movie presents itself in stylistic cuts to scenes in place of on screen kills, paired with tension and an etherial soundtrack (minus the typical pumping 80s killer themes)
Highly recommend!
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