Night School (1981)
An atmospherically directed slasher with it's origins in headhunting in New Guinea. The plot centres round a Boston university campus and the gruesome beheadings which befall the co-eds.
English actress Rachel Ward is quite good as the lead heroine given it was her first film role, but the murders become quite repetitive rather than tense as the motorcyclist killer (a motif clearly nicked from gialli ten years earlier) decapitates his victim then dumps the head in liquid. The knife slashes are seen as streaks of blood rather than gory flesh wounds which doesn't help. A few moments of gratuitous exploitation are thrown in to please horror fans but overall Night School doesn't really deserve it's tag as a non-prosecuted video nasty.
Now if only they'd called it something cool like Terror Eyes. That would have made for a far better movie.
The Warner Archive dvd looks great for those interested.
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