best movie i've ever seen.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The set-up is somewhat like that of "Black Christmas", with an opening minute that will remind the slasher fan of "Prom Night". At a finishing school for girls, one poor lass plummets to her death (or rather, a dummy does) after being chased around by her peers. A year later, a small group of gals who've stuck around during the Christmas holidays will find themselves stalked by a murdering fiend in a Santa Claus costume. The cops show up on the scene, but much like most things in this movie, they're not very good at their jobs, so our killer isn't going to face very much of a challenge.This demands a viewing on the basis of its curiosity value. It's scripted by The Incredible Melting Man (a.k.a. actor Alex Rebar), and is the feature directorial debut for Krug (a.k.a. actor / composer David Hess). Rebars' sorry excuse for a screenplay is bad enough to make one think that he and everybody else were just sort of winging it throughout the shoot. Hess delivers no tension or suspense. Then again, you DO get the impression that they're not taking themselves that seriously. You couldn't, not with dialogue and performances as bad as this. The one rather cool moment occurs when the maniac is actually wearing something other than a Santa Claus suit.The lovely Jennifer Runyon ("Ghost Busters", "Up the Creek") made her film debut as Nancy, a standard issue Nice Girl. Forrest Swanson is nerdy Alex, who seems to take a while to really notice the girls. Kiva Lawrence is not that bad as the kindly housemother Mrs. Jensen. And that's porn star Harry Reems playing the hapless pilot. Gore effects are supplied by the young Mark Shostrom ("Evil Dead 2"), and some T & A is delivered by Judith Bridges as the slutty Leia (however, some may be disappointed by the latter).This doesn't go on too long, and tends to alternate between being dull and being uproarious. Only die hard devotees of slashers and bad movies really should bother with it.Five out of 10.

The idea of a killer dressed as Santa Claus attacking a group of young people at a sorority house sounds great to a horror fan like myself! Which is why I was so excited to this the other day. Unfortunately, 'To All A Goodnight' was a major disappointment. It had so much potential, but with so many flaws to me this is a below average slasher film that I wouldn't care to see again.The movie begins with a girl accidentally falling to her death during a prank/initiation. Flash forward two years, this time with a group of new girls who are staying at the sorority house over Christmas. They invite a bunch of boys over to spend the holidays with them which of course was added just to increase the body count. Eventually, a killer dressed as Santa kills a few people and one of the body is discovered the next morning. A cop comes to the house and tells them to stay and lock up for the night (not sure why they listened, I would have gotten the hell out). Anyways, a few more murders happen that evening leading to the killer's revelation.There are so many things wrong with the movie. The main group of characters are so annoying and make it hard to get through the film at times. The dialogue and acting are so bad, it just makes most scenes seem awkward. Plus, it's Christmas. Where is the snow? I feel that the movie could have been much more moody and creepier with a snowstorm outside or something. And why would they stay at the house an entire day after finding a bloody corpse. It makes no sense. Also, the lighting is pretty bad so don't expect to see everything clearly, including some of the kills. The killers identity was sort of obvious to me anyways, but there is a second twist which came out of nowhere for me. It felt rushed and fell flat. 'To All A Goodnight' has it's moments, like a helicopter propeller kill and making one of the characters go completely insane after finding a decapitated head in the shower. But after I had so much anticipation in seeing this, I felt that it wasn't a very good movie and could have been so much better.4/10

David Hess, infamous for his terrifying character Krug from The Last House on the Left (1972), has gone from playing the rapist in a film, to making a film of his own. Unsurprisingly, the movie he made was a poorly acted, poorly lit, and violence filled slasher film. However, the film is definitely a favorite of mine. Despite how admittedly terrible the film is, it's B-Movie charm makes it worth watching.At the Calvin Finishing school, several young coeds enjoy their winter break at their sorority house. They have drugged their house mother and snuck their boyfriends into the house to have a little fun. But little do they know, a murderer dressed as Santa Claus is in the house with them, ready to invade their little party. After a night of party, sex, alcohol, and murder, one of the sorority girls, Nancy (Jennifer Runyon) stumbles upon a dead body, making her, and the rest of the group, aware that they are in for one hell of a night.Like, I said before, this movie is doubtlessly a bad one, yet still I hold this movie close to my heart for several reasons. One of those reasons is the shocking twist at the end, where we find out the identity of the mysterious killer. Another reason is a FANTASTIC chase scene between the killer and Nancy (Who is cute and likable as the final girl), which is fast-paced and exciting to watch. The acting is not really very good, but it's not really TERRIBLE. Jennifer Runyon is really the only person who is truly worth mentioning in this movie, especially since she's probably the only person involved in the movie that ended up in other movies afterwards.Overall, the movie is definitely something slasher lovers would enjoy. The movie is strange, funny, dark, (somewhat) creepy, gory, fast-paced, and overall just a fun movie to watch. I would recommend it for those boring nights alone when all you have is a beer, a bag of Doritos, a TV, and a VCR.

I got this one for two reasons. First, to add to a collection of Christmas themed horror and fright films, and also because it's directed by David Hess. While he made a most convincing and despicable villain in Last House on the Left and House by the Edge of the Park, he really should have left the directing here to others. The story is fairly typical 80s teenager vs slasher fare, although the whole killer in a Santa costume is intriguing. The methods used to knock off the teens are fairly standard (except for one rather sharp effort that gets two teens at one time), yet generally well-done. The film suffers from a lack of pacing, pretty sluggish and slow in many places with a continuous repetition of the Are We Safe in the House or What? mantra, to the point of causing a viewer to wish the kids would all get killed quickly. The wish is mostly fulfilled, but it sure takes a while. The end is not particularly surprising unless you've not seen this type of film before. Still a worthwhile item to have if you keep a collection of Christmas scare flicks, as I have.