Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (later re-released as Night Warning) is a 1981 American exploitation horror film directed by William Asher, and starring Susan Tyrrell, Jimmy McNichol, Julia Duffy, and Bo Svenson. Framed as a contemporary Oedipus tale, the plot focuses on a teenager who, raised by his neurotic aunt, finds himself at the center of a murder investigation after she stabs a man to death in their house. The boy's sexually repressed aunt secretly harbors incestuous feelings for him, while a detective investigating the crime irrationally believes the murder to be a result of a homosexual love triangle.
Financed by the independent Royal American Pictures, the film was shot in Los Angeles in 1981. Michael Miller was originally hired to direct, and completed the filming of the opening sequence with cinematographer Jan de Bont before being fired and replaced by Asher, who shot the remainder of the film with Robbie Greenberg.
Given a regional release in Oregon in November 1981 through Comworld Pictures, the film expanded to other U.S. cities in early 1982, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for the Best Horror Movie of 1982 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. It was reissued theatrically in 1983 under the title Night Warning, under which it was subsequently released on home video. The film has attracted critical discussion for its early positive portrayal of a gay male character.
Plot[]
High school senior Billy Lynch lives with his protective aunt Cheryl, who has raised him since infancy after his parents died in a car accident. A gifted basketball player, Billy is offered a chance at a scholarship to attend the University of Denver, but Cheryl dismisses the idea, assuming that Billy will stay with her to "contribute." At school, Billy is bullied by one of his basketball teammates, Eddie, who is jealous of Billy's close camaraderie with their coach, Tom Landers; meanwhile Julia, the school newspaper photographer, begins to take a romantic interest in Billy.
On Billy's 17th birthday, Cheryl changes her mind about the scholarship, and asks Billy to stop by the television repair shop to have the shop technician, Phil Brody, come by to look at their set. That night, after Phil works on their television, Cheryl makes aggressive sexual advances toward him; when he refuses, Cheryl stabs him to death with a kitchen knife, which Billy witnesses through the window. Cheryl hysterically claims Phil tried to rape her.
A bigoted police detective (and former Marine and Purple Heart recipient), Joe Carlson, is assigned to the case, and is skeptical of Cheryl and the alleged rape attempt. After discovering that Phil Brody was gay, and that he was in a same-sex relationship with Billy's coach, Tom, he assumes the murder to be the result of a love triangle between Phil, Tom, and Billy, and that Cheryl is covering for her nephew. Carlson begins questioning Billy, accusing him of being a f--, and harasses Tom, forcing him to resign from his job at the high school. Carlson also inquires from Julia about her and Billy's sexual relationship. Meanwhile, Cheryl feeds Billy drugged milk, which causes him to perform poorly at his scholarship tryout, and cleans out the attic so he can have an apartment space in the house. Sergeant Cook, who has been casing Cheryl's home, believes Billy to be innocent, and is suspicious of Cheryl.
After walking in on Billy and Julia having sex, Cheryl becomes enraged with Billy. In the attic, Billy finds a photo of a man named Craig, whom Cheryl claims was one of his mother's old boyfriends. Billy has Julia stop by the house to distract Cheryl so that he can investigate further; locked in a box upstairs, he finds his birth certificate, indicating that Cheryl is actually his mother, and that Craig was his father. Meanwhile, downstairs, Cheryl strikes Julia in the head with a meat tenderizer, and again drugs Billy with milk, rendering him unconscious.
Julia awakens in a secret room in the basement, where she discovers Craig's mummified corpse and his severed head in a jar of formaldehyde next to a makeshift shrine. Cheryl's nosy neighbor Margie, having grown suspicious, arrives shortly after to investigate the goings-on on the property, and is followed into the woods behind the house by Cheryl, who stabs her to death with a machete. Sergeant Cook then enters the house in search of Julia, who has been reported missing by her mother, and is also murdered by Cheryl after discovering Julia in the basement. Cheryl chases Julia out of the house, and they both fall in a pond near the woods, where Cheryl again knocks Julia unconscious.
Billy awakens in the attic, which Cheryl has adorned with his childhood toys, and stumbles downstairs to call the police. While attempting to dial 911, Cheryl attacks him with a knife, and a violent struggle ensues, ending with Billy impaling her with a fireplace poker. Billy calls Tom, asking for help. Shortly after, Carlson arrives at the house, where he finds Tom treating Billy's stab wounds, and sees Cheryl's lifeless body on the floor. In a rage, Carlson blames Billy and Tom for the crimes, and draws his gun on them, despite Julia's insistent cries that Cheryl was responsible. Tom and Carlson get into a scuffle, during which Billy is able to grab the gun, shooting Carlson multiple times. Carlson bleeds to death in front of the living room piano while Billy and Julia embrace, both crying.