To All a Goodnight Movie Review!
Actor David Hess known for his notorious roles in Last House on the Left, House on the Edge of the Park, and Hitch-Hike takes the reins as director in this 1980 Christmas slasher. Listed as Hess’s only known outing as director he delivers a pretty average, somewhat mediocre film with To All a Goodnight that is not highly memorable but does have its moments.
The film has a nice dose of ‘80s sleaze, promiscuous teens, horrendous acting, a plethora of useless characters, and ludicrous kill scenes permeate throughout. To All a Goodnight might be the holiday slasher that slipped through your fingers.
To All a Goodnight opens with a bunch of girls chasing another school mate until she plunges over a stair railing to her death below. This scene’s ineffectiveness is measured by the switch out of a real body with a mannequin which flops around noticeably while falling. Not a strong way to open the film regrettably.
Enter present time where most of the girls attending the same private/posh school are getting picked up by parents for the Christmas holidays. A select few are staying at the school over Christmas. One girl exclaims she doesn’t want to spend Christmas with her mom and her weird artsy friends.
The girl’s house mother Ms. Jensen played by Kiva Lawrence (who won best supporting actress award for Tinsel’s Town in 2015, passed away in 2016) has no idea what plans the girls have in store. A bunch of guys are flying in on their private jet (the pilot is none other than adult film performer Harry Reems) to the girl’s school to celebrate and party. The girls drug Ms. Jensen’s warm milk before she goes to bed so they can get up to their night of debauchery with the fellas undisturbed.
The party is interrupted when an unknown assailant in a Santa costume starts knocking off the horny guys and gals one by one. No one notices at first and pays no mind even when their friends go missing. The innocent girl Nancy played by Jennifer Runyon (Carnosaur, Up the Creek) suspects something is up and teams up with brainiac/nerd Alex played by Forrest Swonsen. She befriends the simple-minded grounds keeper Ralph played by West Buchanan (The Human Factor, Facia Di Spia) who gives her constant warnings of evil and danger lurking.
There is not much gore in this but there are some onscreen kills which are borderline bizarre. In one particular scene a couple are bumping uglies when the killer springs to life in a suit of medieval armor and kills the couple. We get some stabbings, an axing to death, a couple die by airplane propeller, a guy is hung and garrotted with a wire noose and more.
There is plenty of sleaze in this one particularly when the cops show up. One of the detectives sent to patrol the girls school ends up boinking one of the students and the girls are bouncing around with different guys throughout the film. There are a couple of delectable actresses particularly the British Trisha played by Angela Bath (Portrait of A Showgirl) whose screen time is limited and Melody played by Linda Gentile (The Pat Sajak Show).
The film’s soundtrack is this bizarre goofy synth music. The filming location definitely adds a touch of charm to the proceedings, but the movie is just not convincing enough and hard to take seriously. It also has pacing issues and lags during particular scenes. To All a Goodnight came before predecessors such as Silent Night, Deadly Night (see review here) but its delivery and notoriety is just not there. It definitely takes a page from Prom Night which was also released in 1980.
Written by Alex Rebar (The Incredible Melting Man) the script is definitely hamming it up and not convincing. Mark Shostrom who worked on effects for Evil Dead 2, From Beyond, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, and Phantasm 2 is here practicing for better things to come. David Hess made an oddball slasher here which is a curiosity piece fans will wanna check out but it’s pretty dated and not overly exhilarating.
AKA: Nuit de Cauchemar, Kauhun yö, Terreur dans la nuit, 犯されたお嬢さま/女子寮を襲う聖夜の殺人鬼, Dobranoc wszystkim, Всем спокойной ночи, Feliz Nochebuena, Goodnight
Directed by: David Hess
Written by: Alex Rebar
Produced by: Jay Rasumny
Cinematography by: Bil Godsey
Editing by: William J. Waters
Special Effects by: Mark Shostrom, Miles Liptak
Music by: Richard Tufo
Cast: Jennifer Runyon, Forrest Swonsen, Linda Gentile, William Lauer, Judith Bridges, Kiva Lawrence
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 27min
Studio: Four Features Partners
Distributor: Media Home Entertainment
