slasherstudios Anne Barron (Meb Boden) is a teacher's aide at the Jack-N-Jill Daycare Center in Boston. It's the early evening and the last child has been picked up by her mother. Anne is relaxing on the playground carousel when someone pulls up on a motorcycle, wearing a pink helmet. Anne is startled. Suddenly the stranger pulls out a machete and starts spinning the carousel. The machete is held up in the air and the terrified woman goes around and around - until she's struck with it.Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) is the cop assigned to the case. He is called to the scene and when he gets there, he sees a gruesome sight. The girl was decapitated and her head was put in a bucket of water nearby. The distraught director of the center tells the officer that Anne worked there during the day - and was attending night classes at Wendell College. At the hospital, Judd and his partner Taj (Joseph R. Sicari) discuss a similar case from the previous week. Another girl was found decapitated and her head was dumped in a pond. They wonder if there's any connection between the two murders."Night School" is a typical run-of-the-mill early 80's whodunit slasher with a decapitation twist. This is the kind of movie where half of the money is trying to figure out where the detectives are going to find the missing heads. The twist ending is pretty predictable and the acting is a bit wooden (Rachel Ward, in her film debut, is all sorts of terrible here) but the film is never boring and has been directed with style. Boston looks positively wretched on film here and it gives the slasher a bit of a grungy "Departed" vibe. Overall, it's definitely worth checking out, just check your expectations-and your head--at the door.

andrabem-1 The girls that study in a night school are being killed and decapitated. A police lieutenant and his partner (comic relief?) start to investigate the murders."Night School" takes place in Boston. The film begins with a brief view of the night skyline of Boston. We hear a melancholic and beautiful soundtrack that serves to enhance the poetry of city (and its people) and night. Soon after the camera becomes more intimate and we see old lamp posts, dark streets and small houses. The beautiful soundtrack goes on... and Boston looks quite pretty."Night School" is in some ways almost a giallo. There are some connection points: 1) Leonard Mann, an Italo-American actor that worked mainly in Italian films, including gialli like "Death Steps in the Dark" and "The Monster of Florence". In "Night School" he's the police lieutenant that investigates the murders but he's different from those policemen that we usually find in many thrillers. He's not trigger-happy and he hasn't trembling fists dying to punch a bad guy's nose. He's intelligent, sensitive and ready to follow his intuition.2) The killing scenes are stylish and imaginative. The killer dresses all in black, black helmet and black gloves. But "Night School" is very discreet in what concerns nudity. In one scene Rachel Ward takes a shower. Not much is shown, but many Italian gialli would not shy away from FFN. Anyway "Night School" is quite engaging, charming and different from the normal fare.3) There are many pretty girls (and some of them will be ruthlessly killed by the decapitator).The highlights in "Night School" are Rachel Ward (her beauty illuminates the screen) and Leonard Mann. In short, I think that "Night School" is a very enjoyable film. Those that want a non-stop action film with lots of bullets and fists breaking bones (fast! fast! fast!), should look elsewhere.

HumanoidOfFlesh A killer in a motorcycle helmet is decapitating attractive babes attend a night school class taught by an anthropology professor.It all has to do with some head-hunting rituals from Papua New Guinea.Very enjoyable cop drama/slasher with some elements of giallo.There is a truly sensual shower scene with a a ravishingly beautiful Rachel Ward and three decapitated heads of victims are found in various strange places including an aquarium.The killings are mostly off-screen and there is a bit of sleaze.The melodically creepy piano based score by Brad Fiedel of "Just Before Dawn" is truly effective.If you enjoyed "What Have You Done to Your Daughters" give "Night School" a chance.It truly is one of the slashers that resembles the Italian giallo that inspired the genre in the first place.8 out of 10.

Scarecrow-88 Someone, dressed in black helmet, jacket and pants, is attacking students who attend the anthropology class of Professor Millet, an established womanizer bedding his students under the nose of his girlfriend Eleanor Adjai(Rachel Ward, lovely, but lacking in performance, having trouble with the dialogue under her thick accent). The killer uses a curving knife as a decapitation device, leaving the severed heads in liquid, whether it be bucket, pond or aquarium. It's up to Harvard grad lieutenant Judd Austin(Leonard Mann)to find the killer, who leaves little-to-no trace of evidence, except the unorthodox methods of the crime scene.Okay psycho-thriller benefits from Fiedel's terrific score which is, at times, melodic, menacing & piercing. The music provides the director, along with his moody neo-noir photography of the city streets at night as the killer stalks his/her prey, to build good suspense even if the pay-off is less satisfying. The twist isn't much of one if the viewer is paying the least bit of attention. A certain waitress in a bar, for instance..who would kill her in such a fashion? Or, the method of execution on those who attended the class of Professor Millet..who'd have a reason to use such a method and why place the heads in liquid? You even get an answer towards the end, so the reveal leaves little impact. A good twist can work wonders, but this film suffers because of that, I felt. The film also is lacking in delivering really strong attacks, an essential ingredient in the slasher genre for which this belongs. We see the biker-outfitted psychopath, with his/her curving blade, slice at the victims, whose face displays the horror they find themselves with blood spread across walls, but nothing is ever elaborated, and practically everything happens off-screen. There are some moments of depraved kink such as a tribal sex sequence between Eleanor and Millet using bits of meat and blood while bathing. And, it's sleazy..the lifestyle of Millet who sleeps with his female students or the night school's lesbian superintendent who attempts to seduce a conquest of her teacher's before the killer interrupts. The decapitated heads are hinted at, some discovered by surprised folks like citizens who find the severed head of an employee in a fish aquarium, or the bar owner noticing his waitress' head in the sink, immersed in water. The film, typical of both giallo thrillers and 80's slashers has a a couple of red herrings, such as a peeping tom who works as a garbage man at the local tavern which yields the murdered waitress and Professor Millet himself(..for he's quite the authority in tribal customs and methods).There's a stab of black comedy at the very end regarding the lieutenant, who is the only one who knows who the true killer is yet can not prove it, and someone behind the seat of his car, which finishes this with a nice, tasteless touch. I think the low IMDb score is ridiculous. This may not be a shining example of cinematic grace, but it's got some fine elements that deserve better than a 2.9/10.