NIGHT SCHOOL – Dour early eighties slasher which to me felt like a Canadian Giallo, even though it's set in Boston. Someday someone should do exactly that, a seventies / eighties set Canadian Giallo with a real downer 'Kids of Degrassi Street' vibe. Oh how those kids ruined my childhood! Made the journey home from school seem like an eternity. Anyway, forget all that Degrassi schtick, here we are in Boston with a killer in a sinister crash helmet who carries a machete. Said killer is decapitating various locals for reasons that don't seem very clear (till the reveal, that is). There's a night school involved, and there's talk of tribes, ancient rituals and headhunting. A philandering lecturer becomes suspect number one, and a pretty by-the-numbers plot moves between police procedural, murder scenes, and the night school's internal wranglings. 'Night School' has a surprising pedigree – it was directed by none other than Ken Hughes, and stars Rachel Ward, whose abysmal performance is more in keeping with the film's awkward vibe. Despite coming across as muddled and a bit of a mess, there are some highly effective sequences between the stretches of filler – the scene with Ward in the shower when the supposed killer rings her doorbell had me on edge, as did a few other gialloesque moments which looked interestingly stylised and well filmed. 'Night School' is a bit half baked and certainly not the pinnacle of eighties slasher, but it's interesting and entertaining enough to recommend.
LOST AFTER DARK – Had mixed feelings about this retro-slasher, which mismatches a well rendered period feeling with the cold, hard look of contemporary digital video. Settled into it after a while, but it really could've done with being shot on celluloid to make good on the obvious time and effort spent on getting the 'eighties vibe' right (don't know how possible that is for a shoestring indie production these days). It could also have left behind yawn inducing gimmicks such as the 'missing reel' bit. As for the rest, well you can probably guess that it involves a van load of kids who head out into the wilds to smoke doobie and make out – only to touch down near a house with resident murderer etc etc. Some OK gore, and thankfully the cheeseball humour is kept in check, but basically this is pretty much like watching a fairly run of the mill late first wave slasher flick only with the added distraction of that shot-on-hi-def look.
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