A Noite do Pavor

Sorority girls who stay over the Christmas break are hunted by a serial killer dressed as Santa Claus.

Simple and to the point, To All A Goodnight probably won't become anyone's new favorite Christmas tradition and it can't hold a candle to similar Yuletide slashers like Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night, but it's enjoyable enough for what it is. None of the characters make much of an impression and there's little to no suspense in the stalking scenes, but some of the gore effects impress. It also has one of the most confounding endings you're likely to ever see.

David Hess (Krug from Last House on the Left) tries his hand at directing in this mixed bag of a slasher film. After a hilariously quick and abrupt prologue, we're introduced to a group of sorority girls who are staying behind for Christmas break for a variety of reasons. A crazed Santa Claus-dressed killer has joined the festivities and he or she is out for blood. But why?

Most of the characters are interchangeable, the dialogue isn't great, and it's about as scary as a rerun of Columbo, but there's something charming about the whole thing. There are poorly executed day for night shots galore, some gore, and a few spirited performances to keep things afloat. Just try not to chuckle when a middle aged matron comes in and reveals she's probably dying of a disease and is never seen or heard from again. The ending is odd, too.

There are better Christmas slashers, but also far worse, so you might as well give it a shot if you like these kinds of movies.

To All a Good Night (1980) is a movie I randomly came across on Shudder. The storyline follows an all girls school with a tragic past. When the President of the school leaves for a holiday trip the girls plan a party with boys and shenanigans. Wouldnt you know it that this is when the school is visited by a killer Santa Claus?

This movie is directed by David Hess in his directorial debut and stars Jennifer Runyon (Up the Creek), Kiva Lawrence (JAG), Sam Shamshak (Bulworth) and Harry Reems.

The storyline for this is fairly cliche and straightforward. There is an interesting character in this, Ralph, whose awkward and unpredictable and adds a level of suspense. He was well written and executed. The kill scenes are uneven with a couple good ones and some very bad to average ones. There is a cool airplane scene in this towards the end and the final villain reveal is okay.

Overall this movie is fairly average but is an okay slasher flick to watch during the holiday season. I'd score this a 5/10 and only recommend watching it with the appropriate expectations.

Sorority girls who haven't left for the holidays are targeted by a Santa suit wearing serial killer.

There's not much meat on the bones of To All A Goodnight. It's not much interested in standing out from the pack very much and seems more comfortable borrowing from other films like Black Christmas, but there's an offbeat low budget charm and bizarre choices that keep it from being a total waste of time and some of the death scenes have their inventive and gory moments.

To all a Good Night has long since been touted as one of the worst of the genre pieces from the benchmark year in slasher shenanigans. But to be honest, it's really not that bad. Mark Shostrum's gore effects are great, and Jennifer Runyon makes a cute and approachable surviving girl. This is, of course, the first SLASHER movie to include a killer santa, which would be repeated in Santa Claws, Silent Night Deadly Night, Christmas Season Massacre etc. etc. Just for the sake of originality (!), Don't Open Till Christmas opted for a masked killer that killed people in Santa suits instead!

The only problems with To all a Good Night is that it's poorly lighted, a little off the wall and perhaps too under-produced. But it's certainly not the worst of its kind and is just about worth hunting out.