Girls Nite Out is a 1982 American slasher film directed by Robert Deubel, and starring Julia Montgomery, Suzanne Barnes, Rutanya Alda, Lauren-Marie Taylor, and Hal Holbrook.

It focuses on a group of female college students who are targeted by a killer in a bear mascot costume during an all-night scavenger hunt on their Ohio campus.

The film was developed by Anthony N. Gurvis and Kevin Kurgis, two law firm partners in Columbus, Ohio, who completed a screenplay originally titled Blood Games in 1979.

The film was shot on location at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey as well as the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, over a period of 21 days in early 1982.

Girls Nite Out first received a test market theatrical release in the southern United States on December 3, 1982 under the title The Scaremaker through Samuel M. Sherman's distribution company Independent International Pictures.

It received largely unfavorable reviews from critics, many of whom derided the film for its incorporation of humor contrasting against its violent content, as well as its expansive ensemble of characters.

While the two men are digging the hole for Cavanaugh's body, they are attacked and murdered by an unseen killer who throws their corpses into the burial plot.

Meanwhile, at nearby DeWitt University, the basketball team wins a championship game, and as a result, an all-night scavenger hunt will take place the next evening for the female students.

Lynn and her boyfriend-star player Teddy Ratliff celebrate the victory at the campus diner, and the waitress Barney is thrilled for the team.

Lynn, Teddy, and other students attend a party that evening, where the story of Dickie circulates among freshmen who are unaware of his recent death; they are told that Cavanaugh murdered his girlfriend Patty in a jealous rage and is locked away in the sanitarium.

Jane enters the girls' locker room and locates the first item of the hunt, only to be attacked from behind by the killer, who brutally slashes her throat while calling her misogynistic slurs.

[9] The film's title was subsequently altered from Blood Games to The Fatal Clue, after which Gurvis and Kurgis partnered with Concepts Unlimited, an entertainment firm and production house in New York.

[14] Taylor met castmate John Didrichsen while shooting Girls Nite Out, and the couple were married the year after filming completed.

[14] Girls Nite Out was shot in early 1982 at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York,[14] and at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey,[1] on a budget of less than $1 million.

[23] At Sherman's suggestion, additional footage of the gravediggers being killed while digging Dickie Cavanaugh's gravesite was filmed at night in Central Park.

[38] Despite the restoration efforts, Arrow noted that "some obvious signs of picture wear remain, due to the poor state of the materials available.

"[27] Sherman partly attributed the lack of box office income to the fact that, at the time, many drive-in theaters were being bought out by commercial businesses who wanted to utilize their land.

"[41] Mike Hughes of the Hattiesburg American wrote: "By horror standards, it's almost adequate...  Where they failed—thoroughly—was in their frequent passes at campus humor...  Where they succeeded was in filming the story smoothly and giving it a solid cast.

[44] Online movie guide AllMovie awarded the film two out of five stars, writing: "Girls Nite Out might be one of the most forgettable of the early '80s slashers", calling it "dull" and "routine".

[45] Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Talk in 2005, called the film a "poor excuse for entertainment holds the grand distinction of hosting two members of the Holbrook family (Hal and son David) as part of its cast," also criticizing the lack of variety among the murder scenes, and adding: "In the end, when the slayer is revealed, we rest easier knowing that it takes a certain strangled mindset to turn serial killer and that we are safe—at least for now.

"[49] In a 2021 retrospective of Hal Holbrook's career, Rob Hunter of /Film wrote: "It's no lost slasher classic, but there's fun to be had as the killer tapes steak knives onto his bear paw to simulate claws and the youths party on like they're going to live forever.

The film takes good advantage of the campus landscape finding dark hallways and shadow-filled trails between buildings, and while too many of the students are interchangeable–seriously, kudos to you if you can tell these guys and gals apart–they do solid enough work shaping their characters before being sliced and diced.