Night School [1981]
Someone in black motorcycle gear and helmet is using a curved tribal sword to decapitate young women. Who is it and why?
** ½
It is learned while the detectives investigate that the latest victim attended a particular female college, at night, and perhaps this might be a link that will bind the killer to his/her body count. An anthropology class she attended just might be the ticket for the Harvard-educated detective, Lt Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) to find and arrest a cold blooded psychopath.
Obviously if murders continue to happen to college girls from a particular school and, more importantly, class, it is certain to draw attention of the detectives in charge. Why wouldn’t it? So Austin can’t just put aside the next murder, a bloody mess where the killer, this time, goes right after a student who seemed to be getting somewhat cozy with the anthropology professor, Vincent Millett (Drew Snyder), much to the annoyance of foreign exchange student, Eleanor (the luscious Rachel Ward). Eleanor and Vincent are into some really wild kink (she allows him to smear animal blood & flesh all down and over her naked body in the shower!). The second victim is swimming and feeding fish at a local aquatic aquarium, gets out of her gear, and is about to put on her clothes when the killer bursts like a Jack-in-the-box from her locker. That blade in hand, swinging wildly for the fences, the second victim is vulnerable and defenseless (the use of fishing net as a lone means of defense I responded with mixed feelings of giggles and understanding because while it looks silly, this is a last ditch effort to entrap both killer and quarry, with the blade ultimately winning in the end), the end result never in doubt.
While I have seen this film in the past (I own a VHS copy), and know the identity of the killer, I admired an early attempt to establish Ward as the final girl. She’s at a diner for a little while with this creepy employee (he cleans the tables and takes out the trash, etc.) eyeballing her in a fixation that gives off bad vibes. Once she leaves for the college, he follows her from behind. She panics, chug-a-lugs back to the building, bungles her keys until opening the doors to the college, and excuses herself to the shower. It seems like Ward will be the girl having to eventually fend off the killer at the end. I like that this is just a ruse. I appreciate an early slasher that doesn’t follow convention. This really is in some ways closer to the giallo in that regard. I have seen this swerve in the giallo genre in the past. Ward says she’s the professor’s “research assistant”. She soon informs her boss she’s pregnant.
A pattern starts to develop as the girls seem associated one way or another to Vincent. The lesbian president of the women’s college offers solace (and her home) to one of Vincent’s sobbing conquests, proclaiming that Vincent’s time as a professor at her school are over. Using the college as a “Playground for his sexual exploits” will not continue yet she plans to herself. Funny.
The film kind of lays out the motive for the killings anytime Ward is on screen. It is a bit too obvious. If there is a detriment to the film it is that there’s no surprise to the identity of the killer. Really only two characters could really be responsible. I kind of enjoy my slashers framed closer to Agatha Christie where there are multiple suspects. Why I love the giallo genre is because you get these crazy twists, these quite unusual revelations about the killer, his/her reasons for pulling out that straight razor and putting it into the torsos and throats of victims, and they’re often doozies. Night School doesn’t exactly offer a list of suspects, and good, old fashioned jealous obsession isn’t exactly the most jaw-dropping motivation for taking a blade to women…it doesn’t take much brain power to muster up that kind of revelation to a body count. Although, I must admit that when a comely waitress gets it from the killer, it does establish just how jealous the killer is. It says that it doesn’t matter who you are, if you flirt with Vincent, a trip to the mortician’s slab is your destination.
There’s the “chopped off head in a container of water” gag that follows each murder, with the director placing particular emphasis on where the waitress’ head is at in the diner kitchen. The owner / cook of the diner gets a complaint about hair in his beef stew so he dumps the big pot. I can just imagine a bit of a silence, a hush, disquiet, and anticipation as the beef stew pours out. Sorting through boxes on and in the refrigerator I figure has the same effect. Ultimately it’s the sink that is the head’s chosen spot by the killer. I kind of grinned at the devious draining of the sink as the water recedes and the cook peers into it to see what is gumming up the works. That is some mighty twisted work from the director to keep us guessing. Kind of masterful, actually.
I like how the detective is able to get vital information regarding the reasons behind the decapitation as it correlates with Vincent’s research into the headhunters of New Guinea and Eastern Culture, the use of water and why “enemies” are ritualistically murdered from Eleanor. Cleansing of spirits and all that. Austin goads it from her in Vincent’s office, full to the gills with artifacts and skulls. Looking at photographs with the two of them holding skulls together, Austin begins to theorize that they’re work could be related to the murders.
Of course, it isn’t just the girls who seem to be sexually linked to Vincent that are endangered…even the school president isn’t immune to the wrath and rage of the psycho. Oh, and once we do get the reveal, a sacrifice is made in the killer’s favor so that a child can be salvaged a most unfortunate fate, while the father must give up his own, with the ending resulting in quite a momentarily neat little chase where the police are after him (the patsy on motorcycle, clad in black to throw the police off the real killer's scent). The ending doesn’t condemn the real killer, which is an interesting conclusion, with Austin knowing but unable to prove it. A funeral and a case closed. Inexplicably, the final moment has Austin’s partner playing a practical joke on him regarding the black helmet and gloves, hiding in the backseat, jumping out. It’s that old trick that goes back to Carrie. Directors in the early 80s couldn’t resist it.
As a whole, I don't think Night School has anything particular that demands multiple viewings. Besides that whole tribal kink with the smearing of the blood and flesh in the shower between Eleanor and Vincent and how the killer is outfitted in motorcycle gear, wielding a ritual blade used by the New Guinea, Night School doesn't go for the jugular or feature any performance that raises eyebrows (the twist is even telegraphed relatively early in the film), and the final fade to black has two cops laughing about the outfit of the killer, even though it is acknowledged (at least by Austin) that the true person behind the crimes is still out there and soon to be raising a child. Ward's casting will perhaps draw some attention to Night School (but she was also in The Final Terror, so there might not be that much value in name recognition here), and the talk of its closer resemblance to the giallo than slasher could stir curiosity its way. All that said, this left me more than a bit underwhelmed. It's just too damned ordinary.
While the film deals with naughty behavior and the killer attacks with an unhinged ferocity, there's not enough titillation (it is all dialogue and reactions of the girls that Vincent shook up; the lesbian angle with the college president and a student never reaches its zenith, much to my disappointment) or violence (all suggested and during the attacks, the director cuts away, with only blood really indicating what is happening to victims) that will stand it out from all those other slashers that came before or after Night School. And there's no stylistic touches or "grab ya" moments that stirs up that excitement to see it again. Only the anthropology angle seems to set this apart from the majority.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment