At 8:00 p.m., the Krusty Krab is closing, and Squidward is excited to leave. As he gets ready to quit for the day, Tom comes to the door and makes an order. Squidward tells him that they're closed, and the customer says "Well, fine! If you don't want my money!" Upon hearing this, Mr. Krabs jumps to the door
and proclaims that the Krusty Krab is now open 24 hours a day. SpongeBob is excited at this, while Squidward is furious. At around 10:30, the Krusty Krab still has customers. Squidward decides to scare SpongeBob with tales of the "Hash-Slinging Slasher." SpongeBob mistakes his name with different arrangements (such as "Cash-Ringing"), which annoys Squidward. Squidward then goes on to tell him that the "Hash-Slinging Slasher" worked at the Krusty Krab years ago as a fry-cook, just like SpongeBob, only clumsier. One night, when he was cutting the patties, he cut off his own hand and replaced the hand with a spatula. He was later hit by a bus and killed, and fired at his funeral. Every Tuesday (Squidward asked what day it was to come up with this) night, his ghost comes to the Krusty Krab to "wreak his horrible vengeance". There are three signs of his arrival, which are- 1. The lights will flicker on and off. 2. The phone will ring, and there will be nobody there, and 3. The "Hash-Slinging Slasher" will arrive in the ghost of the bus which ran him over, slowly approaches the counter, and "gets" you. SpongeBob is terrified by this, and begins screaming repeatedly while Squidward laughs. When SpongeBob does not stop screaming, the annoyed Squidward tells him that he was joking and that the story isn't true. SpongeBob then starts laughing continuously in the same manner as his screaming.
The Hash-Slinging Slasher confronts SpongeBob and Squidward
{C
Later that night, at 3:00 AM, every customer is long gone. Squidward begins hearing strange noises and starts becoming afraid. He quickly tells himself that there is no "Hash-Slinging Slasher," but soon the lights start flickering and the phone rings with no answer. Soon, SpongeBob and Squidward see a bus appear outside, and comment that buses don't run this late. What they believe to be the "Hash-Slinging Slasher" appears from the bus and starts walking toward them. They begin panicking, believing that they will die, until the "Hash-Slinging Slasher" reaches them, and is revealed to be a normal person who wants a job application, and hung up on the phone because he was nervous (his nose actually represented the eyes in the dark, and the fish's sleeve dropped down to show that he was holding a spatula the whole time.
However, this still does not explain the lights flickering. Suddenly, they begin flickering again, and everybody looks around and see Nosferatu (in a doctored image) rapidly flipping the light switch. Everybody points at him with a friendly "Nosferatu!", after which Nosferatu (in another doctored image) smiles at them mischievously as the screen blacks out with the sound of a
Squidward and SpongeBob says "The Hash-Slinging Slasher"
light going out as the episode ends.
Quotes
Squidward: Open twenty four hours a day, what a stupid idea! Who wants a Krabby Patty at three in the morning? {scene cuts to Patrick's house, alarm goes off} Patrick: Oh boy! Three A.M.! (eats a Krabby Patty)
Tom: Are you open? Squidward: Read the sign! {sign says "closed"} Tom: I'll have a Krabby Patty deluxe, and double chili kelp fries.
Squidward: SpongeBob, no matter what I said, I always sort of liked you! SpongeBob: Squidward, I use your clarinet to unclog my toilet! Squidward: Huh?
Fish: Can I get a job application? I've brought my own spatula. I've called earlier but I hung up 'cause I was nervous! SpongeBob: Do you have references? Squidward: Wait... if that was you on the phone, and you on the bus... then who was flickering the lights? (the lights flicker on and off again, they see Nosferatu flickering the lights) Everybody: Nosferatu! (Nosferatu smiles, episode ends)
(sees Hash-Slinging Slasher across the street)
SpongeBob: This means so much that you would put on that costume and stand across the street just to entertain me! you must really like me!
Squidward: SpongeBob, there are two problems with your theory. One, I hate you, two, how can that be me, when I'm standing right here?! (SpongeBob screams)
(SpongeBob burns his hand)
SpongeBob: AHHHHH! I BURNED MY HAND! (smiles) At night! (winks, hands turns bright red)
Sqiudward: There was the lights (lights flicker), then the phone (phone rings), and (walls start to ooze green slime) THE WALLS WILL OOZE GREEN SLIME?! No, wait, they always do that (walls stop oozing). But what was that third thing?
Trivia/Goofs
The Galley Grub sign reads "Gally Grub" at one point in the episode. At another point, the Order Here sign reads "Order Hear". This could possibly be for comedic effect, or it was intended to only be discovered by observant viewers (see picture).
There's a spelling error on the sign saying "Order Hear" rather than "Order Here".
In the picture shown in the background, there is a porthole window on the window.
The title card background is similar to the episode Rock Bottom.
In Bahasa Indonesia, near the end of episode, the line "Nosferatu!" was changed to "Jangan nakal ya!" ("Don't be naughty it!" on English Translate).
The cash register is missing for a majority of the episode. Near the end, it returns. The only time a phone is there is when it rings, However, there is nobody there.
When Squidward says, "And he appears with the ghost of the bus," and "He opens the door, and approaches the counter!" the "Order Here" and "Galley Grub" signs are missing.
SpongeBob's "Night song" has the tune of a Baseball/Hockey Charge Stadium Organ song.
This episode is number 10 on Tom Kenny's Top 20. His description says:
"'Night, night, night, night.' Having Nosferatu, the vampire from the 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film appear in a Nicktoon is exactly the kind of 'what the?' moment that sets this series apart from more conventional animated shows!"
This episode is later refenced in restraining spongebob where patrick uses squidward's claranet to unclog the toilets at the krusty krab like spongebob said he does in this episode
SpongeBob screams 27 times and laughs 8 times.
To "sling hash" means to work in a restaurant.
An "Open Forever" neon sign is seen on the Krusty Krab in one shot. However, when the "Hash Slinging Slasher" approaches the Krusty Krab, the sign is gone.
At the end of the episode, Count Orlock, the character from 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film Nosferatu, appears.File:Nosferatu On Spongebob.jpg
The Nasferatu Turn The Lights On And Off On Graveyard Shift
The garbage bin outside the Krusty Krab is by the street in this episode, but it is in the back of the building in all other episodes.
Squidward said that the Hash-Slinging Slasher comes out every Tuesday night, his ghost returns to the Krusty Krab. However, when the person who was thought to be the Hash-Slinging Slasher came to apply for a job, it was 3:00 AM, meaning that it was early Wednesday morning. Or, it was midnight when Squidward told Spongebob, and SB had the sense to remember at midnight it turned Tuesday. Or it could've been Wednesday morning because the Hash-Slingling Slasher never really arrived.
The late-running bus mystery is never explained.
Caption Error: The captions say that Squidward says "Ah, the Krusty Krab...", but it is the French Narrator.
The DVD box set called this episode (as seen by the episode names on the back of the box set or DVD) "The Graveyard Shift" instead of the normal "Graveyard Shift" name.
When Squidward tells SpongeBob "No" to "He didn't wash his hands", Squidward eyes overlap his eyebrows.
When Squidward tries to stop SpongeBob's screaming session, his eyes aren't alined with his eyebrows.
Squidward mentioned that the walls always ooze green slime but in future episodes they aren't seen with the slime of course he could have ment near sunset.
SpongeBob will once again be afraid of the dark in Night light.
Before Squidward says the three signs that signal the approach of the Hash-Slinging Slasher, the wrinkles on his forehead are gone.
Running Gag: Someone not saying the Hash Slinging Slasher's name right
Squidward telling the story about the hash slinging slasher could be an allusion to the terrifying tale of Large Marge from the 1985 movie Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
The word "night" is mentioned 23 times.
In the dvd Nautical Nonsense has a storyboard version and a deleted scene were Spongebob does another thing at night he brings mail to floorboard Harry
This episode frightened a lot of younger viewers
APM music identification
Queen's Aloha Oe (c) - "Ah, the Krusty Krab. Bikini Bottom's premiere daytime eatery, where it to be closing time right...about..." / "Now! 8:00!"
Hello Sailor (b) - "You mean, if we stayed open later, you'll give us your money?"
On the Beach - "Isn't this great, Squidward? Just you and me together for hours and hours and hours and then the sun'll come up and it'll be tomorrow, and we'll still be working! (gasp) It'll be just like a sleepover, only we'll be sweaty and covered with grease!"
