To All a Goodnight (1980) User Reviews

A silly psycho Santa flick.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 1 December 2014]

The set-up is somewhat like that of "Black Christmas", with an opening minute that will remind the slasher fan of "Prom Night". At a finishing school for girls, one poor lass plummets to her death (or rather, a dummy does) after being chased around by her peers. A year later, a small group of gals who've stuck around during the Christmas holidays will find themselves stalked by a murdering fiend in a Santa Claus costume. The cops show up on the scene, but much like most things in this movie, they're not very good at their jobs, so our killer isn't going to face very much of a challenge.

This demands a viewing on the basis of its curiosity value. It's scripted by The Incredible Melting Man (a.k.a. actor Alex Rebar), and is the feature directorial debut for Krug (a.k.a. actor / composer David Hess). Rebars' sorry excuse for a screenplay is bad enough to make one think that he and everybody else were just sort of winging it throughout the shoot. Hess delivers no tension or suspense. Then again, you DO get the impression that they're not taking themselves that seriously. You couldn't, not with dialogue and performances as bad as this. The one rather cool moment occurs when the maniac is actually wearing something other than a Santa Claus suit.

The lovely Jennifer Runyon ("Ghost Busters", "Up the Creek") made her film debut as Nancy, a standard issue Nice Girl. Forrest Swanson is nerdy Alex, who seems to take a while to really notice the girls. Kiva Lawrence is not that bad as the kindly housemother Mrs. Jensen. And that's porn star Harry Reems playing the hapless pilot. Gore effects are supplied by the young Mark Shostrom ("Evil Dead 2"), and some T & A is delivered by Judith Bridges as the slutty Leia (however, some may be disappointed by the latter).

This doesn't go on too long, and tends to alternate between being dull and being uproarious. Only die hard devotees of slashers and bad movies really should bother with it.

Five out of 10.

This movie is fairly average but is an okay slasher flick to watch during the holiday season

[kevin_robbins · 5/10 · 28 December 2021]

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.

Not Much New

[glenmatisse · 5/10 · 17 October 2020]

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.

Not as bad as popular belief

[Raidar · 12 May 2004]

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.

"The devil is here"

[lost-in-limbo · 5/10 · 3 September 2010]

Forget the cheerful seasons greetings, as here's another nasty little holiday slasher that's only made more interesting for the fact it was directed by genre actor David A. Hess. However his presence might have been better suited in front of the camera than just behind it. "To All A Good Night" is another addition to the Christmas --- Santa Clause slasher cycle and probably one of the least known, despite coming out around the same time as "You Better Watch Out" and even before the likes of "Silent Night, Deadly Night" and "Don't Open till Christmas". Still with that on mind, it's your typically rancid and atmospherically moody slasher that amusingly passes the time but in the end there's not too much to write about.

Sticking to a formula that seems to be popular; it opens in the past showing a prank going horribly wrong then moves to the present time which has a group of horny rich girls at Calvin Finishing School for Girls waiting to secretly smuggle in their boyfriends for some late-night parting, but after doing so they start disappearing as someone in a Saint Nick costume is going around making ends meat of them. Does the past have something to do with it… I can't see it any other way.

It had its moments (death by propeller was a neat touch), an unhinged, if wonky sounding electronic score and a cast (mostly no-names) that weren't too bad either. There's colourful bunch of characters (with expected red herrings; like Ralph the creepy looking gardener who can pop out from anywhere) and gladly they stood out from each other. The angelic Jennifer Runyon (in her debut performance --- although that's pretty for all the young cast) brings a grounded reality to her lead character. Her cute character was more sympathetic, thanks to her forlorn naïve innocence, but even so not worthless for that. Linda Gentile and Judith Bridges have titillating fun with their buxom parts. While Forrest Swanson and William Lauer are tolerable.

The location (a large sorority house) for such butchery is ominously remote, but David Hess' glum direction was kind of clunky with many murky set-pieces with a real uneven focus on the deaths or a real lack of build up to them. Some happen off-screen, while others come off jarringly quick. Some passages are lethargic, like the long stretches of fooling around, bickering and then the waiting game for the killer to strike (oh there's numerous leg shots of our psychotic Santa killer walking stairs). The story kind of starts of plain (with some flat writing) but when it begins to open up to where its actually going, it brings out some rather amusing (though not all that intentional) and odd developments. Plenty of contrived instances make there way in and there's one scene that paints it perfectly. After discovering a dead body one of the characters run to the phone to call the police, but *drum roll* the phone is dead. But just before picking it up… the killer perfectly times it by cutting the phone line just before it reaches his ear. But in the end it's the sudden revelation… well more so the outrageous second one that's a groaner.

A so-so seasonal low-budget slasher.

Christmas Schoolgirl Slasher.

[meddlecore · 5/10 · 24 November 2020]

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.

Krug's directorial debut!

[capkronos · 2/10 · 18 March 2003]

Krug from LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (David A. Hess) made this slasher movie with a script from the star of THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN (Alex Rebar). The night scenes are so incompetently photographed that you can't tell what the hell is going on, which could cause some alarm if the daylight scenes were any good, but since everything is equally stupid, blame whoever, in front of or behind the camera, you want.

Jennifer Runyon is the sweet, milk-drinking blonde virgin Nancy, who is stuck at a boarding school with her obnoxious and lascivious female friends. When their boyfriends fly in for a sex-filled Holiday weekend, a nut dressed like Santa Claus prowls around and kills most of them off. People are killed with arrow, knife, axe, rock, airplane propeller and various other sharp things, most of the women get naked and a decapitated head hangs in the shower. One girl does a cop who comes over to help them. This forgettable horror film wraps up with a pathetic and desperate twist ending.

TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT is noteworthy mostly as one of at least three killer Santa Claus movies to predate SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT. The other two (which are both much better) are the Joan Collins segment in the anthology TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1971) and the wonderfully bizarre Christmas EVIL (1980).

Ho-Ho-Hum

[kamikaze-4 · 4/10 · 9 January 2018]

To All A Good Night (1980) It takes creativity to make a low budget film that doesn't look low budget. If I am to believe the IMDb, this movie was made for 25K. It looked like it was made for a lot more. The producers were very creative in the production of this film, and it shows. Sadly, the writers weren't creative with this killer Santa movie, and it shows. An early performance by Jennifer Runyon. Also with Harry Reems.

Santa is coming for you

[milescorn · 4/10 · 13 December 2021]

What happens when you mix Prom Night with Friday te 13th and set it at Christmas? You get this mess. Throw in a porn star and the cute girl from Ghostbusters, a silly subplot and have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. On a scale of 1 to 10 I gave it a four due to the fact that it had some entertaining moments. But for a better killer Santa flick, Silent Night,Deadly Night followed by Don't Open Till Christmas still are supreme.

OK Santa Slasher

[garyrogers-67484 · 6/10 · 28 June 2019]

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).

It's from the 80's

[zeelu-89550 · 5/10 · 20 February 2022]

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.

Decent 80's Slasher

[lucas_james-42980 · 10/10 · 13 December 2020]

Not a big review but this is a very early 80's slasher and I think this movie is pretty decent. I kind of figured out who the killer was around the middle of the movie. I think this movie deserves a higher ranking than 4.7... that's insane!

Watchable Christmas Slash Fest

[molemandavid · 6/10 · 13 July 2019]

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.

Ineffective Christmas Slasher

[ryan-10075 · 3/10 · 14 January 2019]

Jennifer Runyon stars in her theatrical debut in this ineffective horror slasher. Set at Christmas time the uppity Calvin Finishing School for Girls has a handful of girls who are going to have a party while the president's away.

Really just a mess and the opening is just horrible. A girl falls to her death (you can obviously tell it is a dummy, which may bring bouts of laughter) before you even know what the hell is going on. In addition some of the murders just happen without much a build-up. Most of the characters in this movie really are conceited, so as the viewers you really don't much care what happens to them. Does involve a killer Santa Claus that knocks off the party-goers. Not the first though, as that was the great Tales from the Crypt (1972) which I highly recommend.

Nowhere near as good as Friday the 13th which was released the same year (from what I can tell this one was released first?), but they seem to have some majors things in common. If you have seen the original Friday you will see things coming a mile away.

Also starring adult film star Harry Reems who plays the pilot who brings the boys to the party.

Incredibly this was directed by David Hess (this being his only film he directed). Who was fantastic playing homicidal maniacs (like in the late Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left). Obviously Craven did not share with Hess on how to make an effective horror film.

"Man, This Is The Best Vacation I've Ever Had!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 2 November 2020]

Tragedy strikes at the Calvin Finishing School For Girls, when a sorority prank goes awry, resulting in someone (aka: a well-clothed dummy) plummeting to their demise.

Two years later, during Christmas break, six girls and their house mother remain behind. Horror and death are doled out by a vengeful maniac.

Among the girls are the sickeningly-sweet Nancy (Jennifer Runyon) and the hormonally-charged, brain-deprived Melody (Linda Gentile). In addition to the girls, are their idiot boyfriends and Ralph, the odd groundskeeper. It should come as no shock that the killer is dressed as the not-so jolly old elf.

Directed by none other than David "Krug" Hess, TO ALL A GOODNIGHT is sort of a strange, awkward amalgamation of PROM NIGHT, BLACK CHRISTMAS, and SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT. In spite of this, it's pretty standard, by-the-numbers slasher fare with lackadaisical pacing and a cast to match. Some characters seem nearly catatonic! Not surprisingly, goody-two-shoes Nancy must remain until the "double twist" denouement.

On the bright side, there is one good scene involving a suit of armor and a crossbow that almost makes up for the rest of this festive fiasco...

Not That Bad

[maxineedwards-78784 · 5/10 · 28 September 2021]

Years ago, a sorority girl fell to her death thanks to her dumb sorority sisters and, now, there's a killer dressed as Santa Claus attacking all the sorority girls staying there during the Christmas break.

Not a scare will be found under To All A Goodnight's tree and there's not a lot of suspense either. In fact, the whole thing feels slapdash and like it was put together over a weekend, but that doesn't mean there's not charm to be found even if it's of the "so bad, it's good" variety. A few gooey death scenes might make it wortwhile for the slasher completists among us.

To All a Good Night

[Scarecrow-88 · 4/10 · 23 December 2009]

Promiscuous college girls, who remain at their school for the Christmas holiday, coerce their resident cook to go to bed, awaiting gleefully for their boyfriends to arrive by plane(..one of the boys has a rich daddy)so they can gather together and enjoy a night of naughty debauchery, not knowing that a psycho in Santa costume plans to ruin the festivities.

The film opens with a game that ends disappointingly as one of the female students falls off of a balcony, stoned, falling to the ground below..it seems this unfortunate incident might just be the root cause of the Christmas slayer's mayhem.

There's a nerd who talks about the advances in medical science with great detail, some wannabe lothario with an acoustic guitar, an obvious nympho who doesn't get a chance to bed her man, a virginal blonde with a soft voice the gardener wishes to protect, a couple of practical jokers(often criticizing the blonde girl and anyone else they find annoying or bothersome, these two girls are the kind you see in school whispering to each other about people they don't like), etc. As usual, the medical nerd is uneasy about making a move on the girl(..she's this lovely gal with a great body who is practically throwing herself at him, yet, as often was the case, he's too nervous, or focused on his studies, to get a clue). There's a funny scene where our 'final girl' is drinking her milk and listening to the moans of passion from another room! The gardener is one of those old religious kooks dispelling doom to Nancy, the pretty innocent he wishes to protect("There's something wrong, I feel it."). Nancy spends time skulking about being lonely, until her and nerd Alex(..having lost his virginity with one of the girls, Melody)hook up, forming amateur detectives, and searching out the place in the dark.

One of the funniest scenes, to me anyway, has a naked Leia, who had just bedded one of the cops assigned to protect them, finding the severed head of her pal stuck on the shower head! I was amused as I watched this flick how characters are blunt and honest about others giggling and insulting them while they are still in the room(..such as gardener Ralph who seems to be the butt of everyone's jokes, even though he moves about, saying little, without really warranting such constant ridicule, despite the fact that he's a wee bit creepy).

To All a Good Night is what it is, a prototypical slasher which doesn't distinguish itself from the others of it's ilk. The cast of characters have little personality and will probably not appeal to the masses who look for obscure slasher fare, and when they die you could care less or feel little pity.

Jennifer Runyon is Nancy, Forrest Swanson(Alex), Linda Gentile(Melody), William Lauer(..as TJ, the rich jock with the plane), and Judith Bridges(..whose Leia goes bonkers, singing to herself a lullaby as she dances around in her own little world after discovering the decapitated head and killer Santa with a butcher knife)round out some of the cast in trouble of being chop suey. Sam Shamshak is Chief of Police, Polansky and Katherine Herrington is cook Mrs. Jensen, both of which have pivotal parts of importance as the film unfolds. Buck West is the weirdo gardener. Neither cult star David Hess' direction nor Alex Rebar's writing seem very inspired(..it feels like the cash-in of a fad, with little spirit or innovation), although the concept of a killer dressed as Santa was somewhat fresh at this time. I guess the most memorable murder sequence will be when Santa starts up the plane while a pilot is working on the engine, the spinning propeller blade chopping him and a female student to pieces. Something to think about..it seems impossible that one Santa can be at two places at one time, even in the wonderful land of movie time where a killer can move at warp speed.

Weak Slasher!

[gwnightscream · 3/10 · 22 December 2016]

This 1980 horror film features a crazed killer dressed as Santa Claus stalking a group of friends at an all-girl school where an accidental death occurred 2 years prior. What can I say? This film is disappointing. Many scenes are dark which makes me want to go to sleep, the characters are unlikable, except for the main girl, Nancy (Jennifer Runyon), the editing stinks and the ending is kind of predictable and ridiculous. Also, The film obviously rips off "Prom Night," "Black Christmas," "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th." The only plus is the girls showing some skin and a couple of kills/deaths. I'd only view this if you're into slasher flicks, but it's a weak one.

Ho Ho Ho!!!

[FrightMeter · 5/10 · 13 March 2002]

Certainly not in the same league as "Silent Night, Deadly Night" or "Black Christmas," but definitely better than the god-awful "Don't Open Til Christmas" and "Christmas Evil," this is an ultra-low budget film that tried to be effective and original, but fails in many aspects. It is, as far as I know, the first slasher film that utilizes a killer disguised in a Santa suit which became so controversial with 1984's "Silent Night, Deadly Night."

After a dream-like, and silly opening scene, (some sorority girls accidentally kill one of their sisters in a childish game of tag) the film deals with a spooky sorority house where we meet up with very, very cardboard sorority sisters who we care nothing about who are staying at their house for Christmas break. A group of their boyfriends show up in an airplane (???) to spend the weekend with them. Well, before we can say, 'have yourself a Merry little Christmas' they teens begin getting murdered one by one by a killer in a killer Santa suit who uses such weapons as an axe, a bow and arrow, a piece of thin wire, and the airplane propellars. The main problem with this film is that it lacks any direction or characterization. We meet a character, and 2 second later, they are dead. The lighting is horrible and makes it nearly impossible to know what is going on in many parts of the film. The acting is god-awful, even from "Charles in Charge" star Jennifer Runyon. She is so whiney and downright annoying here that it is hard to have any feelings whatsoever for her. I guess the films only redeeming factors is the pacing and the murders, and the "twist" at the end when the killer is revealed. It's not as obvious as one might think who is behind the Santa costume. I would only recommend this to those people who don't expect Oscar-worthy efforts with EVERY film they watch...remember, this IS an early 80's slasher film. Keep that in mind and you may find this to be an interesting, if not slightly entertaining film. 4 out of 10

You'd better watch out....

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 11 April 2017]

A group of female teenagers at the Calvin Finishing School are menaced during the holiday break by a maniacal killer in a Santa Claus costume. The motive of the killer is easy to work out and so is the identity of the killer. The teenagers and their boy friends (who come in a plane to meet them) are stalked and most of them get killed. So a pretty routine slasher movie. The gore is OK but apart from that it is rather dull. There is a final twist at the end which comes out of nowhere and is not necessary.

The cast are ordinary and the characters on the whole are annoying so one looks forward to them being bumped off, which they are in standard slasher movie ways. As normal for a teen horror film they act stupidly most of the time. The director David Hess has genre connections but only in acting. His direction is routine.

I was puzzled about the title of the film but an erudite friend told me it is the last line of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' by Major Henry Livingston Jr.

Way too harsh on this

[vagrantfilms · 7/10 · 7 January 2008]

OK People come on... TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT , may be marred by some poor lighting, but overall this is a serviceable and nasty lil' holiday treat. There are some fantastic kills in it, and hell anything directed by Mr. Hess, Written by The Incredible Melting man and starring 80's teen film regular Jenny Runyon, is well worth the price of admission. If anything, watch it for a Plane propeller killing. Worth a rental. Keep your eyes peeled for a DVD release. I mean, if Christmas Evil can get a fantastic repackaging, then surely something like this can get some decent treatment. 7 out of 10 definitely, for a myriad of great gruesome deaths.

Only for slasher horror movie fans...

[markovd111 · 5/10 · 22 April 2023]

"To All a Goodnight" technically does resemble a movie and does somehow manage to have interesting characters, but it is obviously in other parts low budget and uninspired effort to make a slasher horror movie. Even the theme of the movie itself being set around Christmas is apparent only due to the mask of the killers and some decorations, other than that the whole thing is your typical slasher horror movie. Only few creepy scenes which can be considered suspenseful happen at the end of the movie. Other than that, movie is pretty uneventful, killings are not interesting and other than some likable characters and nice nudity, there isn't a lot to enjoy here. I recommend it only to slasher horror movie fans, but don't expect a hidden gem. 5.5/10!

A Fun Little B-Movie Slasher from Krug

[forecastfortoday · 10/10 · 22 May 2010]

David Hess, infamous for his terrifying character Krug from The Last House on the Left (1972), has gone from playing the rapist in a film, to making a film of his own. Unsurprisingly, the movie he made was a poorly acted, poorly lit, and violence filled slasher film. However, the film is definitely a favorite of mine. Despite how admittedly terrible the film is, it's B-Movie charm makes it worth watching.

At the Calvin Finishing school, several young coeds enjoy their winter break at their sorority house. They have drugged their house mother and snuck their boyfriends into the house to have a little fun. But little do they know, a murderer dressed as Santa Claus is in the house with them, ready to invade their little party. After a night of party, sex, alcohol, and murder, one of the sorority girls, Nancy (Jennifer Runyon) stumbles upon a dead body, making her, and the rest of the group, aware that they are in for one hell of a night.

Like, I said before, this movie is doubtlessly a bad one, yet still I hold this movie close to my heart for several reasons. One of those reasons is the shocking twist at the end, where we find out the identity of the mysterious killer. Another reason is a FANTASTIC chase scene between the killer and Nancy (Who is cute and likable as the final girl), which is fast-paced and exciting to watch. The acting is not really very good, but it's not really TERRIBLE. Jennifer Runyon is really the only person who is truly worth mentioning in this movie, especially since she's probably the only person involved in the movie that ended up in other movies afterwards.

Overall, the movie is definitely something slasher lovers would enjoy. The movie is strange, funny, dark, (somewhat) creepy, gory, fast-paced, and overall just a fun movie to watch. I would recommend it for those boring nights alone when all you have is a beer, a bag of Doritos, a TV, and a VCR.

Ho Ho Horror

[benjithehunter · 6/10 · 30 October 2020]

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.

Nighty night Mr. Hess...

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 4/10 · 6 March 2005]

Ho Ho Ho! This early post Halloween slash fest is intriguing and collectible for two significant reasons. It was the first slasher movie to include a Santa-suited psycho, before Silent Night-Deadly Night, Psycho Santa and Christmas Season Massacre made the costume a slasher cliché. Secondly it was the directorial debut of David Hess – a man who was to the horror genre what Johan Cryuff was to football. Not many people know about Hess' hugely impressive contributions to show business and the things that he achieved prior to his acting exploits. His professional career began as a singer-songwriter for a small label called Shalimar Music in 1957. His first recording was a song called 'All Shook Up', which of course became a massive hit for Elvis Presley that same year.

Throughout the months that followed, Hess would see Conway Twitty, Andy Williams, Sal Mineo and Pat Boone take his tracks to the top end of the charts and then he settled for a career behind the scenes as head A & R man for Mercury Records. Then in 1972 his fortunes continued to improve when he was offered the lead role in Wes Craven's cult classic 'The Last House on the Left'. He gave such a nasty and memorable performance that he would continue to play tormented characters in movies like 'The Eleventh Commandment'. To all a Good Night gave him the chance to broaden his horizons in the film industry and it was a solid opportunity to express his talents in the director's chair. It's something that he'd like to try again, although he admits that he has neither the time nor the cash flow to direct a second feature. Nowadays David Hess says that his main priority is spending time with his family.

The opening scene is conveyed so rapidly that it felt like I had my finger on the fast forward button. It's Christmas vacation at the Calvin Finishing School for girls and the co-eds are celebrating by chasing one female around the dormitory. She heads out onto the balcony, trips over a plant pot and takes a fatal tumble to the concrete floor below. We can only presume that the girl died, although we're never given an explanation to the scene. We don't even know who any of these characters were?

Two years later and its Christmas time again. A large majority of the youngsters are going home, but a few party animals are preparing for their own on-site celebrations. The gang of fun-loving ladies includes a curvaceous man-eater called Melody (Linda Gentile), who spends her time being swapped among the guys like a football card. There's a suspiciously plum accented English girl named Trisha (Angela Bath), and then we have the traditional bed-hopper and inadvertently billed comic relief character, Leia (Judith Bridges). Finally we meet the Jamie Lee Curtis-lite goody-two-shoes called Nancy (Jennifer Runyon). Their house is run by Ruth Jensen (Katherine Herrington) and Trina Ronsoni (Judy Hess), who must be related to the director – maybe his wife? She also shows a brilliant knack for comic timing, by quipping at one point, " I'll stop off on my way back. That is if the grim reaper doesn't come calling". Ho-hum!

Anyway, Christmas alone for the girls wouldn't be much fun, so they literally fly in a gang of randy would-be lotharios including the stereotypical geek, Alex (Forest Swanson). It doesn't take long for the masked Santa-suited slasher to turn up and begin cutting his way through the revellers. He then buries their bodies in the backyard with the professionalism and speed of a gang of landscape gardeners. So who will survive this Christmas Massacre?

To all a Good Night isn't as bad as its hideous reputation would lead you to believe. In fact it's actually fairly watchable in a so bad it's good kind of way. It's helped no end by some breathtaking dialogue from the dim-witted cast. At one point, Trisha bumps in to the maniac and goofs in her comical sub-Brit accent, "Oh Tom, take that bloody mask off and take me to bed!" She gets what she rightly deserves. Then on planet eye test, all the guys are captivated by the hilariously unattractive Leia, but they defy logic by completely ignoring the much better looking AND virginal Nancy. The aforementioned flat chested redhead also provides most of the nudity, while the buxom and shapely Melody remains fully clothed throughout? Not being content with constantly ripping off her clothes, Leia goes insane towards the conclusion of the movie and spends the final third of the runtime singing and ballet dancing round the corpses of her chums!

Mark Shostrum's gore effects may well be the most spectacular ever filmed. We'll never know if that's true however, because the picture is just too dark. Day for night filters are used without any other form of lighting, and at times the lack of clear vision ruins the movie. The only good killing that I remember featured the maniac dressed in a suit of armour and it was thankfully filmed inside the house, so the lighting was at least passable. Despite loosing about six of their colleagues in the first thirty minutes, the remaining victims fail to acknowledge that there is a maniac stalking the campus. Instead they continue to mouth inept comments the following morning, such as, "They must have gone to bed." Even when they uncover the heavily-mutilated body of Ralph the albino gardener, they still refuse to accept that a maniac is trying to cut down the guest list for their Xmas party. The utter stupidity of the youngsters destroys any sympathy for their eminent demise.

On the plus side, there is a humongous body count and as I said, it's fairly amusing in an inadvertent kind of way. Watch it with a few beers and you'll probably enjoy it a lot more.