To All a Goodnight (1980)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A group of finishing school girls remain on campus for the Christmas holiday and join together for festivities at their nearly-empty school. Unfortunately, a psycho in a Santa Claus suit is lurking around, and bringing more than holiday cheer.The directorial debut of David Hess, who is most known for his appearance in Wes Craven's grindhouse classic "The Last House on the Left," this marginal slasher flick is absurdly hammy and yet has simultaneous bursts of greatness. The opening sequence lasts all of thirty seconds, is badly-shot, has zero context, and is virtually identical to the opening scene of "Prom Night" (which in itself is strange given that these films were released within mere months of each other). When the very-obvious stunt dummy went cascading off the balcony, I knew I was in for a doozy with this one.From thereon, the audience is served a routine narrative that is indistinguishable from any other slasher, except that it's poorly-edited. Uneven pacing may perhaps be the film's greatest sin-the plot chugs along in an awkward fashion, and the first act in many ways feels like it should be the second. I would commend this inversion as at least a brave narrative experiment, but given the shoddiness of the entire production, it's safe to say it was unintentional.It's not all bad, though. There are some solid murder sequences here and a handful of effective (yet again, poorly-edited) gore effects. There is one murder sequence involving a knights' armor that is ridiculously clever and one of the bursts of brilliance that I think warrant a viewing. What the film lacks in conventional Christmas environs (it takes place in a very obvious Southern California) it makes up for in its employment of the Santa Claus suit as the killer's mode of concealment; the killer's appearances are sometimes chilling, and it's worth noting that the film may be the first proper "killer Santa" picture (not counting the 1972 "Tales from the Crypt" segment), a title which often goes to "Silent Night, Deadly Night," released four years later. The performances here are offbeat by and large, with silly dialogue to match, though Jennifer Runyon makes an okay heroine.Overall, "To All a Goodnight" is what I'd classify as a good bad movie; as a slasher, it is very much by-the-books, and boasts a script riddled with abysmal dialogue and bizarre pacing. By the same token, it has its charms, and I did find key moments to be brilliant. Unfortunately, it's simply not the sum of its parts. 5/10.

This 1980 horror film features a crazed killer dressed as Santa Claus stalking a group of friends at an all-girl school where an accidental death occurred 2 years prior. What can I say? This film is disappointing. Many scenes are dark which makes me want to go to sleep, the characters are unlikable, except for the main girl, Nancy (Jennifer Runyon), the editing stinks and the ending is kind of predictable and ridiculous. Also, The film obviously rips off "Prom Night," "Black Christmas," "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th." The only plus is the girls showing some skin and a couple of kills/deaths. I'd only view this if you're into slasher flicks, but it's a weak one.

Forget the cheerful seasons greetings, as here's another nasty little holiday slasher that's only made more interesting for the fact it was directed by genre actor David A. Hess. However his presence might have been better suited in front of the camera than just behind it. "To All A Good Night" is another addition to the Christmas --- Santa Clause slasher cycle and probably one of the least known, despite coming out around the same time as "You Better Watch Out" and even before the likes of "Silent Night, Deadly Night" and "Don't Open till Christmas". Still with that on mind, it's your typically rancid and atmospherically moody slasher that amusingly passes the time but in the end there's not too much to write about. Sticking to a formula that seems to be popular; it opens in the past showing a prank going horribly wrong then moves to the present time which has a group of horny rich girls at Calvin Finishing School for Girls waiting to secretly smuggle in their boyfriends for some late-night parting, but after doing so they start disappearing as someone in a Saint Nick costume is going around making ends meat of them. Does the past have something to do with it… I can't see it any other way.It had its moments (death by propeller was a neat touch), an unhinged, if wonky sounding electronic score and a cast (mostly no-names) that weren't too bad either. There's colourful bunch of characters (with expected red herrings; like Ralph the creepy looking gardener who can pop out from anywhere) and gladly they stood out from each other. The angelic Jennifer Runyon (in her debut performance --- although that's pretty for all the young cast) brings a grounded reality to her lead character. Her cute character was more sympathetic, thanks to her forlorn naïve innocence, but even so not worthless for that. Linda Gentile and Judith Bridges have titillating fun with their buxom parts. While Forrest Swanson and William Lauer are tolerable.The location (a large sorority house) for such butchery is ominously remote, but David Hess' glum direction was kind of clunky with many murky set-pieces with a real uneven focus on the deaths or a real lack of build up to them. Some happen off-screen, while others come off jarringly quick. Some passages are lethargic, like the long stretches of fooling around, bickering and then the waiting game for the killer to strike (oh there's numerous leg shots of our psychotic Santa killer walking stairs). The story kind of starts of plain (with some flat writing) but when it begins to open up to where its actually going, it brings out some rather amusing (though not all that intentional) and odd developments. Plenty of contrived instances make there way in and there's one scene that paints it perfectly. After discovering a dead body one of the characters run to the phone to call the police, but *drum roll* the phone is dead. But just before picking it up… the killer perfectly times it by cutting the phone line just before it reaches his ear. But in the end it's the sudden revelation… well more so the outrageous second one that's a groaner.A so-so seasonal low-budget slasher.

TO ALL A GOODNIGHT was arguably the first slasher flick to feature Santa Claus as a killer. In my opinion, it is also way better than Christmas EVIL, or SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. Unfortunately, it has become all but forgotten by horror fans.The plot revolves are 5 young women, who are boarders at the exclusive Calvin Finishing School who are staying behind for the holidays. They decide to drug their housemother and invite their boyfriends over for a late night frolic. During the night, two of them are murdered. The next day, the rest of the group discover their friend's bodies and they soon must fight for their lives as they begin dying one, by one.Granted, TO ALL A GOODNIGHT is far from a good film, but it does try. It doesn't present itself anymore than just being a straight slasher. They are a few odd moments in the film. One having to do with one of the girls ballet dancing on the balcony (I'll let you find out that one for yourself.) The only other complaint that I have is that the ending felt rushed and anti-climatic.Horror fans will be pleased to know that it has one heck of the body count and the gore is decent. We have a death by a wire garrote, another at the receiving end of a private plane's blades, a decapitation and so on and so on.Overall, it's an entertaining and woefully underrated slasher film that needs to see a resurrection on DVD. If you can locate a copy on ebay (did I mention it's rather rare?) pick it up. It makes a nice addition to any hardcore horror movie collector.