Night School (1981)

Episode 493, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw I’m Todd. 

Craig: And I’m Craig. 

Todd: This week was my turn to pick. I just can’t get off of these 1981 slasher films. There are just so darn many of them to find, and I’m always finding something new. I think this one I was led to because a couple weeks ago we did another ’81 slasher, and we were really talking about how nice the cinematography was.

And the cinematographer for that one was Mark Irwin. Mark Irwin has done a ton of stuff. He’s worked pretty closely with David Cronenberg. He’s done a lot of these old horror movies that we’ve done. The Brood, Scanner. Well, we haven’t done Scanners yet, I guess. Videodrome- Mm … The Fly, The Blob remake that we loved so much.

Uh, Robocop movies, Robocop 2, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Dumb and Dumber. Like, the list goes on. This guy’s a major cinematographer. He’s done a bunch of horror, and then he kinda went into comedy there in the ’90s, so. Anyway, as I was going through his stuff, I saw this one, Night School, which pops up on my lists every now and then, and I thought, “Oh, that would be kind of fun.”

Another slasher movie. It looks to be somewhat giallo inspired, and it had some pretty nice things that people had said about it. So this is Night School from 1981. Craig, d- have you ever seen this before? 

Craig: Nope. As far as I know, never heard of it. I mean, Night School is a pretty generic title for one of these ’80s horror movies, so- 

Todd: Yeah

Craig: maybe I’ve heard it before, I don’t know. But I s- definitely don’t think that I had seen it, so I I really don’t have any history with it at all, so this was my first experience with it. 

Todd: Yeah, mine too. In fact, I don’t even remember seeing it, like, on the shelves or anything like that. I 

Craig: don’t either. 

Todd: But the director is, uh, Ken Hughes.

Ken Hughes is quite prolific. He did Chitty Chitty Bang Bang wrote and directed. 

Craig: That movie scared me when I was a kid. 

Todd: Oh my God. That was my… Yeah, that’s- It should … gateway horror, that movie. 

Craig: The, I… It wasn’t something that we watched in our house, and so s- I don’t know, a teacher showed it to us at school, and, like, I was terrified.

Todd: Oh, man. Yeah, the Child Catcher in that is just- Yeah … scary. I… Someday I’m gonna show that to Kenji, but I w- I… ‘Cause he likes musicals, but I do wonder if it’s gonna give him nightmares, that Child Catcher. But yeah, so Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Night School was actually, this was his very last film before he…

I mean, he didn’t pass away, he just retired. And he passed away in 2001 at the ripe old age of 79. So, uh- 

Clip: Mm. 

Todd: Yeah, what a film to go out on. Just slasher movie that has a few different things in it, but a lot of things the same. I don’t know. Let, l- Do we just dive into it? Do you have any, like, overall thoughts you wanna say?

Craig: No, I guess. I mean, I th- I think that my feelings on this one might be kind of tainted by the fact that we’ve done so many of them in a row. 

Todd: Yeah. Comparing them now, aren’t we? 

Craig: Yeah. Yeah. And after a while it’s like, okay. They’re all the 

Todd: same. 

Craig: To some extent, and, and that’s fine. I mean, to some extent that’s what I like about them.

I, I kind of know what I’m getting into. I kind of know what to expect. I’m looking for certain tropes and things. But when you watch them back to back to back, and, heh, I don’t know i- if we’re keeping this some kind of big secret, but, like, we did the last, I don’t know, what, seven episodes, like, in a marathon.

Todd: That’s right. We, we have not given ourselves any break between these movies. So you’re right, it feels like we’ve seen six of these. 

Craig: Yeah, like straight back to back. So, uh- Oh, 

Todd: we should take a break. 

Craig: Yeah, maybe so Yeah, so I don’t know. I, I, I guess we just jump into it. There are, you know, as, as you already mentioned, the cinematography is good.

It’s shot w- in Boston, is that right? 

Todd: Yeah, almost entirely on location in Boston. 

Craig: Yeah, and the locations are great, and I think that I read that up until this point, Boston hadn’t really been used as a shooting location much, if at all, like maybe a movie or two before that. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: It is a really cool, you know, ki- you know, the streets look old and, and historic, and it’s all lit very well, and all of that looks great.

It’s just as far as plot is concerned, I’m like, “Yeah, l- l- the last three episodes we did, just, like, kinda listen to those.” It’s 

Todd: kind of the same plot, yeah. 

Craig: Pretty much the same. It really is. Especially since, you know, we’re doing these older ones that s- it’s… As you were saying it a minute ago when you were saying it’s got elements of giallo, it’s giallo inspired.

Well, yeah, we always say that because they all are. Mm-hmm. I mean, even e- even what became the more prototypical ’80s slashers still were inspired by giallo. Like- 

Todd: Yeah … 

Craig: they didn’t carry over every element, but… So it’s funny, but this one specifically is, you know, uh, uh, many of the same details, the black gloves, the obscured figure.

You don’t know who it is until the end, and it’s a mystery, and there are people investigating the mystery. And so that’s the base- … of it, but we can get into the more details of what’s actually going on in this one. 

Todd: Yeah, there are quite a few characters in here, and I think this one sets it apart from maybe one of the last ones we did where there were, seemed to be a very small cast, so there weren’t a lot of people to be thinking about or to be suspects.

This kicks off at a daycare as it’s letting out, a daycare in the middle of the city, and this woman, Anne Barrens, is just sitting with this little girl, Lisa, on a merry-go-round. One of those classic, classic old-school merry-go-rounds that I probably aren’t… They don’t put in, uh, playgrounds anymore, do they? I think they’re deemed fairly unsafe, but I love them.

We 

Craig: had one at, uh, our elementary school here until recently. I don’t know if it’s still there or not. I haven’t been by in a while. 

Todd: I mean, it’s the kind of thing when you look at it, and I think about it now, man, we would w- you know, we would spin each other around on these things so- till we were almost flying off.

And if somebody, I don’t know, rolled underneath it, that wouldn’t be good. Yeah, they were- Probably not. I, I don’t know how none of us ever got injured on… Well, some of us probably did get injured on these things, but I really miss those old school playground equipment. 

Craig: Especially since, you know, our playgrounds were just on concrete.

Mm. Like, at least now they put down, like, those rubber chips or whatever. 

Todd: That’s true. Well, Anne Behrens is about to get it. She’s a teacher there. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Seems like she’s… And we later learn she’s going to night school to get her teaching certification. 

Craig: Yeah, and that’s the only reference to night school at all throughout the whole rest of the movie.

Todd: More or less, yeah, exactly. Well, it was originally titled Terror Eyes. Terror Eyes, E-Y-E-S. Yeah. Which is… I think Night School’s better, honestly. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That one’s a little too cute for its own good. Yeah, everybody kinda leaves, and she’s just sitting there chilling, and a dude comes up on a motorcycle, and he is wearing a big black motorcycle helmet.

Honestly, it’s like, uh, half of Daft Punk is what w- is what, what this looks like. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: One of those big-ass motorcycle helmets with the visor that’s completely dark and almost goes halfway around the head. And, and, uh, he’s dressed in all black, like a leather, tight leather jacket, all sleeves, and leather gloves, and leather pants.

Just all black. 

Clip: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: Very scary, actually. I mean, if somebody had approached me like this, I wouldn’t have been as chill as she was at first. And then he just starts spinning her around on the merry-go-round. I thought this was a clever scene. So she’s flying around on the merry-go-round, and as he’s, she’s coming by, he whips out this knife, and it’s unique.

Mm. One of, one of the unique things about this movie is the knife he’s carrying around. It’s c- it’s curved inward a little bit. It, it’s just very, got a very stylistic look to it. And I guess it was modeled after some tribe or something. This kind of ceremonial knife- Mm … known as the kukri. Used as both a tool and a weapon on the Indian subcontinent, and it is the, still the basic utility knife of the Gurkha, sometimes called a Gurkha blade or a Gurkha knife.

Thank you, Wikipedia. And he, uh, as she comes around, he, like, has it in front of her like he’s gonna cut her face with it. He r- raises it up, he raises it up. He’s really taunting her, he’s teasing her. And then as she comes around one last time, he raises it above his head and apparently lops her head right off.

This is a beheading movie. Everybody gets beheaded. 

Clip: Uh-huh. 

Todd: Which reminds me of the poster for this one. There’s a, there’s a report card on it. It says, “A is for apple, B is for bed, C is for coed, D is for dead- … F is for failing to keep your head.” Oh, boy. Night School: A Lesson in Terror. 

Craig: Wow. Maybe that’s why we never saw it.

Todd: That might be. That sounds, that 

Craig: sounds pretty 

Todd: bad. They looked at that and kind of went, “This is stupid.” Yeah. So, uh, he cuts her head off. Then we g- switch over to Judd. Judd and Stevie, his wife, getting ready for a night on the town, and suddenly he gets called away. He’s a police detective. She’s very upset about it.

Do we ever 

Craig: see Stevie again? No. Do we ever… I don’t think we… We never s- I don’t think we do … This poor girl. They’re like… They’re getting ready to have a romantic evening, and he gets called away, and then he’s just gone for weeks. We never see him again. I know, right? And they make such a big deal out of this.

Clip: Oh, Judd, it’s your day off. You promised. I’m sorry, Stevie, but it’s important. Stevie, look, why don’t you just… Honey, honey, honestly, I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to. I know, but- Come on. Let me make it up to you. Why don’t you book a table at The Ragged Glove for about 7:00? I’ll be done by then It’s my job.

Yeah. Well, it’s a lousy job 

Todd: Poor Stevie. That’s- She never sees her husband … hilarious We never see her. Ever again.

It’s so funny. So anyway, he gets called out, and it turns out this is the second killing in a week. Her- the severed head of her was found in a bucket of water far away from the body, and it turns out that the first killing, the body’s head was found in a pond. And so from these two things… Okay, so this guy’s got, like, a goofy sidekick.

Craig: Are you talking about the cop now? 

Todd: Yeah, I’m talking about the cop. The cop’s got a goofy sidekick. His sidekick decides that he- that there’s a pattern, something weird about water. So, uh, Judd decides to go and investigate Wendell College girls school, which is where she was going in the evenings studying to be a teacher.

And they keep talking about his Harvard degree. There is this kind of irritating continuous theme and thread going here of the fact that this guy has a degree and his partner does not, and I think his wife even says something. He even says something about his degree when he’s with his wife, and then later somebody says, “Well, that’s what you get when you got a Harvard degree.”

It’s like, oh my God, okay, so this guy’s educated. We got that. And I guess he’s surrounded by uneducated people who are really, really take issue with that or- 

Craig: I didn’t even notice. You were… No. You were paying much closer attention. 

Todd: You didn’t notice that? Oh, it kept coming up. Well anyway, at the girls school he goes in, and there’s a professor giving an anthropology lesson.

He just goes into the, the class she was taking. 

Craig: Right. 

Todd: And as is typical in these movies, this guy’s giving a lecture that’s gonna be somewhat relevant later, but he’s talking about the tribes of Papua New Guinea and their interesting and strange rituals. You know, I took an anthropology class when I was in college, and the teacher had done…

Oh gosh, what was her name? I don’t remember her, her name, but she had done some pretty groundbreaking extensive work in Papua New Guinea. Her big research project in the ’70s, I think, was that she discovered how they used gambling as a form of wealth redistribution in the islands. 

Craig: Interesting. 

Todd: Yeah. We read her book and everything like that.

It’s just so interesting. Every time I think of anthropology, I think of that class, and I think of her, and I think of Papua New Guinea, so- … for that to come up here in this movie was just a personal little, oh, that’s kinda nice for me. 

Craig: I’m glad you enjoyed it. 

Todd: Not for you, but definitely for me. This professor right away comes off as a douche, don’t you think?

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: And he’s got a little bit of that Frasier look to him, doesn’t he? God, he looked a lot like Frasier. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Who’s that actor? Kelsey Grammer, right? 

Craig: Uh, yeah, a younger Kelsey Grammer, sure. 

Todd: The professor’s like, “I- look, I didn’t really know her ’cause she’s only been coming here for a couple weeks, but she was really, really good friends with my assistant here, Anne, so you could talk to her.”

And he walks over and he gets really friendly with Anne. 

Craig: It’s Kim. Kim is the- Oh, Kim … is the assistant. Anne is the, Anne is the one who is dead. 

Todd: Ah, 

Craig: yeah, yeah, yeah, 

Todd: yeah. 

Craig: And yet, it, it’s funny ’cause the Professor Millet, I think is his name- Uh-huh … passes Judd off to Kim, and in talking to her, Kim’s like, “Yeah, she had a secret boyfriend.

I think he was older.” And the guy, the cop’s like, “Was he married?” And she’s like, “Mm, I don’t know, something like that.” And then for some reason, Millet thinks it’s a psycho with no motive, and the professor’s like, “Oh, I’m not so sure.” No, the- he, he is the professor. The professor tells the cop… 

Clip: I think you’re dealing with a psychotic killer here, a maniac that strikes without rhyme or reason, without any tangible motive.

He’s gonna be a very hard person for you to find. Oh, we’ll find him Good night. Good night. 

Craig: I was trying to hurry through that because I wanted to get to the diner where there’s also… Millet has an assistant who’s, like, foreign exchange student- Yeah … I guess. Mm-hmm. And she, that girl, the foreign exchange student, kinda gives Kim a weird look or, or something.

Mm-hmm. It, it looked to me like a keep your hands off my man kind of look. 

Todd: Exactly. Yep. 

Craig: But she goes to this diner where there’s this cute waitress, and somehow Millet comes up in their conversation. And the waitress is like, “Is it true what they say about him?” And the f- foreign exchange student is like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She’s like… I don’t remember how she put it but basically she asked, “I- is it true that he’s Professor McFucks’ students?” Like

Todd: Apparently 

Craig: he is. And, and s- and she’s like, “I don’t know.” But what’s hilarious to me is that he totally is, and it seems like he’s banging every young woman that he works with. 

Todd: Yeah. Like 

Craig: all of them. 

Todd: He har- he hardly keeps it a secret either. He’s touching them all and giving them looks and embracing them, and it’s pretty nuts.

This, this exchange student’s name is Eleanor, by the way, and played by Rachel Ward in her very first film role, and she went on to do other things. She’s, uh, still working. 

Craig: She did a couple of big things. Like, I think she was, like, in The Thorn Birds or something 

Todd: and- Mm-hmm. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid with Steve Martin.

I love that one. She did The Final Terror, which is another one I want us to get to eventually. Yeah, she, she’s just did some steady work all the way through up to the early aughts and then took a little bit of a break, and then more recently has done a few voice, voice work bits and stuff. So, uh, yeah, she’s a, she’s a nice, pretty lady.

Craig: She was an Italian model, and the guy who is the lead guy, Judd, was, like, a spaghetti Western star, right? 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: They were both kind of Italian imports or whatever. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, I mean, not Italian themselves, but definitely, like, did a lot of movies in, in Italy, yeah. Right. Which makes sense now. You got this- Italian-ish type movie that they’re in now.

Although this is a, I believe, an American production, so. 

Craig: This leads into a weird long section- Yeah … that, that is fine. Like, it’s really s- this, I don’t know, next 10 minutes or so is very suspenseful, but it’s kind of frustrating because there’s really no payoff. Like, it’s all fake-outs. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: This guy from the cafe, he’s…

I don’t know, he’s what? Like, the busboy, I guess. Mm-hmm. Follows Eleanor home, and he’s being totally shady. Like, every time she pauses to turn around to see if he’s there, he, like, ducks into doorways and stuff. Yeah. It… And, you know, then he’s kind of openly following her, and she’s running, and there’s a big dog jump scare that got me.

Uh-huh. I totally jumped. But she gets home safe, undresses in this huge, I don’t know, brownstone. Like, it’s very fancy. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And then she showers. 

Todd: Yep. 

Craig: And as she’s showering, and if… She’s a very beautiful woman. Some guy is trying to get in, and, and first it just seems like he tries to let himself in. He fumbles with, you know, the, the lock, but he can’t get in.

He tries to ring the bell. She can’t hear it. The most interesting thing to me in this scene was the sound. 

Todd: Yes. 

Craig: Were you listening to it? 

Todd: Yes. It was really good. 

Craig: It was really cool. I had my earbuds in, and the way that the scene was set up so that the sound was timed just so that she kept missing the sounds that she should have otherwise been hearing.

Mm-hmm. So, you know, the shower would come on just as the doorbell would start to buzz, and the doorbell would continue to buzz until she starts to hear it and then turn the water off, but then it would stop as soon as the water… And the sound, it was so loud. Yeah. Everything was really, really loud, and I was…

I, I made note of it because that’s not something that- usually stands out. That’s what made the scene for me. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Otherwise, it was just a very pedestrian thing, but with that extra element of the really interesting soundscape, it really stood out. 

Todd: Yeah, I thought that was very, very creative. Another thing that stood out is that, you know, once he sh- surprises her in the shower and she’s like, “Oh my God, what, what are you doing?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you.” Are you kidding me? Don’t you think that would surprise anybody in the shower, you idiot? 

Craig: Millet, by the way. 

Todd: Millet, that’s it. We’re, 

Craig: we’re led to, we’re led to believe that it’s the killer, but it’s not. 

Todd: Yeah. It’s 

Craig: the professor that she’s seeing. 

Todd: It’s the professor, right, yeah, it’s not that guy.

It’s, and it’s not that guy that was, that was w- going after her. 

Craig: No. 

Todd: So then, like, what the hell are they doing in the shower? 

Craig: Oh my God. What 

Todd: is this? 

Craig: She’s in the shower when he gets there. But then it just cuts to them both in the shower, and I had no idea what was going on, and I still don’t. 

Todd: What, it was, he, he’s, like, smearing…

Was it a pomegranate or was it just- 

Craig: I don’t know … 

Todd: it couldn’t have 

Craig: been. It was some sort of, like, cream or gel. 

Todd: Some red cream or something that he’s smearing over her chest and then over her face as she’s against the wall. But half of it’s getting washed off because they’re in the shower, but oh my God, she’s in ecstasy over this.

Is this, like, their, their anthropology stuff? Like, are they into some particular tribe and they’re- That 

Craig: must be it … 

Todd: they’re, uh, trying to recreate this ritual or something like that? I don’t know, but it was, uh- 

Craig: That has to be it … so bizarre I 

Todd: can’t imagine what. 

Craig: I don’t know. 

Todd: And it wasn’t sexy. No. I thought it was just gross.

Craig: Well no, ’cause it, I mean, it, it’s clearly meant to at least be reminiscent of blood- Sure … and it very much is, and it’s gross, and you just see the- They 

Todd: even show it going down the drain Psycho style. Right, that’s what I was gonna 

Craig: say 

Todd: But she’s- Right, right … she’s not dead. It’s just, it’s not blood at 

Craig: all.

And the whole movie is just water motif after water motif. So you see that bloody water flowing off into the drain, and then it cuts to a turtle tank. And I’m like, “Why are we in a goddamn turtle tank?” 

Todd: Right? 

Craig: What is happening? 

Todd: We’re at an aquarium a- and there’s a scuba diver in there, and there are people looking in at the scuba- There’s a lot of time spent here while that scuba diver is just feeding the fish or something.

I was like, “What is going on?” And then we see that dude with the helmet creeps around the corner and then goes away, and then there’s some close-ups on some sharks. Some turtles. I, this is all actually very pretty. I, I thought the editing- Sure … here was very nice. And it w- Yeah … what a great- 

Craig: It’s a nice aquarium

Todd: yeah, and what a great set piece, too. You know, since we have been watching so many of these back to back, what sets these apart? It’s the creative kills, it’s the cinematography, and it’s interesting set piece instead of just- 

Craig: Yeah, sure … 

Todd: in a campground or in somebody’s house. Like, where can you, where can you murder someone that’s kind of interesting?

And so, you know, this diver gets out of the aquarium, and it looks gorgeous, and walks into her locker and starts stripping down, and it turns out this is Kim, right? 

Craig: I don’t know who this is. 

Todd: I think it was Kim. Well, it looks like Kim. It might not be her. It could be some random person, but I’m pretty sure it was Kim.

And she’s getting stalked by that guy. He’s dragging the knife around and she’s remarkably calm as she hears all of these strange sounds around her. And then she turns and he bursts out of the cabinet at her. Now, how in the world did he get in that cabinet in that room she’s been standing in? 

Craig: I don’t know.

I don’t know. 

Todd: It made no sense at all, but it was a cool scene. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: He leaps out at her, tosses a net over her that’s hanging up there. We get POV shots from his point of view. We get POV shots from her point of view. And it’s brutal because he’s cutting her a lot. There’s a lot of blood, but there’s- 

Craig: Uh-huh.

A- against, like, white subway tile. 

Todd: Yeah. But there’s no detail. Like, we don’t really see the contact. It’s aga- Not really … it’s almost like Psycho style, right? You never see the, the knife hit flesh, but- 

Craig: Right … 

Todd: you definitely see blood. I still found it very brutal. None of these girls really fight back, which I find a little annoying.

They’re- Mm-hmm … they’re very much just crawling against the wall and backing into a corner while the guy k- kills them. So that part gets a little old. But there’s a great snap cut, a- as he takes that final slash at her, to a turtle chomping on something And then a woman who’s looking in that turtle tank screams, and we see their head fall down the water in front of her in the tank.

What a nice little sequence that was. 

Craig: Yeah, it was good. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: I don’t think it was Kim, because I think Kim comes back later. I don’t know who this girl… Well, we’ll see when we get to the place where I think that Kim comes back, but- 

Todd: All right … 

Craig: I could not for the life of me figure out who this girl was. A- aside from they say that she was another student of the school, and I could be wrong, but I…

And there’s another girl later who I’m pretty sure is Kim. 

Todd: Oh, okay. 

Craig: But anyway, then I- God, I don’t know. Judd goes to talk to Millet, I think because he’s had connection to, I don’t know, at least one or two of these girls. 

Todd: Yeah. They’ve all been in his class- Um- … or at least two of them have. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And I, I don’t remember what leads up to it, but Millet is still saying it’s gotta be some kind of psychopath or something and, and he’s got the line that I think was the tagline for the movie.

Clip: There’s been another killing. Hmm. That doesn’t seem to surprise you. When man kills for the sake of killing, there’s no reason why he should stop. Do you really believe that man can go out and kill just like that? Why not? You see, animals kill when they’re hungry or when they’re threatened. But man is the only animal who destroys his own kind for the sheer pleasure of it.

Craig: I don’t know. I feel like it’s supposed to be deep, but- 

Todd: But it’s not. No. It’s not deep at all. We’ve heard it before anyway. Didn’t we hear that in The Great, the, what’s that called? I know. The Most Dangerous Game? I’m pretty sure that’s a line that- Maybe … the guy says is, “Man is the only animal who hunts for sport.”

Craig: Could be. 

Todd: But he has a very elaborate office, this guy. His office is as, as big as a living room. Got multiple levels on it, and he has all these artifacts around. It’s just as I would imagine an archeologist’s office should be. And after they’re gone, him and Eleanor have a little lovers spat, and he’s not real nice to her.

I guess he’s just very aloof. He’s very much… And actually, I kinda give him credit for this. He’s very much like, “Well, you know, you should know what you got into with me. You should have figured out by now I’m kinda sleeping around, and I’m sleeping with you, and, like, whatever. Like, what did you expect?”

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: And that seems really douchey, but on the other hand, I mean, at least he’s not, like, leading her on. 

Craig: True. 

Todd: I don’t know. I, I, I found this character to be interesting. Even though he’s this aloof professor who seems to be full of himself, and is really hot, and is banging all the girls, and has got this woman here, he just felt a little deeper than normal.

And I really liked that they were doing a serious kind of relationship here. Like, these movies just usually don’t have this substance to them. There’s somebody with a girl, the girl gets killed, or there’s somebody, the girl has a girlfriend. Like, you just know they’re together. This has, like, a whole bit of a, you know, it’s not l- literally a love triangle, ’cause there’s not, like, a specific third person, but there’s some tension between these two.

And, uh, we go back to the restaurant, and that’s where Eleanor has retreated to, and she’s sobbing. And he comes to comfort her and apologize. 

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: And that’s when she tells him she’s three months pregnant, and his reaction is measured. He’s not pissed. He doesn’t run off, but you’re not quite sure how cool he is with it.

But he’s nice enough. 

Craig: Mm. 

Todd: And then he flirts with the waitress, Carol. And she’s like, “Do you have to flirt with every girl in front of you?” Ugh, I just don’t trust this guy. She asked to get married, and he’s like, “Well, we’ll talk about it later.” Mm-hmm. So there’s a lot of drama here. I thought it was interesting.

I don’t know, a little bit better than some of the soap opera crap we’ve been watching in some of the other movies, I think anyway. 

Craig: Yeah, I guess. I mean, I, I s- ugh. Uh, the movie I think wants us to feel that way and, and based on the way that the movie ends, I think that they want him to have kind of like a redemptive arc, I guess.

Mm-hmm. But he’s gross. He’s- Yeah … he’s a, he’s a grosso. He is. And I, you know, I don’t… At this point I don’t know how committed he is to this girl. He’s just saying nice things. I- 

Todd: Yes … 

Craig: who knows? The waitress also says to her, she comes up after Millet leaves and she’s like, “If you believe a word of that-” you’re a dummy.

Yeah. I don’t remember exactly what she says, but, but something along those lines. She 

Todd: really does, yeah. She’s… Carol knows what’s up. 

Craig: Well, and, and Carol has, you know, sh- she’s not being a bitch. She’s, she’s looking out for this girl, basically. Yeah, yeah. I mean, she’s, she’s been nice and kinda looking out for her all along.

Todd: She has. 

Craig: And, and then, okay, see, now I, I’m afraid that I got my names mixed up. You did. Is there a Kathy? Is there a Kathy and a Karen? 

Todd: No, this is Kathy. I, I don’t think there’s a Karen, no. 

Craig: Who is the girl that you said died before? 

Todd: Yeah. The, this is not her. The, uh, this is, um, the girl who died before was, uh, Kim.

Craig: Oh, okay. Too many Ks. All right. Yeah, I screwed up. All right. So Kathy. 

Todd: Yeah. Or 

Craig: whatever her 

Todd: name is. Kathy’s another student. We saw, like, her face earlier. She had also wandered into the, the professor’s, uh, classroom earlier and had been kind of batting eyes at him or something like that. And she’s being comforted by the registrar, who’s this, uh, middle-aged woman.

Craig: I think she’s the headmistress, isn’t she? 

Todd: Is she? I guess. Or 

Craig: something like 

Todd: that. I don’t know. Yeah. I saw the name on her door said registrar, but she could be the- 

Craig: Oh. Oh. Yeah, no, I guess you’re, I guess you’re right then. 

Todd: Uh, she’s b- she’s important. 

Craig: Griffin is her 

Todd: name. Griffin, yeah. And she’s trying to comfort Kathy, who’s upset about the professor’s dalliances, and she’s like…

And she offers for her to stay the night over at her house so that they can talk. And at that moment I was like, “Oh, that’s really nice.” And then the scene goes on for a couple more beats and I’m like, “Oh. Oh, this woman is also a bit of an opportunist.” 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Did I 

Craig: catch that? I thought that… I was- I was surprised by that.

Todd: Uh-huh. 

Craig: This movie came out in 1981. I don’t know. I, I guess some might say that in 1981 it, it might… Today it might not be a good look to have, like, the predatory lesbian in a position of power. Yeah. But I, I just thought for this time I was surprised it was something that they were addressing at all.

Right. And I thought that it was an interesting dynamic that- women aren’t necessarily safe. This poor girl gets taken advantage by two professors or- 

Todd: Yeah, right … 

Craig: university staff. Yeah. 

Todd: In helping her, I’m gonna, I’m gonna take advantage of this opportunity. Like, what a bitch. 

Craig: Yeah. Bad news. 

Todd: So anyway, we’re at the restaurant now.

It’s nighttime and Carol’s closing up, and we know Carol’s gonna get it. We know from the minute this scene starts, oh, we’re at the restaurant. Everybody’s clo- and Carol’s closing up shop. And the minute I realized Carol was gonna get it, I was like, “I know who the killer is. I know exactly who the killer is.”

Craig: Well, I should’ve figured it out at that point, too, but I was just… When we’re following Carol and then, you know, the gloved hand, like, turns the lights out, obviously she’s gonna get it, but I was like, “Why?” Mm-hmm. She’s not one of these co-eds. Like- Mm-hmm … I thought this killer was just killing co-eds. What’s happening?

Mm. So, yes. You, you should be able to put two and two together at this point. 

Todd: And this is a long sequence. She does- At 

Craig: least Carol fights back a little. 

Todd: Yeah, she does. She throws a chair or two at him, tries to throw a table in his way. A, a little bit, but mostly she runs, and she ends up downstairs in an alley, I think, the fire escape or something.

And again, they try to do something a little different with each of these kills, and this was three slow-mo strikes on her. Or maybe it was just the same strike being repeated over and over again for effect. But, uh, it just bothered me that her head was turned in the wrong direction after he cut. 

Craig: Well- 

Todd: Like, he’s cutting to the right and then her head turns to the left.

Craig: I almost feel like you… I had to watch this on my computer, so maybe I just couldn’t see it very well, but I almost didn’t even see any cutting happening. Like, it was- 

Todd: No, you don’t really see it, right? You just see him move his arm down And you hear the slice And 

Craig: she, like, turns her head 

Todd: And she turns her head, and there’s some, there’s just sort of a red streak of blood on her, but, but not even really any makeup of sorts.

That was a little disappointing, you know, that they didn’t really do a lot of makeup work on any of this. But it also made the movie a little classier, I suppose. Like, by the time it was all done, I thought, “This could almost be a movie that would have shown on TV.” 

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: Maybe cable. 

Craig: Sure. 

Todd: It was bloody and it was violent, but the gore wasn’t so close up and in your face- Mm

and detailed. So I, yeah, I thought maybe they were doing that perhaps so that it could play on TV. 

Craig: I don’t know, but I feel like one of the more interesting scenes is, is the scene that immediately follows her death- Yes. … because the owner comes in in the morning, and there was a struggle. Like, she fought back a little bit, so, like, chair- chairs are knocked off tables and stuff, tables are knocked over and stuff.

And he comes in, he doesn’t know what’s going on, and then a couple of construction workers, I think, come in, you know, wanting their breakfast. And the construction guys, like, clean up while the other guy goes to get some food going, and he pulls a giant vat of beef stew out of the refrigerator. 

Todd: Yes. 

Craig: Now- We know.

Todd: Yeah. Uh-huh. We’re like, “Oh my God. Oh my God.” And he spoons it in the bowls, and he serves the bowls to them. This goes on for so long, but they are teasing us the whole way. Oh, God. The whole way they’re teasing us. We’re like, “Oh- Slurping the stew … just waiting for this,” right? And one guy goes, “Oh my God,” like, “What is this?

Uh, there’s, there’s hair in the stew.” He’s like, “Really? There’s hair in there?” So he goes inside and he tips the stew out into another pot. Gosh, the camera starts to slowly come in, slowly come in, slowly come in on that, and there’s no head in there. 

Craig: I was just waiting for that head 

Todd: to roll out. I know. We were- I was just sure

so punked by this. And then he goes into the walk-in cooler, and so we’re like, “All right. This is where it’s gonna be,” right? And he opens up these different containers of meat, and it’s like, “Uh, no. Uh, no.” Knocks down a, a box from the top shelf, but just some meat falls out. Then there’s a bag behind it, and he grabs it, and as he pulls the bag something rolls out of it, but it’s a melon.

It’s like- Yeah … these guys are so messing with us. I love it. Yeah. I just- 

Craig: It was 

Todd: fun … loved it. And eventually he goes to the sink and, uh, washes his hands or something and starts to drain it. And as he’s draining the sink that has the dishwater in it, it looks odd, and the water slowly comes down, and we can see, like, the top of a hair and just, like, a little tip of a nose, but it’s still really, really cloudy.

And, but we know that’s where the head is- Right … finally, and it sh- shoots to him, and, and he looks shocked, and then cut away. God, I loved this scene so much. I thought- It was good. … it was fantastic. It

Craig: was good. 

Todd: Never have I felt so played. Ugh. All right, anyway, so yeah, now we’re at the apartment of the creepy busboy, Gary, and we haven’t seen him in a while, not since he was chasing after that one girl earlier, and he didn’t show up at work today, and that’s why the police are over at his house, ’cause they think that’s really odd.

His room has girly pictures all over the walls, and on the top of this chest of drawers is a hockey mask quite prominently displayed that I thought must be, like, a little inside joke. 

Craig: Oh, that’s right. 

Todd: But I don’t think so because, um, the original Friday the 13th came out just a year before this. And there was no hockey mask in that.

Craig: Oh, that’s right. 

Todd: So I think it was just a coincidence. 

Craig: That’s funny. 

Todd: Kind of a, like a retroactive Easter egg or something like that. But anyway, he’s got girly pics on the walls, bra in his drawers. The guy just doesn’t seem like the type. He’s pretty slow. 

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: And the detective’s not convinced as well, and he leaves.

I mean, we knew this guy was a red herring from the minute he started stalking that one girl. 

Craig: Right. 

Todd: So now they’re back at the professor’s house, and the detective kind of breaks in and looks around his office, and that’s when Eleanor finds him and- 

Craig: Well, he finds these files that show- 

Todd: Oh, yeah … 

Craig: Millet and Eleanor in Papua New Guinea or wherever they were.

Yeah, posing with skulls. Um, 

Todd: um, 

Craig: um, right, with skulls and, and with natives and, and she comes in and she’s like, “What are you doing? You can’t just come in here.” And he’s like, “Well, you can’t just cut people’s heads off.” And

she’s like, “What are you talking about?” He’s talking about how they were studying headhunting or whatever. 

Clip: How can you make a comparison between this kind of butchery and the tradition of Eastern culture? These rituals existed years before this continent was even discovered. The headhunters of New Guinea are not cannibals or savages.

They seriously believe that in taking the heads of the enemies, they are possessing their very life force. And by putting the heads in water? In this way they believe they’re cleansing the evil spirits from the souls of their enemies, leaving only the purity of the spirit. Mm-hmm. How did you know that? I didn’t.

Todd: How did you know? And so that also confirmed for me, yeah, of course. She ends up making a phone call that’s not there, so she heads to the school to find the professor. She overhears some conversation between him and Mrs. Griffin- Griffin … again, talking about how he was leading that other girl on, Carol. And so she storms out.

Then we get a shot of Ms. Griffin in, uh, at home with Carol comforting her. 

Craig: Molesting her. 

Todd: Yeah, molesting. But then she kinda gets into it. 

Craig: Yeah, I mean, I guess she’s into it, but- 

Todd: Not at first … 

uh, 

Craig: yeah, I, I, I even like in the office when Griffin is chewing Millet out, he basically says something, and he’s more crass about it, but he basically says, “You’re not any better than I am,” basically.

Yeah, he 

Todd: does. Mm-hmm. He 

Craig: sa- he says, “We know why you wanna comfort these girls,” or something. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: So, and, and so she’s not, she’s not any better than he is. She’s just as bad. She’s taking advantage of this girl, whether the girl seems into it or not. Like- 

Todd: Yeah … 

Craig: total imbalance of power 

Todd: here. 100%. No, I am not- Completely 

Craig: inappropriate.

Todd: D- when I said she was getting into it, I was just talking about how the movie portrayed it, but you’re right. No- No. Oh, yeah … like, it’s, it’s still wrong Absolutely. Absolutely … 100%. Well, they all end up over at that house anyway because apparently Gary was… They were staking out Gary’s house, his, his partner, and they followed Gary to Mrs.

Millet’s house. So he’s like, “I got, I got him.” They all converge over at Mrs. Millet’s house. Gary disappears up the fire escape. We don’t see him forever, and then his partner decides he’s gonna go apprehend Gary. 

Clip: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: So he leaves. And then like after a while, Judd gets impatient because the, we don’t see these other two, and I don’t know where the hell they w- are.

Where could they possibly be at this time? Gary is supposedly peeping. He’s like a peeping Tom, so I guess he’s looking in the window- 

Craig: Mm-hmm … 

Todd: at, and he is looking in the window at Carol as Mrs. Millet goes downstairs and answers the phone. But then we just don’t see him for a while, and it seems like Carol sees him outside the window, but she doesn’t do anything about it.

Anyway, Judd comes in and I really liked this scene, too. Mrs. Griffin is downstairs answering the phone and the camera view is from the hallway looking through the doorway at her from a bit of a distance. And then she hangs up the phone and turns around and the door starts to slowly close and we see that she sees there was somebody behind the door.

And she tries to get out the door, but the door slams and we hear a struggle and we see the door rattle and m- and move. And then pretty soon the door opens a crack as she thinks, as she, it seems like she’s gonna be able to get out of there, but she’s bloodied. She gets pulled back in and the door slams again.

Then we hear more n- sounds and then we see a kn- the knife come straight through the door. And then whatever, slump down, silence. And then the camera pans down to foot level as the door slowly opens again. We see smears of blood there on the, on the g- on the floor and the, and the killer walks out This is so smart 

Craig: It was really good.

Todd: Yeah. I mean, it, you j- your mind can just fill in the blanks. The sound design is great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this before, but I really liked it. 

Craig: Yeah, I did too. It looked really good. And, and again, there’s, before… So many of these kills are set against a white backdrop. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And, and this one is again too, and you know, it’s, it’s in a brightly lit room, so when you actually do see the blood, I mean, it’s just bright red and- Mm-hmm

it, it, it always sounds weird to say this, but it, it, it paints kind of a beautiful picture. I mean, obviously- Yeah, I know what you mean … gruesome and disgusting, but artistically it look f- in frame, it looks amazing. Like, the colors pop. It looks really good. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: Ugh, so good. Well, Kathy wakes up upstairs, and there’s running water suddenly in the bathroom attached to the bedroom, so she goes in and sees the toilet.

Yeah, I would not touch this toilet- 

Craig: No … 

Todd: for the life of me. There’s a little blood coming out of it, and there’s hair coming out of the side of the toilet. And of course, she goes and lifts it up, and again, we don’t see the head. We just sort of see the top for a split second, and she screams, and the music cuts on so hard here, and the prowler is right behind her.

This was genuinely scary, I thought. 

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: And she backs up on the bed, and he hacks at her, and then it cuts away. Oh my God, that was such a good sequence, too. The way that they timed the music and his entrance was just pitch- Perfect. The mu- 

Craig: Yeah, it was really good. It w- and, and it was surprising because it happened so quickly.

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And I understand why that girl got killed, but I still felt bad for her. Yeah. Like this poor girl cannot catch a break. 

Todd: No. You’re right, she can’t. 

Craig: This led to one of my favorite .5 seconds of the movie because Judd is there. He’s in this house. 

Todd: Uh-huh. 

Craig: And he goes to, like, run up the stairs, and from the top of the stairs in the darkness, we are to believe that the biker, like, spider monkey jumps onto him.

Todd: Uh-huh. 

Craig: But what really happens is somebody throws a big stuffed doll at him- … right? Because that’s sure what it looked like to me. Uh-huh. 

Todd: And they- 

Craig: Oh, 

Todd: boy … tumble down the stairs, right? 

Craig: Oh, that was really funny. Oh, it was 

Todd: hilarious. 

Craig: But the cyclist gets away. He races off. 

Todd: Yeah, and the detective breaks d- breaks out, finally gets up and tears out the front door to see his partner with Gary’s hands behind his back.

He’s like, “I got him. I got him, buddy.” He’s like, “No, you didn’t. You got the wrong one. It was that dude who just ran out.” And he looks up the street, and pretty soon the dude’s taking off on the bike, and this… Does this begin the big chase sequence? No, not yet. 

Craig: No. No. This is… This just leads up to the very mediocre reveal.

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: The biker just goes home. 

Todd: Biker goes home and takes her helmet off, and it’s her. And I f- I almost feel like it’s so mediocre because the filmmakers are giving us enough credit. 

Craig: I guess. 

Todd: They’re like, “Come on, you- you’ve all, you’ve all sorted this out by now. We’re not gonna pretend like it’s gonna be a big…”

She takes her helmet off and tosses her hair, and then, um, the professor comes downstairs, and they have a confrontation. 

Craig: I wondered for a second if he was in on it, but he wasn’t. 

Todd: No, he wasn’t. Yeah. 

Craig: He didn’t know any of this, and she sa- she does a whole crazy monologue about how she did it for their family and- Mm

you know, she, uh, all of the people that she killed stood in the way of their happiness, and she’d do it again. And if he ever has affairs again, I guess she guess she’ll have to kill them too. 

Todd: Right. 

Craig: And, and then she’s like, “All right. I’ll go make dinner.” She’s crazy. She is. And then you hear the sirens coming, and she’s like, “Here come the cops, and if they come in here, they’re gonna kill me, and if I die, the baby dies too.

You don’t want that, do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?” You love me, 

Todd: don’t you? You love me, don’t you? 

Craig: Right? 

Todd: Uh-huh. 

Craig: So then it cuts to outside where the police are gathering, and the biker takes off. 

Todd: I knew this was not her. I- 

Craig: Obviously … 

Todd: knew it when that bike sped out of there. 

Craig: Obviously. There’s no world in which this is going to be her.

Todd: Yeah, exactly. The motorcycle speeds out, but, you know, the g- dressed just the same as always, this biker, and there’s a huge chase scene. Oh my God, this is crazy. This is all through the city. Uh, this is Boston, huh? I thought for a minute this was, uh, San Francisco because of the way the, the roads were so angled and sloped.

But, um, it, it allows for some really great sequences where the bike is coming down the road, but it’s also doing a jump. It’s fun. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: So anyway, big, big chase sequence. And, uh, where are we now? Where are we now? 

Craig: The cops, the cops, you know, like, I, I don’t know, there’s kind of a barricade maybe, and, like, the, the cops and the main cop, Judd, are, like, you know, on their knees, like, with guns pointed and, and, like, they’re shooting at him as he’s coming towards them.

And then he crashes, I guess, into the barricade and, like, flies over and lands, I think, on the hood of another police car or something. Mm-hmm. And they take his helmet off, and it’s, it’s him. It’s- Mm-hmm … the professor. And they say, “Oh, looks like his neck is broken.” But I couldn’t tell if he was dead or not.

It kinda looked- … like his eyes were, like, googling around in his head. 

Todd: Kinda did. 

Craig: It was weird. 

Todd: It kinda did. I think that’s, that’s just a consequence of using a real person for a body. I think I just don’t think he was so skillful at keeping his eyes straight, but we’re supposed to believe he’s dead. And so the cop’s assistant goes, “Well, I guess that wraps up the whole case.”

And the detective goes, “Does it? Does it?” 

Craig: Does 

Todd: it? And walks away. And I’m like, “Okay, cool, so this movie isn’t gonna end quite like that last one we did,” where, you know, the… I was thinking Happy Birthday to Me. So anyway, there’s a funeral. Why we’ve seen no funeral for anyone else, I’m not sure. But anyway, Eleanor is at the funeral, and she walks away down the, the street, and she’s confronted by the detective.

And he says, I love this line. He says, “Miss Ajai, is the ceremony over?” She says, “Yes.” And he says, “I hope so.” And he gets in his car and drives off, and I’m like, he is gonna let her go. 

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: He knows she’s been doing the killing, but he figures she’s not gonna do it again. What, he’s gonna save her baby? He’s gonna let this dead guy take the heat?

I don’t 

Craig: know. 

Todd: That is so up, but it’s also kinda cool. I was not expecting this. Well, I don’t 

Craig: know. 

Todd: I was not expecting this. 

Craig: I mean, the other guy’s already taken the fall for it. How’s he gonna prove it? I don’t know. 

Todd: I guess, maybe. He just, well, he just says that to her. Hmm. But oh, so good. Is the ceremony over?

Yes, I hope so. Anyway, we’re back to the police office. 

Craig: That was so weird, ’cause I thought that was surely the end. I’m like- Uh-huh … “That, that’s, I, I… Like, that’s a good ending.” 

Todd: Yeah. Yeah, it was. 

Craig: But, but then as it’s fading away from that, you hear a phone ringing. I’m like, “Hello?” Why? Why, why is the phone ringing?

I’m 

Todd: like, “Where’s this phone?” 

Craig: Yeah. And now we’re back in the precinct, like you said. 

Todd: And the detective’s wrapping up for the night. I’m like, “Oh, what’s gonna happen?” Then he goes into his car, which is in the parking garage, and I’m like, “Oh my God, is there something…” ‘Cause the, it’s framed up just like there’s gonna be someone in the backseat.

And sure enough, the killer springs up from the backseat, puts his n- arm around the cop’s neck, and I thought it was slicing his throat. Oh. And then suddenly backs off and takes his helmet off, and it’s his buddy. It’s his partner. He’s like, “Oh my God, you scared me.” He’s like, “So who’d you expect, the headhunter?”

Craig: Then they just laugh and laugh. 

Todd: What a crazy ending. Oh my 

Craig: God. That, I, that was a crazy ending. Oh, God. I think I read that they filmed that later and tacked it on. They must have. And I don’t know. Like, that’s something that these days you would probably find in the bonus features, but- Yeah … it was, it was really kind of fun.

Yeah. I mean, it was a silly movie overall. Why not, why not end on a gag? I think it’s kind of fun. 

Todd: I feel like if we hadn’t been just so, like, worn down by so many similar movies, that we might have had a little more fun with this one. I, I really thought they were… Just the kill sequences in this movie were just a cut above, ha, the, the ones we’ve been seeing.

Uh, the cinemat- they were just smart ideas here, and a nice creative ways of presenting this without just going for blood and gore, and let’s just make it super gross, you know? 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: It was very restrained in the blood aspect, actually. I just really liked that, and the ending I thought was really unique.

The drama felt a little more real than… For, for most of these movies, it just seems like filler to get, just to kill time in between the killings, and here I felt like the story made sense. Not that it’s, like, a particularly special story. It’s kind of a revenge-ish type thing, but I don’t know. I really enjoyed it.

Craig: Yeah. I, I, I thought it was all right. I, I, I really think it is just because we’ve seen so many back to back and, like, there was nothing wrong with it. And, and I agree with you that it was well made and well shot, lots of really, some really beautiful frames. Nothing inherently wrong with it. I just, I, I’m at the point where I’m like, “Yep.

Seen it.” 

Todd: We’re gonna have to take a break from these early ’80s slashers. 

Craig: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but, but, you know, for these early ’80s slashers, a- and again, this one has more shades of giallo than some, so especially if you’re into that, I think you’ll totally dig this. I really like that bridge. I like kind of the bridge.

I, I, I like the, the older, you know, Italian ones, and of course I love the traditional American slasher, especially as we get in, moving forward from here. But the bridge ones, I find really interesting. Mm. I, I like seeing both influences. I like seeing the Italian influence and the American influence blended.

And this does that a lot, I think. So if, if you enjoy that kinda thing, it’s better than some other ones that we’ve done, for sure. 

Todd: Yeah. Well, thank you guys so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please share with a friend. You can find us online at chainsawhorror.com or just Google Two Guys and a Chainsaw Podcast, where you’ll find all of our social media channels.

Please reach out to us there. Please write a review to let us know what you thought of this episode or just what you think of our podcast. As long as it’s positive, we’d love to see new reviews going up there on Apple Podcast. The best thing you can do is steer somebody new, uh, that you- some horror fan that you have in your life, uh, that you think would really enjoy our, uh, our podcast.

Or you could also go to our patreon.com/chainsawpodcast patron site for just five bucks a month. Get on board with unedited episodes, getting the episodes just as soon as we finish recording them, but before I’m done editing them and getting them out to the rest of the world. Our book club back there, some extra goodies.

Please check it out. Patreon.com/chainsawpodcast. Although we love your support no matter how it comes. Until next time, I’m Todd. 

Craig: And I’m Craig. 

Todd: With Two Guys and a Chainsaw.