Girls Nite Out
In some ways this can be looked at as a “fun” slasher film, with the mystery killer bumping off the school mascot first and using his goofy costume as a disguise, and there’s certainly a good bit of gore and a smidgen of suspense. The enterprise is brought down though, by a VERY slow start and one too many bits of college kid hijinks (including a painfully extended bit by two assholes running their mouths only to barely be seen again the rest of the film). The cast ain’t half bad: Julia Montgomery (Betty Childs from Revenge Of The Nerds) is cute and likable as the “good girl” heroine, even though her character NEVER actually confronts the killer. James Carroll as the hero looks like a young Kurt Russell, but proves ineffectual during the finale. Suzanne Barnes brings some class and sex appeal to the proceedings, but is reduced to a cliche by the end. Lauren-Marie Taylor (Vicki from Friday The 13th 2) brings the same combo of innocence and naughtiness that made her so appealing in her Voorhees outing (how she never became a real scream queen is surprising; refusal to do nudity perhaps?). Richard Bright (aka Al Neri) shows up out of nowhere as the cop carrying the long boring police procedural towards the end. And finally Oscar Nominee Hal Holbrook as the head of campus security spends 85% of his screen time sitting behind a desk, outside of the finale, a closeup in the dining hall, a couple of bits with the cops, and a strange scene between him and his real life son (playing a red herring) that comes off as awkward and touching at the same time. The final moments are quite contrived, and the worst thing is, they forgot to have an ending! The film basically just stops after a particularly dumb revelation from the killer. This, plus the lack of any good eroticism (necessary in this subgenre) causes the film to stumble and fall and never pick itself back up…
4/10