Nice effects though.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Ken Hughes directed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mae West's Sextette. Did that prepare him for this Western take on a giallo?As the last child is picked up from a daycare center, Anne is menaced by a man clad in black leather, wearing a motorcycle helmet and wielding a traditional African kukri. He or she chases her to a merry-go-round and spins her into being decapitated, her head found the next morning floating in a bucket.Judd Austin (Leonard Mann, star of many Italian productions including The Humanoid) is the cop who wants to solve the case, which takes him to the night classes at Wendall College. This isn't the first murder with a severed head being found in water and it seems like there may be a serial killer. But who could it be?It turns out that many of the murdered girls all went to the school and were all involved with Professor Millett. Or maybe it was Gary, the mental busboy. Or it could even be Miss Griffin, the administrator of the school. But surely it isn't Eleanor, Millett's live-in love and a starring role for Rachel Ward.There are the bones of a great slasher here. There's a girl in a diving suit who gets decapitated and we see her head fall into a turtle tank. There's a head that was used to make some soup. There's even a head in the toilet.What it does need is just a little bit more gore and plenty more style. It's competently directed and the mystery is decent, but imagine how this film would have played out with just a little more panache. I'm not saying it's a horrible film. I'm just saying that it could be so much more.

Although it is now lost in the annals of 1980's slasher movies, Terror Eyes, or Night School, has at least one claim to fame. The tale of a motorcycle helmet-wearing killer armed with a kukri blade and a distaste for co-eds was deemed so vile that it was placed on Britain's notorious 'Video Nasty' list and banned. Such is the irony of the video nasty list, Terror Eyes will never be totally forgotten now thanks to Mary Whitehouse and her crusade. And arguably, it shouldn't, as although the film manages to tick off every cliché in the slasher handbook, it delivers a few effectively-staged set- pieces more in common with the giallo genre.The basic premise is that Boston is under attack from a serial killer dressed head-to-toe in black leather, whose identity is permanently disguised by a motorcycle helmet. The first murder we witness sees a young teacher's aide get her head lopped off after being forced into a rather twisted merry-go-round ride. Educated cop Lt. Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) is the detective assigned to the case, along with his trusted, wise-cracking partner Taj (Joseph R. Sicari). Their investigations lead them to a local college and to the classroom of anthropology professor Vincent Millett (Drew Snyder). Millett is an expert on tribal rituals in Borneo, where the skulls of defeated enemies are often worn as trophies. Austin spots a similarity to the way the victims heads are being removed and left submerged in water, and so investigates Millet and his relationship to his young assistant Eleanor (Rachel Ward) further.Possibly the most alarming thing about Terror Eyes is not the dodgy effects or lack of plot, but the fact that it was directed by the same guy who gave us Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Ken Hughes. You would never guess it though, there's no sickly sets or questionable Cockney accents here, but Hughes' experience in mainstream Hollywood may be the reason that Terror Eyes feels a slight step above the usual slasher fare. The build-up to the moments of routine butchery are patient and manage to generate a little tension, more akin to Argento than, say, anything found in the Friday the 13th series. But for the most part, this is standard slasher fare, chocked full of awkward cop banter, wooden acting, annoying comic relief, and a bizarre erotic shower scene during which Millet rubs a sort of berry paste all over a moaning Eleanor.

Someone is killing off the female students who are taking night classes at a local college.Each victim is decapitated and has her head thrown into the nearest body of water for some unknown reason.The detectives working the case discover a connection between the victims and a certain professor at the college, which makes him their prime suspect in the killings.Is the professor really responsible for the murders or is someone else to blame.........Regarded as one of the notorious video nasties here in the U.K. for a number of years, Night School isn't just your average run of the mill stalk n' slasher set in a school, it's actually quite a compelling whodunnit.It's only weak link is the fact that the red herring may as well be wearing a jacket saying 'hey audience!! it's not me!!'.Anyone with a knowledge of horror, especially the wonderful eighties horror movement will know that the prime suspect in this is certainly not the antagonist, even more so when he appears to be less than bothered when his students are literally losing their heads.But then there's no one else whom really appears suspect, until one of the characters starts to act just that little bit too strange. And the makers must have thought we would have been duped with the Professer hook, line, and sinker at this time.Most of the characters have some sort of ulterior motive against someone else, and for some reason, the Dean decides to take a huge offence to the professor just when she becomes more amorous toward another student.There are moments of great tension though. The opening kill where the killer teases their victim is pretty sadistic, and another scene, set in a kitchen with just the owner looking for something, is really nerve wracking, and it's obvious that the Final Destination franchise borrowed this particular scene on many occasion.The final act lets the film down a little, as it's pretty clear during one scene earlier who the killer is, and what their motivation is.So all in all, if your a fan of the eighties slasher movement, it's a must, there are some pretty tense moments in the film, and it's very well acted, especially from Ward and that bloke who gets shot at the beginning of Commando putting his bins out.But it's the final scene, where the detectives partner dresses up as the killer and hides in the back of his car, that just gives the film the cult following it has today.It's hilarious, and just mocks the previous ninety minutes.Classy...

"Night School" is an entertaining slasher if only slightly flawed.**SPOILERS**Following a series of gruesome murders, police detective Judd Austin, (Leonard Mann) is assigned to search a local school that has a connection with the most recent victim. Meeting up with teacher Vincent Millett, (Drew Snyder) and his assistant Eleanor Adjai, (Rachel Ward) they provide nothing important in the case. Determined to crack it, he stays around and finds that they're a couple, which the Headmistress Helen Griffin, (Annette Miller) disproves of. As more murders are committed, each one following the same pattern as before, he becomes convinced that something is going on. Following up on a seemingly insignificant clue, he is able to solve the case and races to stop the killer from committing more murders across town.The Good News: This is a surprisingly decent slasher attempt at times. The film's most effective when its at its stalking moments, which are really well-done. The opening murder on the swing-set is a novel use for transforming an everyday object into something of terror, with the ironic twist that the killer displays in toying with the victim before the fatal blow is outstanding. A later sequence inside an aquarium's dressing room is marvelous, with the initial moment arising when the killer begins alerting the victim to their presence with the noisy clatter of banging a machete against a chain-link wall, which gets closer and closer and tipping off the victim, before the surprise attack is launched and a really terrifying exchange leading into the shower is quite effective, leading to one of it's great gags with severed heads that is one of the best ones. The severed head gags are played up throughout, which is the killer's habit of leaving the heads in a body of water. That is played up with terrifying results in a diner sequence, where the impact is alerted with the discovery of a mass of hair, and then a systematic search of the kitchen area leads to a marvelously fun time as several areas of where the head could be hidden are explored, followed by the actual appearance given in a fantastic fashion that is quite chilling. Most of the stalking moments here are top-notch, mostly due to the imposing figure, which is dressed head-to-toe with black leather biker gear and helmet which hides the identity. It even tries to pull out a little bit of erotica, with the best being a really impressive moment in a shower where two decide to engage in a display of body-painting with red gunk while in the shower, which is memorable and highly creative, given previous story connections. The last big effort is that fact that there's some rather sly black humor. Some, hopefully intentionally, funny lines about severed heads are a hoot, and a general fun tone about the detectives helps make this one of the more fun entries in the genre.The Bad News: This one here doesn't have a whole lot of flaws with it. The killers big unveiling is not much of an event as there are not enough credible suspects, and too many things throughout the film have pin-pointed them anyway. There's also the fact that this one doesn't really have a whole lot of kills in it, which really lower the body count significantly. That also brings up the fact that it really doesn't have a lot of gore in it as well, since all the big impact moments are cut away and the severed heads are seen later, indicating the death blow. That really cuts away from the big impact, as the gore is cut away and the impact never shown, simply the aftermath and that leaves a really bad impression in the film. That also comes into play with the really big problem in the film, the really irritating police-procedural story. This one really takes a large amount of the film's running time, hardly ever does anything noteworthy beyond that, and completely overlooks the most obvious realization about who the killer is. That is the big fault with it, as well as the fact that it takes away time from the body counts when they're all done in spectacular fashion. Along with the dryness from the gore, this one is mostly hurt by the really imposing police-procedural story and is why this one suffers, if only slightly.The Final Verdict: When this one is on, it's got a lot to really enjoy about it, though it really needs more to be a more complete entry. An uncut version is preferred, but if not found, then only slasher die-hards would enjoy this one, while those who don't care for the genre won't find much to restore them with this one.Rated R: Violence, Full Nudity and Language