To All a Good Night
Prom Night (1980)
featured an opening scene involving a scare prank by kids that goes awry
resulting in a girl falling to her death out of a window into broken glass.
Those responsible for scaring her decide reluctantly to keep the incident a
secret, but there is one who knew about it and vowed to get even with them…and
does on Prom Night when all are
eighteen years old. To All a Good Night
(1980) follows similarly with a teenager at an all-girls boarding school at this
exclusive locale (with an airstrip) falling out of a balcony when her fellow
students were trying to spook her, falling to the ground below, killing her
instantly. Like Prom Night, To All… follows the pattern of a killer
(or killers) emerging two years later to kill off girls at the school where the
victim perished. This time, though, the killer(s) wear a Santa costume and do his/her
killing on Christmas Eve/Day.
To get it out of the way, David Hess (known for his rapist
degenerates in the 70s/80s, in flicks like Last
House on the Left, Hitch-Hike, and
House at the Edge of the Park)
directed To All… and the one who
wrote the script was Alex Rebar (the gooey glop astronaut in the cheesy sci-fi
flick with Rick Baker effects, The
Incredible Melting Man). You pretty much will read this on all reviews
because these are interesting factoids that should give this film some needed
rub. It needs all it can get, really. It is written and directed with not much
pop or enthusiasm. It does have a moment here or there, though.
The girls are promiscuous and certainly unafraid of sex. In
fact, they love sex and are as aggressive (if not more so) as the guys they
invite to their school “sorority”. A majority of the film has the guys and girls splitting off, flirting, sharing sexual innuendo, and having sex. Then the Santa killer goes to work, leaving a body count, burying them on the property so they are missing and not located.
Jennifer Runyon's claim to fame is the pretty college girl Murray takes a shine to at the beginning of Ghostbusters (1984). She's the virginal sweetheart while Forrest Swanson is a medical nerd who loses his virginity to voracious Linda Gentile. These two wind up an item by film's end, and that is fortunate for them. Everyone else, except Judith Bridges in a bizarre, unexpected twist, is dead meat and fair game. Bridges, for a bit of something quite different, is caught before taking a shower buck naked as the Santa killer wields a knife, totally shocked into lunacy, leaving her dancing about while singing to herself! There's nothing quite as odd as seeing Bridges dancing about while Runyan tries to avoid getting stabbed as she's being chased!
Sam Shamshak is a lead detective assigning two cops as security for the girls and hoping to find out what happened to some of the missing young adults over Christmas Eve. Shamshak's strange cuffing of Runyon's chin as he glares, seemingly carried away by her beauty, and this specific way of trying to comfort her to ease has the camera paused on them to an awkward degree, as if Hess was challenging us to turn away. Kiva Lawrence, as the cook has been filling in as denmother until the administrator returns, is civil, patient, tolerant, and kind. The girls don't seem to halt their promiscuity from her, so she is privy to their randy way of thinking (and desire of acting). Both Shamshak and Lawrence factor into the plot far beyond just supporting cast pieces.
There is some playful dialogue here and there (there was also this in Friday the 13th (1980)), along with the expected slay to come after the sex. There isn't much punch in the kill scenes and very little real bite in front of the camera that serves in dropping the jaw. Take us through to the end and leave us with little to care about. Some question why this gets so little pub while Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) remains on the lips...at least SNDN wanted to get a reaction. To All... earns its yawns with little effort to persuade otherwise.
Jennifer Runyon's claim to fame is the pretty college girl Murray takes a shine to at the beginning of Ghostbusters (1984). She's the virginal sweetheart while Forrest Swanson is a medical nerd who loses his virginity to voracious Linda Gentile. These two wind up an item by film's end, and that is fortunate for them. Everyone else, except Judith Bridges in a bizarre, unexpected twist, is dead meat and fair game. Bridges, for a bit of something quite different, is caught before taking a shower buck naked as the Santa killer wields a knife, totally shocked into lunacy, leaving her dancing about while singing to herself! There's nothing quite as odd as seeing Bridges dancing about while Runyan tries to avoid getting stabbed as she's being chased!
Sam Shamshak is a lead detective assigning two cops as security for the girls and hoping to find out what happened to some of the missing young adults over Christmas Eve. Shamshak's strange cuffing of Runyon's chin as he glares, seemingly carried away by her beauty, and this specific way of trying to comfort her to ease has the camera paused on them to an awkward degree, as if Hess was challenging us to turn away. Kiva Lawrence, as the cook has been filling in as denmother until the administrator returns, is civil, patient, tolerant, and kind. The girls don't seem to halt their promiscuity from her, so she is privy to their randy way of thinking (and desire of acting). Both Shamshak and Lawrence factor into the plot far beyond just supporting cast pieces.
There is some playful dialogue here and there (there was also this in Friday the 13th (1980)), along with the expected slay to come after the sex. There isn't much punch in the kill scenes and very little real bite in front of the camera that serves in dropping the jaw. Take us through to the end and leave us with little to care about. Some question why this gets so little pub while Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) remains on the lips...at least SNDN wanted to get a reaction. To All... earns its yawns with little effort to persuade otherwise.
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