Girls Nite Out (1982) Less Psycho Killer, More Psycho Filler (Review)

The late ’70s brought us a slew of teen slashers along with some of horror’s most iconic knife-wielding psychos – but by the time we get to this 1982 offering, it’s “less psycho killer, more psycho filler”. ‘Girls Nite Out’ (it hurts to spell ‘night’ like that) has now been remastered on Blu Ray, but retains a confusingly grainy quality, supposedly to maintain its authenticity, but no doubt also served to hide a multitude of editing sins.

We open with the suicide of a resident of the Weston Hills Sanitorium in Ohio, Dickie Cavanagh, whose gravediggers are the first unfortunate victims of our unseen killer. Across town, the students of DeWitt University celebrate winning the basketball championship and the announcement of the annual all-night scavenger hunt, run by the local DJ, for the female students. Lynne and her ‘boyfriend’ Teddy celebrate at the local diner with overly familiar waitress Barney (played by ‘Mommy Dearest’s Rutanya Alda) ahead of a big party that evening. General chaos ensues as college kids do what they do best, get drunk and try to have sex with each other. Some pledges hear the story of the infamous ex-DeWitt student Dickie Cavanagh, who murdered his girlfriend ten years before and has been locked up in the local sanitorium ever since. Team mascot Benson, whose costume is that of a large brown bear, is in a love triangle with the oddly intense Mike and his girlfriend Sheila, resulting in a heated argument between the couple. Benson meets a grisly end following the party and his bear costume is taken by the killer. The next day Campus security officer Jim McVey (played by Hal Holbrook, looking regretful) questions Mike about the fight with Sheila – it was his daughter that Dickie Cavanagh murdered, so he’s on guard for similar happenings.

That evening, the girls get ready for their all-nighter whilst the killer doctors the gloves of the bear costume to allow for knives in the paws. As the clues are read out on the radio and deciphered by the girls, the killer shows up to dispatch them one by one, spouting misogynistic slurs and staging them for maximum effect. The campus DJ is receiving mysterious phone calls and even Office McVey gets a ring as the killer teases them over the phone, claiming to be Dicki Cavanagh exacting his revenge. McVey is suspicious enough to call the sanatorium to check on Dicki and when informed of his death, starts to put two and two together. But is it Dicki back from the dead, or is it someone hell-bent on continuing what
he started?

Girls Nite Out (alternatively named The Scaremaker for unknown reasons, in fact, neither name make much sense) is a frustrating film. On one hand, it has potential – a solid plot, suitably menacing stalking and gore-lite kills, with a satisfying resolution. The party scenes have recognizable pop music, the kids are good looking but instantly forgettable and the acting sucks, but that’s a criticism that could be levelled at many other films in the genre at this time. There is literally sex, drugs, rock and even roll. But the thing that sets it apart from its slasher rivals that actually stood the test of time is its downright odd direction and a script so weak it’s almost invisible. Scenes are too long and the novice actors aren’t given enough structure to make them interesting – I would imagine the director Robert Deubel probably said something like, “So… the answer to the clue is the gymnasium, but like… make it look like your trying to work it out for a while, yeah?”.

Parts are boring as cast members have great fun doing a bit or some shtick that was no doubt hilarious at the time but doesn’t translate on-screen. Even the (heavily inferred, it’s still America in the ’80s) sex scenes are dull and when people are acting drunk or high, it’s entirely boring. Kills are largely run of the mill and won’t raise much of an eyebrow for the modern horror viewer. Interestingly, there are some tenuous similarities to modern slasher juggernaut Scream, both with characters referring to other well-known horror movies within the film and the casting of horror alumni Hal Holbrook, as Sheriff McVey, who had starred in John Carpenter classic The Fog (another DJ heavy movie) and featured in the Stephen King penned and George A. Romero directed cult classic Creepshow in the same year. This doesn’t feel knowingly meta though and Holbrook’s casting is likely a thinly veiled attempt at adding some credibility to an otherwise throwaway cast.

The film’s resolution is an early precursor for that of bonkers pre-teen slasher Sleepaway Camp, released the next year, although it lacks the sheer insanity of that film and I really don’t want to get into the errors of using mental illness as a motive for murder. Regardless, as retro movies go, they would make a nice double showing on a rainy night.

If you like your horrors grainy, with forgettable characters who live to party and screw, getting indiscriminately picked off by a largely unrelated murderer for questionable reasons, then this one is for you. I just wish the Girls Nite Out was as much fun to watch as it looked like it was to make. One for the Netflix remake pile!

DAVID ON GIRLS NITE OUT