Night School (1981)

Interesting facts

Night School is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Rachel Ward, Leonard Mann, and Drew Snyder. The plot follows a series of brutal decapitation murders occurring around a women's night college in Boston, Massachusetts. It marked the debut feature film of Ward, and the final film directed by Hughes. The music score was composed by Brad Fiedel.

Production

The screenplay for Night School was written by Ruth Avergon, who also served as producer. Alfred Sole was originally attached to direct the film, with Vanity in the lead role. Both departed the project due to disagreements with Avergon, and veteran director Ken Hughes was brought on board at short notice, who rewrote the script to add more humor and character development.

Newcomer Rachel Ward was cast in the film after Avergon spotted her at a New York City casting call for the film. At the time, Ward was a top fashion model but had never acted in a film before, Night School was her film debut. Likewise, it was Leonard Mann's American film debut, though he was already a seasoned leading man in Italian Spaghetti Westerns and giallo films.

Night School was shot on location in Boston, Massachusetts, largely in the Beacon Hill neighborhood as well as Back Bay, in the spring of 1980 on a budget of $1.2 million. It was the second feature film to be near-exclusively shot in Boston, after The Brink's Job. The final sequence however, tacked on after principal photography, was filmed in New York City. Shooting locations in Boston included at the New England Aquarium and Quincy Market.

Reflecting on the film's visual appearance, Avergon said: We wanted a certain look for it. We had a wonderful setting; Beacon Hill is just incredible. We had done a lot of location scouting beforehand so we knew the look we wanted for the film. And we wanted to juxtapose this gorgeous, elegant Old World look with this horrible thing that was going on. That was very much part of the design of the film.

Avergon recalled of working with director Ken Hughes: "Ken had enormous energy ... I just loved working with him. He was a joy to work with. He really knew what he was doing. There wasn't a lot of second guessing. He knew what shots had to be taken for our budget. The production value that he gave us, along with Mark Irwin [cinematographer], was wonderful. I thought they really captured a nice look for the film".

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