To All a Goodnight

Dir: David Hess

1980

***

It’s puzzling how nearly every Christmas horror film used to be set in a school or sorority. I’m guessing it is because the target audience were University kids but by 1980 the idea was already tired. I have the greatest respect for David Hess but it is fair to say that he made the same film several times over during his career. To All a Goodnight however, was Hess behind the camera, rather than in front and as mediocre as the film is, he doesn’t do such a bad job. I like an evil Santa but the evil Santa in To All a Goodnight seems to have an edge to him, much like the villainous characters Hess became famous for playing. The quality of the film is bad but the nastiness (if that’s your thing) is there in all it’s glory to be enjoyed. I’m actually surprised it wasn’t released in the UK, as it would have undoubtedly received the ‘Video Nasty’ ban and would have become successful in its notoriety. Hindsight is a wonderful thing I guess. It is a classic slasher with a wonderfully shlockly intro. During Christmas vacation at Calvin Finishing School For Girls, a student is killed when she is accidentally pushed over a balcony by a bunch of students and falls to her death during a chase prank. Two years later as Christmas vacation has started, many of the students go home for the holidays. However five students - Nancy, Melody, Leia, Trisha, and Sam - decide to stay at their school for Christmas. Later that night the girls sit down to dinner and Leia says that the groups boyfriends will be coming by plane that night. A man outside the school waits for his girlfriend Cynthia to come out of the building. As he waits, an unseen person attacks and kills him with a hunting knife. Meanwhile Nancy gives their house mother Mrs. Jensen sleeping pills in warm milk to make her fall asleep faster so they can get up to mischief. Cynthia, after standing at her window naked for ages, finally comes outside to meet her boyfriend and is stabbed in the chest by the killer. After Mrs. Jensen falls asleep, the group goes the airport to meet their boyfriends - T.J, Alex, Tom, and Blake. They go back to the house where Blake plays guitar for everyone. Trisha decides to get beers for her and Tom. As she gets the beers the killer - dressed in a Santa Claus suit and mask - appears. Trisha, believing the killer to be Tom playing a prank, starts to leave until the killer grabs her and slits her throat. This is a real shame, as Trisha is by far the most interesting character and is a very early loss for the film. After waiting impatiently, Tom goes to search for Trisha, eventually stumbling upon her corpse. The killer appears and Tom attempts to flee, but he is killed by a giant rock crushing his head. Sam and Blake chase each other around the school for fun, then finally decide to have sex in a parlor. The killer, disguised in a decorative suit of armor, shoots Blake with a crossbow and decapitates Sam. Meanwhile, the school's groundskeeper Ralph tells Nancy that he suspects there is something evil going on. Later, Melody seduces Alex into bed with her. The next morning, Alex hysterically chases Nancy into the woods resulting into her tripping over Ralph's corpse with an axe wound to his forehead. The survivors call Detective Polansky to help investigate, and he unhelpfully recommends that everyone stays indoors for the night. Before leaving, Polansky leaves two police men, Jim and Dan, to watch the area for the night. While guarding the area Jim comes into contact with the killer and is killed with a double-bit axe. Leia soon seduces Dan and they have sex (because the brutal murder of your friends is a turn on?). Leia goes to take a shower and discovers Sam's severed head in the shower and screams, while Dan is stabbed in the back with a knife. Leia, now traumatized, dances around the school. Nancy and Alex come up stairs to discover Sam's head and Dan's corpse. Meanwhile, Melody is walking with T.J outside the school. They stop under a tree to kiss, and the killer, hiding in the treetop, kills T.J by strangling him with a metal rope. Melody screams and runs back to the school. Suddenly, the killer appears and is revealed to be Mrs. Jensen. It is also revealed that the girl who was killed in the prank two years ago was her daughter. Mrs. Jensen blames Nancy for her daughter's death and chases her around the school. Melody flees to the plane and finds the pilot sleeping under it. The pilot tries to fix one of the engines until another person wearing a Santa Claus costume appears inside the cockpit and starts up the plane, killing Melody and the pilot when they get caught in the engine. Mrs. Jensen chases Nancy to the same balcony where her daughter died. When she tries to stab her, Mrs. Jensen trips and falls to her death. Later, the other killer comes into the room carrying Mrs. Jensen's corpse and is revealed to be Polansky. It is also revealed that he was Mrs. Jensen's husband. Polanksy tries to strangle Nancy, but Alex appears and shoots him with a crossbow, killing him. Alex and Nancy flee the school, leaving Leia behind. The film ends with Leia dancing on a balcony before the screen turns red and the credits roll. It is basically an episode of Scooby Doo meets The Last House on the Left, except the last house is a school and Scooby Doo has a lot of sex. To be fair, To All a Good Night does seem familiar within the Christmas horror sub-genre but it actually predates Silent Night, Deadly Night by four years, and borrows the revenge killing for a lost child from Friday the 13th, which was released in the same year. It isn’t great but I have a real soft spot for it, especially the outrageous conclusion.