College life can be grueling enough without the added bonus of a deranged psycho wearing a bear mascot costume chasing you around the campus...homemade knive claws outstretched for blood.
A lively and enthusiastic cast distinguishes Girls Nite Out (also known as The Scaremaker), director Robert Duebel's peppy 1983 slasher.
There's energy to spare and the soundtrack, featuring original golden oldies including Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, Do You Believe In Magic, Summer In the City and Hanky Panky, is a nice departure for this kind of film.
At Weston Hill Sanitarium, an inmate's body is found hanging in his cell. Dickie Cavanaugh's sister retrieves his body and hands it over to two men to bury. But while digging the ditch, the men are murdered and tossed into it.
The students at Dewitt University are in a festive mood. The basketball team, led by Teddy Ratliff (James Carroll), have won a game and a costume party is planned for that evening.
Barney, the kindly cafeteria waitress (Rutanya Alda) is thrilled for them. Unfortunately, the mood of Pete "Maniac" Krizaniac (Mart McChesney) is somewhat dampened by the fact that his girlfriend Leslie has just dumped him.
At the party, the story of Dickie circulates. Apparently, he killed his girlfriend in a jealous rage and was sent to the asylum. Nobody is aware of his recent suicide.
Pryor (David Holbrook) gets into a fight with his girlfriend Sheila (Lauren-Marie Taylor) when he finds her flirting with Benson (Mathew Dunn), the basketball team mascot.
Meanwhile, Lynn (Julia Montgomery) is upset to see that her beau Teddy has an interest in Dawn (Suzanne Barnes). When the party has ended, Benson is killed by someone who then steals his bear costume.
The next morning, the campus cop Mac (Hal Holbrook) has a little talk with Pryor about the commotion he caused at the party and tells him that his daughter was killed by someone like him. In fact, it was his daughter who was murdered by Dickie.
A scavenger hunt, sponsored by Charlie Kaiser (Larry Mintz), the DJ at WDVX, is scheduled for that night. The killer, having sneaked into Charlie's files to take a peak at the locations of the hiding spots, prepares for a night of carnage. He places four knives into a paw of the bear costume for maximum damage.
Jane (Laura Summer) is the next victim. Her body is found by her close friend Kathy (Carrick Glenn)...who is killed as well. The killer phones the DJ after each murder...but Charlie has no idea what the calls are about. However, Charlie soon reports the "creepy" calls to Mac.
Sheila, believing that Benson is wearing the mascot costume, is lured into a house near the pond and murdered. Mac himself gets a call from the killer, who claims to be Dickie Cavanaugh.
When Mac calls the sanitarium, he finds out that his daughter's killer was found dead in his cell and that his body was taken away by a sibling.
While searching for one of the items in the hunt, Leslie (Lois Robbins) is killed in an attic. Lynn, unaware that Teddy is sleeping with Dawn at the moment, finds the body and hysterically phones Mac...who in turn orders Charlie to cancel the scavenger hunt.
The campus is soon swarming with police and reporters. Pete, whose ex-girlfriend Leslie is among the victims, is questioned. Several accounts from people point the finger at Benson...who Lynn indicates was seen leaving the building where she found Leslie's body. However, this suspicion is discounted when Benson's body is discovered.
Mac listens to a recording of the killer's voice. There is something strange about a quote he hears. "The twins are together again." In looking at newspaper accounts of his daughter's death, he notices a mention of a twin sister that Dickie had named Katie...and soon enough puts two and two together. The twin is an employee at the university under an assumed name.
Indeed, Katie is none other than Barney, the kindly waitress in the cafeteria...who has been storing her brother's body in the freezer, and whose identity is detected just before she has the opportunity to do away with both Teddy and Dawn.
