NIGHT SCHOOL(1981). Had this for years but only just watched last night. So many Boston locations that it’s basically the PSYCHO KILLER FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE. (Thread, maybe)

Films of this vintage (a year to either side of ‘81) always fascinate with whether they go the whodunnit or masked maniac route. NS does both well in a script by Ruth Avergon.

Also provides evidence that the language of slashers sometimes predates itself. Using a hockey mask here to make this dopey peeping Tom into a red herring a full year or so before Jason gets one in PART 3:

Director Ken Hughes (CASINO ROYALE [‘67] and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG) is not a “genre guy” and the movie is better for it. The “stalk/kill” scenes eschew the killer’s POV in favor of long, static misdirects that make you wonder where/when the scare will hit. Plenty of dread here:

And getting back to Boston, there is plenty of the city here. Faneuil Hall, the web of homes off Charles Street, and even a kill at the aquarium. But this was the shot that got me going the most, where you can see the “Smoots” on the Harvard Bridge:

This is the end of the thread, but I also took a picture of this card in the end credits which is either clearances, sponsors, special thanks, or a combination of all three: I just like how a list of booze ends with "The People of Boston"

This kind of thing is what I scribble to myself on Letterboxd, but ironically, now that I’ve gotten it all out, I’m having a hard time logging the movie.