Student Bodies (1981)

Memorable, crazy movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

At the height of the "Slasher Film" era, this movie quickly determined the cliché and poked huge fun at it, years before Wes Craven thought he was being clever with the "Scream" movies.The plot is that the popular kids are being picked off by an unknown killer, while supposedly clueless teachers stand by. The film is referential with the in-jokes. There's even a running count of how many victims there are as bodies pop up during the film.It recognizes the clichés of the genre far before Craven did, such as the "Good Girl" being immune while the "easy" girls are picked off with impunity.The weakness, if of course, the acting, which is barely above porn level of the time.

Before "Scary Movie" decided to spoof the slasher genre, the 80s had its very own send-up called "Student Bodies". It came quite early you might add, even before the sub-genre had completely hit it off. Anyhow despite that, we know where the ammo for this fun is coming from. "Halloween" and "Black Christmas" comes to mind. Quite variable, but this cheeky and in bad-taste enterprise pokes fun at everything (no one… that's no one is safe), including itself which makes it enjoyably amusing as the typical stereotypes are turn upside down. The story is old-hat and a little tame, but the craziness of the situations makes it hard not to get a tickle out of it. The script holds an exceedingly self-knowing attitude, filled with smart-lipped dialogues and the humour is visually evident too. Slapstick bumbling (the murderer's weapon of choice is just ridiculous) to the humorous use of subtitles pointing out the obvious. The intro perfectly paints it ("I have the feeling this is the last time I baby sit"). Even the music score gets into the action. The apparent genre staples are turned into gags, because how blatant they are in a story's progression for things to work. Horny students, suspicious red herrings, virgin heroine and of course heavy breathing. Some gags are repeatedly used, some to good effect and others became a little tiring. After halfway through it was starting to wear a little thin, but then it breaks out even more insane revelations… one topped off by another. There are about three climaxes! The ending has a nice little homage to a horror classic… which you simply see coming. The performances are spot-on, aiming for a mock seriousness approach and it works with the kooky array of memorable characters like Malvert the janitor. A more than decent little slasher parody.

Before there was "Scream", there was "Student Bodies". When the 80's started, all the slasher films were the rage. Of course, Freddy Krueger didn't arrive at this stage. The villain in the movie is know as "The Breather"(Jerry Belson, he was under another name in the movie), stalks and kills teenagers who are in heat. The ladies are killed in unusual fashion, and the men are killed by being bagged. The two heroes Toby(Kristen Riter) and Hardy(Matt Goldsby) are out to stop him before he strikes again. However, everybody are seemingly pointing the finger at Toby. Every time she sees friends get in it, they die. But every time she's at the scene of the crime, she is unable to prove her innocence. Only Hardy is the one on her side. Not everyone is all what they cracked up to be. The Breather gives descriptions of every character, in all hilarious details. Of course the whole thing turns out to be a huge nightmare. Or is it? A lot of cheese, plenty of comedy, and absolutely no gore to say the least. This horror satire will indeed split your sides, deliberately! Not the best, not the worst, it's very funny, nonstop! Rating 2 out of 5 stars!

At Lamab High School, a vicious killer known as 'The Breather' is attacking young couples during sex. Although there are several shady characters at the school, all of whom could possibly be the killer, it is virginal student Toby (Kristen Riter) who becomes the prime suspect: according to the school psychiatrist, her traumatic childhood and subsequent repressed sexuality makes her the student 'most likely to kill'.The Wayans brothers made a mint out of their Scary Movie series, but it was Student Bodies—made almost twenty years before Keenen Ivory, Marlon and Shawn claimed the idea as their own—that first set the extremely low standard for desperately unfunny slasher spoofs. In fact, by comparison, Scary Movie looks like a work of genius.86 minutes of completely puerile garbage, Student Bodies takes a promising concept and flushes it straight down the pan: the dreadful script is about as funny as a triple hernia, with several of the lamest 'jokes' repeated ad nauseum; the cast consists primarily of untalented unknowns with zero flair for comedy; and the direction, by Mickey Rose, is clumsy and predictable (strangely enough, Rose was happy to keep his name on the credits, and it was producer Michael Ritchie who wisely used the pseudonym 'Alan Smithee' in an effort to distance himself from the film).Those with a taste for the truly bizarre will probably get a kick out of 'The Stick', who plays Malvert, the school's gangly double-jointed janitor, and the sight of Riter in a tight, tarty 'Olivia-Newton-John-in-Grease' style prom outfit should appeal to most blokes (she's no Anna Faris, but she still looks pretty hot in that get-up), but with no gore, no nudity, and more importantly, absolutely no laughs, Student Bodies must go down as one of the weakest horror/comedies in the history of the genre.