Simply A Masterpiece

Absolutely Fantastic

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

When his parents are tragically killed Billy goes to live with his aunt who appears to be fixated on keeping him with her at all costs. When the aunt kills a man who won't sleep with her the police detective investigating suspect the aunt is protecting Billy who he thinks was having a relationship with Billy.An incredibly dark thriller with some very strange events. Bo Svenson who plays the lead cop on the case has to be one of the most unlikeable characters in horror film history, he is so unpleasantly homophobic/sexist/racist it makes it quite difficult to watch. Susan Tyrrell as the psycho aunt is brilliant and plays her with a truly demented edge, Jimmy McNichol as Billy and Julia Duffy as Julie are also very good. Writing overall is good, the character aunt Cheryl story's come out bit by bit and is always interesting(especially her relationship with Billy) as is the climax, but the detective story is so deliberately offensive it does undermine some of the story. The make-up effects are very good, the opening scene is impressive as is the violent set-pieces at the end. The atmosphere is excellent, the tension mounts and builds to a very strong finale.Not a gory or exploitative horror but a well made and brilliantly put together picture. How this well thought of film was banned as a video nasty and then rejected by the BBFC is astounding, this does deserve a release on DVD it has been on the shelf too long.

The first word that comes to mind when describing "Night Warning" is "sophisticated"—a word I'm using loosely, though this low budget '80s shocker is definitely a cut above most. Susan Tyrrell stars as an overbearing aunt to a teenager, Billy (Jimmy McNichol), whose parents died when he was a child. As Billy nears adulthood, Billy's aunt becomes increasingly neurotic; enough to the point that she stabs a repairman to death in their house when he refuses her sexual advances. Enter a bigoted police detective who believes Billy was responsible for the murder by way of a gay love triangle between the repairman and his basketball coach, and what ensues is nothing short of mayhem.Unusual in thematic content and character makeup, "Night Warning" (also known as "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker") is an apt horror-thriller that is probably ten times better than one would expect. Directed by William Asher, a veteran most known for his direction of TV classics such as "I Love Lucy" and "Bewitched," the film has a superior edge over most of its peers in both content and execution. Solid direction and atmosphere are abundant, while the performances really bring the script to life. Susan Tyrrell is fantastic as the overbearing, sexually-repressed aunt, and Jimmy McNicol plays the "normal teenager" impressively. Bo Svenson is appropriately repugnant as the homophobic and misguided police detective.Aside from the classy direction, the script is also incredibly interesting in thematics; it's essentially a modern twist on Oedipus Rex, and the execution is fantastic. It's also extremely unusual (and pioneering) for its incorporation of a sympathetic, non-archetypical gay character maligned by circumstances and social bigotry. For 1982, it's definitely far from the standard— daring, in fact— and this alone makes the film a curious and unusual piece of eighties celluloid. That, and, who can't love Susan Tyrrell going on a stark-raving-mad murder spree?Overall, "Night Warning" is a classy and well-executed horror film-cum-twisted family drama. Asher's direction is great, the special effects are on par, and the performances are glorious, both the understated and the outrageous. Of the slew of horror films from this era, "Night Warning" is an honest depiction of familial trauma, unwavering violence, and social oppression. It juggles its thematics with flair and moodiness, all while maintaining the impressions of a horror picture. Watch for: an early performance from Bill Paxton, and one of the greatest car crash sequences I've ever seen. 9/10.

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (AKA Night Warning AKA The Evil Protégé) opens with a great car accident that results in the driver's head being pulverised by a log falling from the back of a lorry, and his blood-spattered wife screaming helplessly as the vehicle careers off the road and over a cliff; it's an excellent start to what proves to be one of the better official Video Nasties, a macabre psycho killer thriller that benefits from a delightfully twisted plot, lots of gruesome murders, and fine performances, especially from Susan Tyrell and Bo Svenson, doing what they do best, playing a complete loony and a bigoted cop respectively.Tyrell is 'Aunt' Cheryl, who has raised Billy (Jimmy McNichol) since the age of two, after his parents were killed in the aforementioned car crash. Billy is now 17, and is looking forward to attending Denver University with his girlfriend Julia (Julia Duffy), but Cheryl has grown a little too attached to her nephew over the years and is determined to do whatever is necessary to make him stay with her.Svenson's narrow-minded detective, Joe Carlson, appears on the scene after Cheryl kills a man who she claims tried to rape her. Carlson's investigation leads him to suspect that Billy killed the man and that his aunt is covering for him, but the detective couldn't be further from the truth: Cheryl is barking mad and this isn't the first time she has killed... and it won't be the last! As Cheryl spirals out of control, she drugs Billy to keep him under control, hacks a couple of people to death with a machete, and bludgeons Julie with a meat tenderiser, throwing her in the basement where the poor girl discovers the remains of Cheryl's first victim, including his severed head preserved in a pickle jar. On top of all this violence, the plot also introduces elements of homophobia and incest, and throws in a sex scene for Billy and Julie, thereby getting in its quota of nudity.Even if all of this death and deviancy had somehow managed to escape the BBFC's attention during the Video Nasty era, the provocative image on the video cover was guaranteed to make them sit up and take notice: it depicted a gore-drenched Tyrell, top open to expose her bloody cleavage. Copies were seized, the film was banned, and has remained unavailable in the UK ever since—a shame, 'cos it really deserves better.

The strongest of horror films always seems to be those whose victims are sympathetic and whose villains are mercilessly frightening. Night Warning is a testament to just that!Young man becomes the unhealthy obsession of his aunt, who raised him, which leads him into a web of madness and murder!Night Warning is a relatively unknown film, which is a shame because it is a truly effective and fairly original thriller. The story is very intriguing, full of mystery, suspense, and some solid shocks. A big part of the originality factor of this film is the fact that the story dares to explore subjects very rarely touched upon by most genre pictures, such as incest, homosexuality, and the question of what morally right really is. It is a complex and emotionally strong tale, that's gripping in a way that few thrillers ever are.The excellent cast is another strong feature of this movie. Bo Svenson is solid as a homophobic police detective. A young Jimmy McNichol is touching as an attractive teen desperately trying to have a normal life. The greatest of all though is Susan Tyrrell as one of the most demented villains you'll ever see! Also among the cast is a young Bill Paxton in one of his earliest roles.Night Warning is a terrific shocker that seems to have been lost over time, but for those seeking a truly jarring genre picture it is well worth finding a copy of!**** out of ****