GIRLS NITE OUT (1984)
Directed by Robert Deubel
Media Blasters DVD
Reviewed 11.23.05
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba

THE FILM
To hell with the Ivy League. Grades, stature, and the future have no bearing on what really counts in college. Especially on a Nite like this.

Trashy slashers come and go, but it takes a true swami of the genre to embed itself in your mind forever. Pleasantly squeezed between the sex-obsessed depression of The Last American Virgin, and the complete insanity of The Last Slumber Party lies Girls Nite Out. Filmed in New Jersey and New York by director Robert Deubel (who never helmed another film) and distributed by Sam Sherman's Independent-International, this vignette-styled mess flies the reject pennant high. Stand, salute, and revel in the glory; slashers as strange as this one are like your favorite birthday cake. You only get the goods once in awhile, but when that magic frosting slides down yer tubes...HOT DAMN. And I didn't even mention the killer's bear mascot suit yet. Let's hit campus town.

Tommy James & The Shondelles want you to shake your butt. That's why this film opens with their bubblegum zenith "Do Something To Me." Backdrop: a small midwestern college, the night of a campus-wide sorority scavenger hunt. The stage is set. Dumb jocks still wear Chuck Taylor hi-tops and all the babes talk about doing the deed. Characters come and go, but one thing's for sure: everyone is either high, drunk, retarded, or soon will be. Rumors of Dickie Cavanaugh, a crazed student that lost his mind over a girl many years ago, abound as bizarre images flash before us. B-ball team captains hug each other in their underwear while sipping Jack Daniels and playing with bow and arrow sets. Nerds dance for their lives. English majors prepare for a no-win career in stand up comedy. Soon enough, an unknown killer dons the school's mascot outfit and begins slicing off the scavenger hunt honeys with his homemade bear claw ("Bitch! Whore! Slut!"). Respected actor Hal Holbrook, surely an inspiration for Joe Flaherty on Freaks And Geeks, sums it up quite nicely in his role as a security guard: "I had a daughter like that once. You know where she is now? SHE'S DEAD!"

Filled with human cartoon caricatures and wall to wall bubblegum (s)hits, Girls Nite Out is so oddly misconstrued that it makes you feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable, but awestruck. The scumbags are out in full force; talking dirty, sleeping with anyone in pants, and cracking wise with cryptic jokes. The script (four writers strong) bounces all over the place, never explaining any one event thoroughly enough to draw sensible conclusions. We're left to pick up the bizarre segments in our own mind...just think of the possibilities! Did the killer get the bear suit dry-cleaned after the incomprehensible twist ending? Was cocaine the culprit behind the amazing group photo scene? Do college radio DJs act that super-cool when they're not on the mic? In my version of the movie, yes, yes, and yes.

Smart is not sexy. Trade in your diploma and bow down to the epic, 96 minute holy mess that is Girls Nite Out. You won't regret it.

AUDIO AND VIDEO
Presented in anamorphic widescreen, the print looks nice. Aside from an occasional white speckle, it's a full-on 1984 delight. Colors are subdued, the grain looks nice, and the contrast is solid. The Dolby Digital Stereo didn't sound like stereo. It was pretty scrunched and muffled. The songs sounded like they were blaring out of someone's oversized headphones from ten feet away.

EXTRAS
Aside from the film's fun theatrical trailer, supplements are a little uninteresting. "Interview With Julia Montgomery" is a 6 minute video talk with one of the lead actresses from the film (Revenge Of The Nerds, anyone?). Mostly comprised of film clips, there's nothing too interesting covered in Julia's three minutes of screen time. A dorky insistence on replaying the "fart" scene three times over seals the doom. Also included is a 20 second alternate title sequence (titled The Scaremaker) and eight trailers for other Media Blasters and Fangoria International DVD releases.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Girls Nite Out parties with dark edges and outlandish situations. An incoherent slasher with this much madness is impossible to ignore. Given the low retail price and the film's previous obscurity, your choice is clear.

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy...


...I got love in my tummy...


...and I feel like...


...a lovin' you.