Of all the horror sub-genres, slasher flicks most definitely have the most varying quality. This is probably due to the fact that they're cheap to make, all of them generally follow the same plot structure, and there's not much ambition put into them. Girls Nite Out is a perfect example of all those points and the lower end of the scale. Originally titled The Scaremaker and filmed in 1982, this one sat on the shelf for a couple of years before finally being released with little interest in 1984. And it's easy to see why...

Right from the get go seasoned slasher fans will be yawning as it begins with the typical set-up of having a lunatic, who's being transported from the asylum, killing everyone around them and escaping into the night in order to start killing again. From there we head over to Dewitt University where the students are about to take part in the campus radio station's yearly "Scavenger Hunt". It promises to be an evening of partying and fun, which is quite evident in all the goofing around by the cast and various failed attempts to add some humour to the proceedings.

Bully for them then that it turns out our escaped nutter happens to be former frat boy Dickie Cavanaugh who's heading back to the campus to wreak some havoc (along the way he even gets to beat down a pair of gravediggers using their own shovel - which he lunges at the camera. ooo scary!). And bully for us as an audience as we have to sit through a boring first third filled with clowning, stale dialogue, and many uneventful scenes.

But things promise to pick-up when Dickie kills off the student who plays the basketball team's mascot (a dopey looking bear suit with ridiculous yellow cartoon eyes and a sticking out tongue) and steals the costume in order to harass the rest of campus. But not before he decides to tape together a bunch of knives to make his own makeshift "claws". This is followed right away by more annoying attempts at "funny" as one of the frat guys "Dutch ovens" his girlfriend after ripping a huge fart as they lie in bed.

Yeah, so anyway, Girls Nite Out continues along its predictable path as various people are killed off while Hal Holbrook (the only name actor in the cast) wanders around as an ineffective campus security officer. The script even tries to make virginal Lynn (Julie Montgomery) into a heroine before sputtering to a "revealing of the killer" finish that you've seen many, many times before.

It's hard to take the killer seriously in that goddamn bear suit even if he continually mutters "whore" and "slut" while knocking off his victims, director Robert Deubel has absolutely no idea how to stage death scenes (although I'll grudgingly admit to mildly enjoying a moment where the killer jumps through the window behind a character - another cliché), and the acting by the mostly inexperienced cast is better left unmentioned. And what kind of slasher movie is this as there's absolutely no nudity and merely a few splashes of red paint looking blood on hand? Hard to believe there's four people credited with writing this.

Montgomery would go on to her most memorable role as "Betty" in 1984's teen sex comedy, Revenge Of The Nerds and the rest of the cast, with the exception of Rutanya Alda, would disappear into obscurity. Lauren-Marie Taylor (who plays Sheila) was the skinny dipper killed off in Friday The 13th Part 2. (Chris Hartley, 1/16/06)

Directed By: Robert Deubel.
Written By: Joe Bolster, Anthony N. Gurvis, Kevin Kurgis, Gil Spencer Jr.

Starring: Julie Montgomery, James Carroll, Suzanne Barnes, Lauren-Marie Taylor.

aka: The Scaremaker.