After the massive success of John Carpenter's Halloween and the original Friday the 13th, slasher tropes began working their way into the mainstream, slowly but surely. You saw them in psychological thrillers like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, sci-fi movies like Alien, The Terminator and RoboCop, and police procedurals like the series of films based on Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter character: Manhunter (later remade under its original title, Red Dragon), The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and the prequel Hannibal Rising.
Suddenly, it wasn't just teens and college-aged young people in fear for their lives- it was adults, as well. Released at the height of the slasher craze, Night School, aka Terror Eyes (not to be confused with the 1989 anthology-type horror movie of the same name), was a prime example of such a film, and, as with the Lecter films, it featured police procedural elements, as well as an odd comedic streak, albeit of a pitch black nature.
The film revolves around a series of killings in the Boston area, all of which involve decapitation. In addition, after the killer- who is clad in black leather and sporting a black motorcycle helmet to disguise their identity- claims their victim, they always submerge the resulting severed head in water of some kind, i.e. a duck pond, a bucket of water, a fish tank, a sink- even a toilet at one point!
If you're a fan of gialli films, this all probably sounds familiar, as Strip Nude for Your Killer also features a motorcycle helmet-clad psycho on the loose, and Dario Argento likewise has featured decapitation-happy killers in several of his films, notably Tenebrae and Trauma. Indeed, this film does, in fact, have a sort of giallo vibe to it, down to the oddly inappropriate sense of humor, and the overall weird tone of the film as a whole, which may make it a bit jarring- or even laughable at times- to some viewers.
This may be in part to the director- of all people, British filmmaker Ken Hughes, who is best-known for a film that is the total polar opposite of this one, the musical family film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Hughes also co-directed the original Casino Royale, a more comedic take on the James Bond character, which at one point, features Woody Allen (!) as "Jimmy" Bond, James' nephew. So, yeah, needless to say, not your typical Bond movie.
By the late Seventies, Hughes had fallen on hard times, after a series of flops that included a sequel to Alfie and a bizarre flick called Sextette, which featured the legendary Mae West in her final role, as a woman who is constantly being pursued by men at every turn. This might be understandable in her sex symbol heyday, but West was around 85 at the time! (Perhaps needless to say, West wrote the play upon which this was based, which was somewhat inspired by her real life.)
Despite an awe-inspiring cast that includes everyone from former Beatle Ringo Starr to talk show host Regis Philbin to famed actor Tony Curtis, to say nothing of rockers Keith Moon (of The Who) and Alice Cooper, the film was a massive bomb that grossed a mere $50,000 at the box office, on a budget that was at least $4 million and possibly spiraled as high as $8.
This was in part due to the fact that West reportedly had trouble remembering her lines, as they were constantly being rewritten by Hughes, who was dissatisfied with the script. Understandably, she had to wear an earpiece so that Hughes could feed her said lines in real time on the set. This led to extensive retakes and the budget spiraled out of control, not helped by all the high-end "guest stars."
The film all but sank Hughes' career, and, as such, he had to take what he could get for his next film, which proved to be his last: Night School. This may account for the film's unorthodox tone- perhaps Hughes' heart just wasn't in it. It's worth mentioning that Hughes didn't die until 2001, but this film proved to nonetheless be the final nail in the coffin of his career, despite the fact that it basically broke even at the box office, earning back its meagre budget, which was just over a million.
In spite of this, when the film is played straight, it's actually quite effective, with a grimy, unsettling look that serves the film's darker themes well, and admittedly intense stalk-and-kill scenes. It's scenes like this that make you wish the rest of the film were better, but the film just can't seem to stop itself from being irreverent at times, notably in the dumbfounding final scene, which is played completely for laughs, nearly ruining the film in the process.
But it does have another major debit working against it beyond the iffy script- which was writer (and producer) Ruth Avergon's first and last credit- the leading lady, Rachel Ward, here making her film debut. Though Ward would go onto considerable success that same year with the Burt Reynolds vehicle Sharky's Machine (another police procedural-type film, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe) you'd never guess it from her turn here, which redefines wooden, and is oft-laughably bad.
To be sure, Ward is nothing if not gorgeous, and the film makes ample use of that in a fairly graphic shower scene, which is one of the odder things I've ever seen in a horror film, being as how it features her lover covering her body with some sort of red substance- berries, maybe?- after the requisite Psycho-style jump-scare. But beyond that surface appearance, Ward is woefully underprepared for the role, which requires far more of her than she had at her disposal at the time.
Ward went on to far bigger projects soon after, including the underrated Film Noir spoof, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (which incorporates actual footage from classic Hollywood Noirs seamlessly into the narrative), featuring Steve Martin; and two actual modern-day Noirs, Against All Odds (yes, the one with the Phil Collins' theme song, featuring Jeff Bridges and an even sleazier-than-usual James Woods) and After Dark My Sweet.
Perhaps her biggest success, though, was the TV miniseries The Thorn Birds, which is the second-highest rated miniseries of all-time in the US, behind the original Roots. The miniseries was nominated for a host of awards in 1983, winning quite a few, including several Emmys and Golden Globes, though Ward herself didn't win.
You'd never guess that all that success was right around the corner after seeing this film, that's for certain. It could have been a great role, given the complexities of the character. Ward plays Eleanor, an assistant to an anthropology professor at a local college for women, Vincent Millet (Drew Snyder, of Commando, Firestarter and Cruel Intentions fame, faring considerably better in his role).
Eleanor is in a committed relationship with Millet, and the two are expecting a baby soon, but Vincent can't seem to keep it in his pants, seemingly flirting with every girl he comes into contact with, and, in some cases, outright having an affair with them. This does not go unnoticed by Eleanor, needless to say.
When girls in his class, or affiliated with him in some way (i.e. the waitress at the local diner), start to drop dead left and right, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the culprit is in this case, rendering the mystery element somewhat moot. (Spoiler alert for the next paragraph, nonetheless.)
Had the film had, say, a Sharon Stone in its corner, it might have been pretty effective, but, alas, Ward just isn't up to the challenge of convincingly playing a psychotic jealous girlfriend. In Ward's big scene, as she confesses her crimes nonchalantly to her boyfriend, she might as well be ordering from a menu at a restaurant, for all the emotion she gives it. Indeed, right after she says her piece, she concludes her spiel with, "Would you like for me to fix something to eat?" Lol. 😂
Be that as it may, not all of the laughs are unintentional. For instance, the character of Taj (Joseph R. Sicari, The Benchwarmers, Kicking & Screaming) is clearly meant as comic relief, constantly cracking wise to his partner, the mostly humorless Lt. Judd Austin, though he gets in a good dig here and there as well.
Austin is played by Leonard Mann, who often played cops in mostly Italian flicks- be sure and check out Copkiller (aka Corrupt), if you can find it, which also features Harvey Keitel and, of all people, former Sex Pistol John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten. Mann was also in the gialli The Perfect Crime and Death Steps in the Dark, showing that his casting here might not have been a happy coincidence. Perhaps director Hughes was a giallo fan, given the way he stages a lot of the murders.
Most of the rest of the cast are fairly unknown, though Nick Cairus, who plays the obvious suspect, creeper Gus, has small roles in the decent flicks The Box and The Town; Karen MacDonald, who played the waitress, Carol, crops up in The Crucible and Orphan; Annette Miller, who plays the randy lesbian headmistress, Helene Griffin, was in The Next Karate Kid and The Company Men; Margot Skinner, who plays victim Stevie Cabot, was in Seven Minutes in Heaven and the infamous "Niggars" sketch on The Chapelle Show; and Belle McDonald, who plays Marjorie Armand, was in Jaws, HouseSitter and The Color of Water. Keep in mind these are mostly bit roles, though, if they don't seem familiar.
Night School is hardly a perfect film- it just can't decide if it wants to be a straight slasher/giallo, a police procedural, or a black comedy, and, as a direct result, the tone is completely schizophrenic. When it works, it's quite effective, and you can tell that director Hughes still has greatness in him. He's also aided enormously by cinematographer Mark Irwin, in one of his earliest efforts.
Irwin will be a familiar name to die-hard horror fans, having been auteur David Cronenberg's right-hand man during his heyday, on The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone and The Fly, as well as horror favorites like Funeral Home, Spasms, Love at Stake (more of a horror-comedy), The Blob remake, Fright Night Part 2, Dark Angel, Slaughter of the Innocents and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Vampire in Brooklyn and Scream.
Another plus for the film is its solid score, by fan favorite genre composer Brad Fiedel. Fiedel is best-known for his collaborations with James Cameron, notably on The Terminator and its first sequel, as well as the spin-off TV series The Sarah Connor Chronicles (with then-future Game of Thrones star Lena Headey as Connor) and True Lies. He also scored the horror faves Just Before Dawn (I'll be reviewing that one soon), Eyes of Fire, Calendar Girl Murders (see my review of that one here), Fright Night (and its sequel) and The Serpent & The Rainbow.
While the film has all that going for it, it isn't quite enough to push it into the territory of a slasher classic, which is probably why it doesn't have a better reputation. Be that as it may, it is available on DVD and Blu-Ray, albeit with no special features whatsoever. Maybe someone like Scream Factory will give it a bells-and-whistles edition on down the line.
Either way, it is worth seeing at least once, and it's not without camp value, thanks to all those wise-cracks, courtesy of Taj, and Ward's iffy acting. Factor in some decent stalk-and-kill scenes, a few of which are legitimately memorable (the opening merry-go-round kill, the fish tank bit, the diner aftermath- watch out for that soup!- and the double kill at the headmistress' house- heads up!) and you have a pretty decent slasher on the whole, even if it is its own worst enemy, by being so inconsistent.
It's probably not the film director Hughes would have wanted to go out on, but think of it this way: it could have been Sextette. Now that would have been really scary! 😱
Check it out, if only once. 😉
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