La nuit de la mort! (1980)

La nuit de la mort!: Directed by Raphaël Delpard. With Isabelle Goguey, Charlotte de Turckheim, Michel Flavius, Betty Beckers. Young Martine begins working as a nurse at Deadlock House, a secluded grande retirement home, but from the beginning not everything is as it seems, strange residents each with their own quirks and a rather macabre dietary supplement to their vegetarian diet are ruled by the strict Miss Helene, and her suspicions are soon raised when her co-worker who has taken her leave for two months leaves without her suitcase.

“A word of advice to pretty women seeking employment at a remote stately home: if the property has an ominous name like Grimstock Towers or Mortlake Manor or Darkcliff Hall, then give it a wide berth. Something terrible WILL happen to you. Take Deadlock House for example, the setting for French horror Night of Death: attractive redhead Martine (Isabelle Goguey) goes there to work as a nurse, tending to the needs of a group of kooky old people. What she doesnu0026#39;t realise is that the pensioners are much older than she thinks, having halted the ageing process by devouring the innards of the young women hired to look after them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMartine becomes suspicious when fellow nurse Nicole (Charlotte de Turckheim) suddenly disappears, supposedly having been fired for misconduct. After spying Nicoleu0026#39;s suitcase in the boiler room, the missing girlu0026#39;s belongings about to be burnt, Martine goes looking for further evidence to support her belief that something bad has happened to her co-worker. Naturally, this course of action puts Martine in deadly peril.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plot for Night of Death is predictable horror hokum that rarely surprises, but a likeable central turn from Goguey, a creepy soundtrack (crashing piano chords and screeching violins, accompanied by haunting vocals), and plenty of quirkiness (check out the bizarre procession of the old people down the hallway, their strange appearance at Martineu0026#39;s window while she is changing) all go to make this an atmospheric treat for fans of obscure oddball Euro-horror.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlso adding to the fun are a couple of very messy gore scenes (the disembowelment of Nicole is particularly grisly), a smattering of nudity (de Turckheim is stripped naked and the ample Goguey briefly bares her blouse bunnies), and a neat twist ending in which we discover the identity of the Golden Needle Killer, the murderer who has been preying on local women.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb. A ghoulish, gory Gallic gem.”