Terreur dans la nuit

David Hess is better known for playing the evil Krug in Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, but in the 80's he decided to take the plunge into the world of film directing and the results are a bit mixed. Granted, it's nice to see this film cleaned up and on Blu-Ray since my first exposure to this film was on a truly awful, muddy, and dark Media VHS, but even a great remaster can't hide the flaws.

The plot is pretty much the exact same as Black Christmas with a group of girls staying at their sorority house over the Christmas break and being killed one by one by some psycho. It adds an insanely quick opening prologue (so quick that one wonders if it was the last thing they shot on wrap day and had 15 minutes to do it) that shows the girls accidentally pushing another sorority girl off a ledge (while chanting "sorority! sorority!" Huh?) so we know this is going to pay off later and probably be the killer's main motivation.

Some of the death scenes are inspired and some are cursory at best and the ending is bizarre to say the least, but the pacing doesn't lag too much and it's a fairly quick investment of your time. There are certainly worse slashers out there (or even Christmas slashers out there).

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.

I read all the bad reviews before watching but I already know going in that it's from the 80's. A lot of the charm of an 80's movie is it's cheese factor, and this movie is no exception. The acting is not as bad as all these reviews say, I thought it was decent. The story is typically of that time period. A gathering of young adults to party and get naked and have sex to get hunted by a crazy Santa. It gets five stars for me, nothing great but watchable if in an 80's slasher mood.

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 Goodnight is a cheesy 80's schoolgirl slasher, in which a number of rich, overly promiscuous, youths (and a couple unlucky adults) are targeted by a killer in a Santa suit, at an all girls boarding school over Christmas holidays.

This all takes place after the accidental death of another young girl- who was in the process of being hazed- at the school.

So, you are kind of led to suspect that she somehow survived and has returned for vengeance, though, they do include other suspicious characters that might also be responsible.

There are a number of cheesy deaths in this. And, while, most of the killings are by rather traditional means, they do manage to keep things diverse enough to seem fresh.

But the gore is pretty lame.

In the end, all the hormone driven boys and girls end up dead...while the nerds and innocents manage to survive.

And it seems like they tried to set this up for a sequel too, though I don't think that ever came to fruition.

All in all, it's a pretty standard and all around average Christmas season slasher.

5 out of 10.