To All A Goodnight (1980)

To all a goodnight is one of those slasher flicks that had always alluded me. Whether I would just skip over it, or put it back on the shelf for another whose box art was cooler, This film never made it to my VCR. Finally in the age of technology, I was able to watch this film for the very first time, and just in time for Gory Little X-Mas. As I was watching, the film reminded me of another film that is near and dear to my heart and prompted me to do some investigative "online" research.

Without giving anything away, To All A Goodnight is about an all girls school called the Calvin Finishing School for Girls. Right off the bat the viewers are thrown into the story, with a girl running from a group of other girls laughing chanting and giggling. One of the girls is wearing a Santa hat and holding and axe. We soon see the group of girls has cornered the young girl and frightened she accidentally falls to her death of some balcony. The story then jumps 2 years later and we see a person in a Santa Claus costume start to pick off the occupants of the Calvin Finishing School that have stayed for Christmas Vacation.

While the movie isn't terrible, it's not the best slasher film out there. The print is extremely dark (almost as dark as "Humongous"). One of my biggest pet peeves with most obscure slasher titles are the transfers. This VHS backup is so dark, at times its so hard to see whats going on you miss something awesome. This is all to common though with these older horror flicks, especially the ones that have yet to get official releases, much like this one. The transfer is watchable, but I would make sure you pay attention, cause it's very easy to miss whats going on.

For me the pacing of the film was a little wacky. The start of the film starts off at a decent pace. The viewer gets the first kill about 7 or 8 minutes in. Not a bad start at all, however about 2/3rds of the way trough the movie it hits a lull. You see the film is separated into 3 chunks, 4 if you count the beginning set up. The formula is 1 night, 1 day, 1 night. The killer picks off about 6 or so people the first night. Then the action stops. Its day time so you get a lot of setup. Where are our friends, blah, blah. Then once night falls again, the action is back on. This break up between days really threw off the pacing for me and at times I had trouble paying attention.

Interestingly enough, David Hess directed this little gem. While he is a legend in front of the camera for films like "Last House On the Left",  "House on The Edge of The Park", and "Swamp Thing". His talent behind the camera is less than stellar. I usually don't pay attention to the beginning or ending credits for that matter, but his name really popped out from that screen. Nothing special to see as far as direction...it just sort of falls flat.

The special effects are pretty good considering the time. You get a decapitation, throat slits, head smashing, stabbings, propeller-ing. However since the film is dark its hard to see a lot of the effects which could play in its favor, but I feel like it hurt some of it too because it look like some promising makeup work was achieved only to get hidden by darkness.

To All A Goodnight is strangely similar to another film that came out the same year. That film is the original "Friday The 13th". Its odd but the final minuets are laid out quite alike. The killer reveals their motives and tries to take out the final person. Now these are typical slasher rules and clichés, However at this point in time the slasher genera was just starting to be born, Halloween had only came out a year before and not many films really capitalized on the slasher craze yet.Being intrigued by this I did some research. To All A Goodnight officially hit theaters on Jan 30th, 1988. Made on an estimated $70,000 budget according to IMDB.com. Friday The 13th hit theaters a little over 3 months after To All A Goodnight on May 9th, 1980. Made on an estimated $550,000 and grossing $5,816,321 it opening weekend. I could not find the box office for To All a Goodnight but I'm sure it didn't do anywhere near as good as Friday.

To All A Goodnight is a modest attempt at an early slasher. While the pacing is off and print is very bad it still has some very nice moments and still manages to get some viewing time by hardcore horror nerds during the holidays. For a decent promise and effects To All A Goodnight gets 2 out of 5 stabs. While it's not the worst holiday themed horror I've come across and it predates Silent Night, Deadly Night by almost 4 years...it just falls flat in a lot of areas. It's defiantly worth the watch but keep a backup plan, it could get boring. If your interested in watching this film it may be hard to track down a VHS, and you may be able to find it online, however GLP would suggest heading to our friends at VHSPS to get their 100% VHS transfer. They offer direct from the source VHS transfers, so no cut cable versions, or crappy bootlegs. No trailer to be found...sorry guys.

GLP Rating:

Silent Night (2012)

Ah, December...One of my favorite months of the year. Not just for the amazing gifts, but the family get togethers, Xmas lights, and the plethora of delicious foods and sweets. My favorite part about the x-mas season though, are the movies. No not the over played stuff like "Christmas Story" and that black and white one about the bell and angels wings. I'm talking the most depraved, and twisted fun X-mas movies out...HORROR XMAS! I'm talking Killer Santa's, twisted elves, and Xmas monsters alike. This December join GLP for "Gory Little Christmas" 4 weeks of X-mas horror.

Up first is Silent Night. This newly released slasher pic is a re-imagining of the classic controversial slasher known as Silent Night, Deadly Night. I have been anticipating this release for some time now, reading about it on many blogs and horror sites since its inception. I can say that its defiantly not better than the original, most if not all remakes never stand up, but its has a lot of very good qualities.

Basically, The story goes like this. I old mill town is gearing up for the holiday parade on Christmas Eve, when a sadistic killer suddenly starts picking off its inhabitants after they receive a lump of coal in the mail. The story is completely by the books, formulaic, and stale. Nothing new has been brought to the table in Silent Night, however, it didn't take away from the experience of watching it. The film boasts come nice kills, only one being memorable though. I will not spoil the good kill but I will say that it involves a half naked chick and a wood chipper.

The Acting is ok. Jamie King and Donal Logue are the only actors to positively right home about. Jamie does a good job with the role of Aubry, the towns deputy. She's good at what she does, and after sitting trough countless episodes of CW's Hart Of Dixie its refreshing to not see Jamie as the spoiled Lemon Brealand. Her performance too, is formulaic, as strong leading lady, however she is seem hardened from the beginning rather than making that transition over time. That was a nice change of pace for me. Donal Logue's small part was great, A cynical traveling Santa, with witty comebacks and a quick tongue. Malcolm McDowell is also in the film as the towns sheriff. I was in utter confusion with his role. It felt like the director literally told him to say whatever came to his mind..."Dont put Avocado on the burger!".......WHAT! I didn't know if they were trying to make him funny or make the sheriff out to be incompetent. It was hard to watch his scenes.

As I mentioned earlier the killers were nice, and the special effects we good too. Lots of blood and limbs being removed. Burnings, Stabbings, Electrocutions, Shootings, Impaling, and Meat Grinding run a muck in this slasher flick. They all look good, and should defiantly bring out the gore hound in all of us. The kills make the ride worth riding. The killer looks good, a typical Santa suit with a very creepy Santa mask...That mask looks so ominous. Silent Night's killer gets points for the mask.

I felt the setting was not indicative of a Midwestern town, The Midwest usually gets snow on or around Christmas Eve. At some points during the day shoots, it felt like the movie wasn't even in the winter time. A snow-laden setting would have honed in on the holiday feel. Night time shots helped equal out the off handed day shoots since you couldn't see much. The post production blueish filter tried to help give it the cold feeling but as I said earlier. It would have been nice seeing some fluffy white snow all over the place.

I had some issues with the ending, but that seems to be happening a lot recently. It is not a bad ending, but I thought it was kind of mediocre. Other than that I enjoyed the movie. Slasher fans like myself will more than likely love it, and most casual horror fans will think its ok. To the average, the movie is ultimately forgettable, thought hardcore fans of the genre should remember it at this point only time will tell. GLP gives Silent Night 3 out of 5 stabs for good kills and gore, and a strong female lead. If you want to know more about the film you can stalk the movies Facebook page. If you want to watch the film you can do so on demand thru Vudu or Amazon On-Demand or on Blu-Ray and DVD. View the trailer below.

 

GLP Rating:

The Bay (2012)

After a nice holiday break, GLP is back with a new review for your reading displeasure.

Upon deciding to watch this film, I really had no knowledge of the movie. I thought is was about some sort of alien, maybe some sort of monster. I did , however, go into watching this film with VERY LOW expectations. After I finished watching it I was not terribly disappointed, nor was I completely satisfied. It was not until I did my homework that I became really disappointed.

The Bay is about the small seaside town called Claridge, Maryland that has an "outbreak" on the 4th of July leaving the small town in a panic. The "outbreak is not that of zombies, but a parasitic one caused by major pollution to the town bay. The movie is told through the oh so OVER USED found footage theme, using different people's footage to piece together the events that happened before and during the outbreak.

Standing alone, the film had great potential, and is not a bad watch. That is about as deep as it gets. On the surface its got some good acting, decent CGI, and decent practical effects. The radio/ podcast interview with the town's mayor really stood out to me. I felt that was actually one of the best scenes in the movie, the authenticity of the interview was a very nice touch. 

My disappointment with this film came from behind the cameras. This film was directed by Barry Levinson. For those of you, like me, that don't particularly follow directors or behind the scenes guys in films, Berry & his previous films have been nominated for multiple Oscars, and He himself won "Best Director" for 1988's Rain Man. Berry has directed such films as  Diner (1982), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Rain Man (1988), Bugsy (1991), Toys (1992), Disclosure (1994) Sleepers (1996) Sphere (1998), Liberty Heights (1999), and Bandits (2001) just to name a few. You would think that a guy with connections like that, and a resume like that could make a movie better than it was. Unfortunately he didn't, and because I now know Berry directed this, I feel less excited about it. 

So lets talk about the premise without giving too much away, Basically this town is polluting the bay with something bad, and as a result it is causing a nasty parasite to mutate into an even nastier version. I really enjoyed the overall arch of the story seeing as it was creative, not entirely original, but still good enough. I felt out of all the aspects of this film, The story keep me at attention and as an end result made me like the film.

Found footage films need to be buried in the past. They were cool for a hot minuet but now it's getting to the point were EVERYTHING is being shot in the style. I feel this film could have benefited from solid camera work. Cinematography...not shitty handheld bullshit. This film could have been eerie, and frightening without the found footage effect, however, as a result it become hokey at times and sometimes laughable.

The film is not bad, it mainly suffers from bad decisions behind the camera. I really wish this film would have not used the found footage aspect, I probably would have like it a lot more. The story is good, the acting is decent, and the practical effects are good as well. The movie is just OK with good parts here and there, GLP gives The Bay a 3 out of 5 stabs. If your interested in checking this film out you can do so ONLY on-demand. Check out the trailer below.

GLP RATING