To All A Goodnight (1980)

 

Tonight I watched this Christmas themed 80’s slasher. At a girl’s boarding school during Christmas vacation, some girls are running around, chasing one of the girls in a prank. She goes out on the balcony and accidentally falls over and dies. Now it’s 2 years later, and all the students go home for the holiday vacation except for a handful of girls, who are staying at the school. They plan on inviting some boys over for fun & shenanigans. Little do they know, a killer dressed up in a Santa outfit is stalking them.

The only adults at the school are Mrs. Jensen, the housemother, and the weird, creepy groundskeeper, Ralph, who has an odd fixation with the youngest of the group, shy, innocent Nancy. A few get killed the first night, and the next day Nancy stumbles upon the murdered body of Ralph. A detective is called and he puts two of his officers at the school to keep watch. While everyone is stuck inside, the killer begins his murder spree again.

The movie is cheesy and fun, and has enough bloodshed and kills to keep you entertained. All the characters are your typical, non-remarkable horror film types, and it continues the tradition of casting people who look like they’re in their 30’s and 40’s to play teenagers/young college students. The identity of the killer was easy to figure out, and their motive came off as a ripoff of another killer from a famous 80’s slasher series. Still, it’s never boring and keeps the murders coming, which include stabbings, decapitation, throat slashing, a crossbow and an axe. One of the funnier, creative kills involves an airplane propeller. To All A Goodnight is a lesser known holiday slasher, but worth a watch. I enjoyed it.