Girls Nite Out

(** out of ***** -- and I'm probably being generous) Well, if you can get past the first half hour, with drunk college guys joking around, mugging for the camera, and doing one irritating imitation after another (who's idea was that?), then you'll probably find the rest of this mystery slasher mildly diverting, at the least. A killer in a mascot bear costume with big round eyes and knives for paws (kinda like Freddy Krueger) is knocking off guys and gals on a late-night scavenger hunt. When the story isn't following one lame relationship problem after another, we get to watch Hal Holbrook, as a campus security guard, sitting at a desk looking bored and out of place as he tries to figure out who the killer is. Not all of the acting's bad, and there are some fairly scary moments, but there's hardly any blood and too many mindless, coed shenanigans. The use of oldies rock and roll songs and some of the hair and clothing styles make the movie look like it was supposed to take place in the '50s (even though the annoying school DJ -- who for some damn reason gets his ugly mug shown about EVERY FIVE MINUTES in his studio -- tells us it's part of a some kinda '50s flashback weekend).

HIGHLIGHT: The final shot is pretty chilling, and it's a great leaves-you-hanging place for the movie to end. Still, probably not worth the rental (assuming you can actually find this anywhere).

Girls Nite Out probably doesn't get talked about as much as many of the other slasher films of the early 80's and for good reason. There's not a lot of suspense, many of the kills are unimaginative, and it never gives us a stable protagonist to root for.

It's much more of an ensemble film than anything else with the film's focus shifting from one person to the next as the coeds on a college campus are picked off one by one by a psycho in their school's bear mascot costume during a scavenger hunt.

A late in the game twist does redeem the film slightly and closes the film on a really creepy note, but by that point, it's a little too late to liven things up much. Hal Holbrook looks like he shot all of his scenes in one day and doesn't seem too happy about it.

I saw this obscure slasher knock-off right about the same time I saw that godawful Disney movie Midnight Madness starring David Naughton and a pre-pubescent Michael J. Fox. Both movies centered around a late night college scavenger hunt and both featured a truly annoying oldies-style soundtrack (to this day I can't get that damn insidious theme song to Midnight Madness out of my head). But this movie had what the other film quite sorely lacked--a maniac dressed in a bear costume killing off all the idiotic characters. Hal Holbrook is the above-the-line star here (did the producers have compromising photos of him with a barnyard animal?),and Julie Montgomery, who went on to appear in Revenge of the Nerds before dropping off the face of the earth, plays the young female lead. The rest of the cast is forgettable and long forgotten. The plot is your standard formulaic slasher movie scenario. But see it for the bear. Growling, snarling, shouting misogynistic curses as he hacks up cast member after cast member with his razor-sharp claws (how many bear mascot costumes come with razor-sharp claws anyway?), the bear is the best and most original part of the movie. This is the best killer bear flick since Grizzly

Well, I came across this little number in Greenwich at the Exchange shop and although the sleeve was an awfully painted picture that "bears" little to no resemblence to any scene in the film I thought I'd pay the £3 and give it a twirl. I'm glad I did. It's good little slasher flick compared to most of the low budget teen horrors of the time. The plot is a little thin as are the not-so-special effects and the killer's stupid costume, but all this adds to the charm. It's the kind of film you'd get from the video man on a friday night and watch with your cousins. And there's loads of almost familar faces that we've all seen in horror films from the era including "Vicky" from "Friday The 13th Part 2". Watchable if you can actually find this title anywhere anymore.

"Girls Nite Out" focuses on an isolated Ohio college campus where a group of cheerleaders are preparing for an annual all-night sorority scavenger hunt after the university's victory basketball game. What would be a fun evening for these young women is everything but when a killer dressed in the school's mascot bear suit is stalking and murdering them throughout the night, and the suspicious death of a local asylum patient and former student has the campus security guard (Hal Holbrook) on high lookout.

I had been curious about this film for a long time, and when I finally decided to get a hold of it, my expectations were low due to an overwhelming amount of negative reviews on the internet. While the title "Girls Nite Out" doesn't exactly paint this movie as a class act, I was extremely surprised at how "usual" the film was in terms of slasher protocol, and un-trashy it actually was. I went in expecting something along the lines of "Slumber Party Massacre", and ended up getting a film that had more in common with "Friday the 13th" and "Prom Night" than anything else.

Despite its little-known reputation and apparent sleaze cinema status, the film benefits greatly from slick production values, decent camera work, and surprisingly good acting. Add to that list a handful of unexpectedly bloody murder scenes at the hands of a bear mascot (wielding multiple claw-knives in hand, ala Freddy Krueger, no less), and this is actually a well-rounded slasher movie.

Despite the film's quality production, I think what makes "Girls Nite Out" most unique (and successful) is the killer himself. The bear suit, which might sound corny if you haven't seen it, is actually quite eerie. With large, yellow/green cartoonish eyes, the image of it lurking around the campus is actually really terrifying. Of course, the girls all think that it's the jokester mascot who they know all too well, and that dramatic irony adds a sense of tension to the confrontation scenes. The dark college campus is a perfect setting for the film, and the accompanying score provides heavy doses of unease.

While the film is actually something of a slow burner (the first murder doesn't take place until a good 45 minutes into the film, and the first act is made up of college kid charades which gives the audience a little time to understand the characters, and the writers to flesh out a couple of infidelity subplots), the murder sequences are a payoff for slice-and-dice horror fans. The second murder actually caught me off guard by how graphic it was, and the fact that the killer screams at the female victims, calling them "sluts" and "whores" while digging serrated knives into their necks is pretty disturbing. Like I said before, some of the scenes are surprisingly bloody, while a couple of others are suggestive rather than gratuitous (namely the scene in the chapel attic), but they are all equally effective.

As I mentioned before, the acting in this film is surprisingly good, especially for a movie of this calibre. Hal Holbrook plays a stern campus cop, and the rest of the cast is fleshed out by a group of lively college-aged kids who are more believable than they need to be in an '80s slasher flick. The only real quip I have with the film is that it loses a focal point near the end— in fact, it's hard to tell if it had one in the first place. There are a lot of characters and the script keeps the audience well-acquainted with several of them, but it's difficult to pinpoint a central protagonist, which is mildly problematic once the police and investigators enter the film in the last half hour to try and solve the murders. That said, the absence of one discernible protagonist eliminates the clichéd "final girl", so there is equal playing ground.

The reveal at the end of the film is slightly anticlimactic, but besides that is actually well-handled and bizarre, and greatly acted by the villain (whom I'm not going to name). The final frame of the film is definitely up there as far as "creepy endings" go. Overall, "Girls Nite Out" is overlooked and underrated among its counterparts, and is a lot better than it should be and a hell of a lot better than its reputation. If you like slasher films and appreciate the genre, then give this one a go. 8/10.