I would love to sit here and describe how the film beautifully marries dual threat plots foreshadowed by the two phone lines Buckman’s character has in her home. The early exposed psychosis and the horror Buckman’s character has to endure from then on becoming a powerful statement for undiagnosed mental health issues in society. Thought provoking dialogue that initially seems inaccessible, however, on further review may deliver a more powerful message. However, I can’t. It’s all nonsense, poorly written nonsense that will invoke no other reaction than “what the hell are you doing?”
Night Killer has actually been on my radar for years thanks to a couple of images I saw in a few genre magazines. It’s obscurity made it a movie worth seeking out and when Vinegar Syndrome/Severin announced their HD remaster I jumped at the chance. Walking into this, I thought it an obscure American slasher with a gorgeous star released as the genre was on life support. I had no idea this was an Italian horror. Bruno Mattei handled some of the direction duties without lending his name. The entire production wreaks of filming anything to get it into the can and sold on video.
There are particular scenes that feel as if they were thrown in to up the body court and extend the runtime to 90 minutes. An opening attention “getter” featuring some dancers rehearsing and a visit to a museum really have nothing to do with the main plot, other than establishing that the Night Killer of the title is a killer like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. There is some pretty tame gore in these sequences when compared to the competition. When we get into Buckman’s story the killer plays with his prey a great deal more and the movie in inherently different. There are confusing attempts to delve into the psychosis, and the film even provides a professional character to blither on about what the killer is attempting to do.
As Melanie Beck, Tara Buckman has a lot to do and a huge amount to endure throughout, when you get through the rather bland climax you will not believe how incredibly dumb the twisted resolution is. Given how cheap this movie is, it really benefits from Buckman giving surprisingly good performance and she really gives the nonsense she has to spout a good shake. Went she meets the character of Axel, Buckman is put through a pretty intensely physical scene on a beach, I can’t imagine too many other actors committing to a lengthy and uncomfortable scene like that. She is also game for the inexplicable nudity that is going to widen the eyes of any Cannonball Run fan.
Peter Wooden’s character of Axel is hard to stomach throughout and his story arch is so unbelievable I was constantly questioning if the writers had a clue what they were doing. Richard Foster plays Buckman’s chum who looks after her daughter whilst she goes slowly goes nuts. The other 8 or so people in the… entire cast are purely passable at best, with only the cop played by Mel Davis giving a wholly decent performance. This would be Davis’ only credited role.
I love the idea that there is a whodunit built into this. However, two massive failures occur during the film to destroy any suspense as to who the killer might be. First, the male cast consists of four gentlemen. We establish early on that the killer is a younger white male, eliminating the black cop and the elderly psychologist. Of the two remaining males, one is busy at the time the killer is doing his killing so the process of elimination stops there. The second failure is an early scene in which the killer brings a sex worker back to his ridiculous pad and takes off his mask. However, a well place light dazzles the audience making it impossible to make out his face, that is until he walks across it and we get a clear, albeit brief, look at his face. “Oh it’s him” resounds the audience. Perhaps this is the curse of HD restoration, murky 80’s VHS copies audiences will remain… in the dark… so to speak.
Strangely this film is called Non aprite quella porta 3 in Italy. This translates to Don’t Open The Door 3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and it’s sequel were re-titled to Non aprite quella porta and Non aprite quella porta 2 respectively in Italy on their release. Leatherface – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III was released a month before Night Killer the same year and was called Leatherface – Non aprite quella porta III. I can’t imagine how annoyed the audience might have been thinking they were sitting down to watch that much glossier and effective horror film.
Night Killer is pretty bad. It is a laugh for a bunch of friends to sit and make fun off, however, there are some frustratingly painful decisions made to keep the story going. I found myself shouting at the screen at the nonsensical decisions made by the cast and when the resolution comes around I had to apply maximum willpower to resist the urge to throw my beer at my TV. It should have been titled Don’t Open The Video Box.
This is the perfect example of great poster art selling a film. The mask is acurate, if a lot better looking than the one used in the film. However, the spooky house is nowhere to be see in the film and now I think about it… the Night Killer doesn’t do much of his killing at night…
You can pick up Night Killer from the US and Canada from Severin’s website or you can find it on Amazon, however, it’s a little more expensive.
There are a couple of decent interviews on the disc. I’m glad to have it and to have now seen it, however, I can’t say I would watch this again, sober.
