GIRLS NITE OUT (1984)
Label: Media Blasters
Rating: R
Duration: 96 Minutes
Region Code: 1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Robert Deubel
Cast: Julia Montgomery, James Carroll, Hal Holbrook, Suzanne Barnes, Rutanya Alda, David Halbrook
Synopsis: The day following the homecoming basketball game and victory party, an all-night scavenger hunt is held on the campus of a small Ohio college. Against the backdrop of campus shenanigans, the school mascot is murdered and his bear costume is utilized by a psychotic killer. Stalking
cheerleaders and killing them in creative ways, the killer's identity stays hidden by the playful costume. The campus security officer Mac (Hal Holbrook), whose daughter was a victim of a similar killer, vows to find out who's behind it all before more killings occur.
Girls Night Out (1982) also known as The Scaremaker opens creepily at the Weston Hill Sanitarium where inmate Dickie Kavanaugh has just hung himself. Afterward a pair of knuckleheaded gravediggers are digging his grave in the dark of the night when they are killed by someone with a shovel who then hides their bodies in the plot. Afterward a killer wearing a bear mascot costume with claws made of serrated knives stalks college teens during a campus wide scavenger hunt at nearby Dewitt College.
Turns out that Dicky Kavanaugh had been committed to Weston Hills twenty years earlier after having murdered the daughter of the chief of campus security named, a guy named Mac played by actor Hal Holbrook (Creepshow), and Halbrook is seriously slumming it in this c-grade slasher, surely only appearing in it to support his son who was cast in the movie as a tubby and frustrated student with a bad temper named David Prior. Prior's girlfriend Sheila (Lauren-Marie Taylor, Friday the 13th Part 2) dumps him at a school costume party after a victorious basketball game, leaving him for a nice guy named Benson who is the school mascot. Prior leaves the party in a bit of a rage shouting “You’re all whores!... I won’t forget this!"... what an asshole.
Rating: R
Duration: 96 Minutes
Region Code: 1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Robert Deubel
Cast: Julia Montgomery, James Carroll, Hal Holbrook, Suzanne Barnes, Rutanya Alda, David Halbrook
Synopsis: The day following the homecoming basketball game and victory party, an all-night scavenger hunt is held on the campus of a small Ohio college. Against the backdrop of campus shenanigans, the school mascot is murdered and his bear costume is utilized by a psychotic killer. Stalking
cheerleaders and killing them in creative ways, the killer's identity stays hidden by the playful costume. The campus security officer Mac (Hal Holbrook), whose daughter was a victim of a similar killer, vows to find out who's behind it all before more killings occur.
Girls Night Out (1982) also known as The Scaremaker opens creepily at the Weston Hill Sanitarium where inmate Dickie Kavanaugh has just hung himself. Afterward a pair of knuckleheaded gravediggers are digging his grave in the dark of the night when they are killed by someone with a shovel who then hides their bodies in the plot. Afterward a killer wearing a bear mascot costume with claws made of serrated knives stalks college teens during a campus wide scavenger hunt at nearby Dewitt College.
Turns out that Dicky Kavanaugh had been committed to Weston Hills twenty years earlier after having murdered the daughter of the chief of campus security named, a guy named Mac played by actor Hal Holbrook (Creepshow), and Halbrook is seriously slumming it in this c-grade slasher, surely only appearing in it to support his son who was cast in the movie as a tubby and frustrated student with a bad temper named David Prior. Prior's girlfriend Sheila (Lauren-Marie Taylor, Friday the 13th Part 2) dumps him at a school costume party after a victorious basketball game, leaving him for a nice guy named Benson who is the school mascot. Prior leaves the party in a bit of a rage shouting “You’re all whores!... I won’t forget this!"... what an asshole.
Not long after someone stabs poor Benson to death and makes off with his bear costume, goofily whispering "Sorry, but I need this more than you do". The killer then fashions a set of killer-claws from a set of serrated steak knives which he slips into the paw of the costume, which I think is a mighty cool killer costume for a slasher, the film had me right there and then. Afterward the killer still wearing the bear costume begins stalking and killing college-kids one by one during a campus wide scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt is hosted by the campus radio station, and we get with a disco-era looking DJ who wears a lot of shiny satin fashions who spins old time rock and roll tunes throughout the night. Throughout the night the DJ Chimes in offering a new clues as to the whereabouts of the the next item to be sought - which sends co-eds to all ends of campus in search of the coveted objects. However, the killer is also listening in and arrives at each of the locations to kill the first person to arrive, usually a young woman. After each kill the murderer calls into show to announce each kill cryptically, not unlike what we saw in the holiday-slasher New Year's Evil (1980).
Eventually the DJ gets weirded-out by the creepy phone calls and calls the campus security guy Mac to let him know what's happening, and soon enough the killer calls Mac himself and says that he is Dickie Kavanaugh and that he has returned. The alarmed Mac calls the Weston Hill Sanitarium and checks in on Kavanaugh, but is informed that it cannot be Dickie because he died several days ago. In true detective fashion Mac is reading through an old stack of newspapers for clues, at one point doodling onto an image of someone from which draws his suspicion of who the killer might be. Noteworthy is that Holbrook appears to have only showed up on set for a day of filming and most of his scenes are not shared with anyone, his scenes edited to make it appear he is interacting with the other cast members, the finished effect is not exactly seamless though, but it works well enough.
When the killer strikes he usually hisses the words "bitch, slut, pay a price you whore", whoever the killer is it's clear that they are chock full o' pent-up anger towards women. The killer seems to prefer throat slashes with those cool serrated claws, but they aren’t opposed to a traditional torso stabbings from time to time either.
The amount of characters is this slasher is a bit of a head-spinner, in fact there's no final girl at all, which is sort of weird for an early 80s slasher movie. There are way too many faces to keep track of, but they're a fun assortment and are more likable than a lot of the usual 80s meat-bags we usually got, which I think helps set it apart from the usual other stalk and slash movies. We have a couple of stoned dorks who love to joke around, a pair somewhat homo-erotic jocks who hang around shirtless a bit too much for straight guys, and kinky girls looking to get laid which again is a bit of a deviation from the norm. Aside from the familiar face of Hal Holbrook the movie also stars Julia Montgomery who will forever be remembered as nerd-obsession Betty Childs from The Revenge of the Nerds (1984), as well as the 80s comedy Up the Creek (1984) and the horror under-seen 80s horror gem The Kindred (1987)
The movie has a surprisingly cool soundtrack stuffed with classic rock The Lovin' Spoonful and the 1910 Fruitgum Co., I can only assume that the producer’s must have had some sweet connections in the music industry to score these tunes - and this could perhaps be a reason the movie has not arrived on Blu-ray yet, sometimes those music rights are the hardest part of a movie to clear.
The movie struggles a bit with a weird tonal duality, at times it has a fun Porky’s teen sex-comedy vibe with loads of horny teen shenanigans but it also has a weird incongruent dark side which borders on sleazy and sorta cheesy at the same time, it's schizoid flick. It doesn't feel like the director has a good idea of what sort of movie he wanted to make at the time, his name was Robert Deubel and he only directed a handful of documentary movies, none of which I've seen. As for the kills they are kind of brutal but not very all that gory, there's plenty of blood but they're obscured by the furry paws of the killer bear costume. The movie also suffers a bit because there's a definite lack of tension and suspense, but as a lover of goofy 80s slasher schlock I think this is still a blast.
The movie comes to a weird close when the killer abducts the side chick of one of the jocks who runs after her, tracking the killer to the cafeteria kitchen at the campus student union where all is revealed in a jarring and off-beat finale that stands apart from the rest of the movie with a bizarre shocker of an identity crisis infused finale. I found this to be a ton of fun even if it zips up a bit too fast for my tastes. This is definitely a movie full of what the WTF-ery and some goofy 80s awesomeness, but it is not a great slasher movie, just a weird one with a notable killer that stands apart from the rest of the pack.
Audio/Video: The DVD is on the Media Blasters imprint Guilty Pleasures. The film is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, 2.0 mono audio. Special features include a brief interview with actress Julia Montgomery (who seems a bit horrified to be talking about her involvement in the film), a trailer, and an alternate title sequence featuring the unfortunate original title – The Scaremaker. The print is pretty decent for an obscure early 80’s slasher, a few minor blemishes/fading, but overall good print. The audio is rather unimpressive, but sufficient. Girls Nite Out is also available as part of the Shriek Show Bloody School Girls 3Pack.
Special Features:
- Interview with Actress Julia Mongomery
- Original Trailer
This damn movie is long overdue for a HD upgrade, I would love to see a distributor like Arrow Video, Vinegar Syndrome or Scream Factory pick this up and give it an upgrade with some cool extras, if just to see some new artwork with the killer-bear on the cover. The way I see it is that if schlock like Evils of the Night (1985), Blood Rage (1987), The Mutilator (1984), and Doom Asylum (1988) are Blu-ray worthy then I can only assume this won't get be too far on down the road, please someone make this happen!
