Malibu High (1979)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Better Late Then Never

The acting in this movie is really good.

Malibu High (1979) ** (out of 4) Kim (Jill Lansing) seems like your ordinary high school girl until her boyfriend of two years breaks up with her. Soon her grades are failing and she's constantly fighting with her mother. Soon she decides that easy cash is the way to go so she hooks up with a pimp and starts selling herself. Soon a higher paying pimp comes along but he also wants Kim to work as an assassin.MALIBU HIGH was promoted as being some sort of trashy teenage film in the same vein as something like NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE. The poster featured a hot women showing off her body and it made the film seem like it was all smiles. Well, that's another example of a film being sold as something it isn't because MALIBU HIGH is actually a drama and in many ways it's like a throwback to the 1930s when films like THE ROAD TO RUIN tried to scare young people into doing good things or else they'd end up like the lead characters.This here plays out very much like those old exploitation movies as we're introduced to a good kid who gets off onto the wrong track and before you know it she's spinning out of control. What we get here are prostitution, cocaine and eventually she's an assassin. For the most part MALIBU HIGH is an entertaining film, although there are certainly some flaws here. The biggest flaw is the actual pacing of the film, which was a bit too slow for its own good. I wish director Irvin Berwick would have sped things up a little bit because the film is too slow for its own good.There's still plenty to enjoy here but the majority of the credit has to go to Jill Lansing. Sure, her performance isn't Oscar-worthy but it's at least fun and there's no question that she carries the movie. She's certainly cute during the various sex scenes but I also thought she was a lot of fun later in the film when she turns into the assassin. The supporting players are decent for the most part but there's no question who this film belongs to. One wishes it was given a better soundtrack because what's here is quite bad and sounds like a bad video game.MALIBU HIGH has gained a cult following over the years and it's easy to see why. The drive-in era was full of exploitation movies like this here. This one here is a tad bit different because it's more drama than anything else but there's a sleazy subject line here to enjoy as well.

Our story centers around a high school, well developed girl named Kim played by Jill Lansing. Recently dumped and vengeful, Kim goes on a rampage with her Schoolteachers as her grades begin to rise. Enter Pricipal Elmhurst played by John Harmon. Old, crusty, hard of hearing and constantly pounding his chest for more Nitroglycerin pills. Mr. Elmhurst always reaches into his coat pocket for his variety sized bottle of the little white beauties when ever his heart is a flutter. Mr. Elmhurst Insisted on meeting with Kim's Mom but he could never reach her on the phone. (Thank goodness cell phones weren't invented.) Kim suggests that Principle Elmhurst should come over to the house tonight to meet with her Mom in person. Of course when the Old timer arrives Mother is nowhere to be found, only Kim wearing a bathrobe and a smile. Quick hands are in order as Kim takes the Principle's coat and puts it (minus the pills) on the hanger. Kim has him wait in the other room as she dis-robes and re-enters as a thunderstruck, eye popping educator starts the familiar pounding on his chest and the need to pop a few pills to subside the angina. He runs over to his coat to reach for his bottle but Kim already took them away as he falls to the floor. Other scenes like the final chase scene accompanied by the People's Court theme song makes you wonder why this film was ever made.

It's definitely the best story I've ever seen about a girl who wants better grades and then becomes a prostitute and then becomes an assassin. Part of the excellent "Welcome to the Grindhouse" series complete with trailers for other good trash. This movie also contains the ODDEST music cues ever; one was used on the old SCTV and they also use the song that became "The People's Court" theme. Bad acting, unbelievable plotting make this is a "MUST OWN" for connoisseurs of bad cinema. The DVD is paired with "Trip with the Teacher" another grade Z champion seemingly "inspired" by "Last House on the Left." The entire "Welcome to the Grindhouse" is essential DVD.

I have never so wanted to leap bodily into a movie and kill a main character this much (and I watched Pippi Longstockings.) While I admit there is a bit of truth to the proceedings, it's a pretty small bit.Plot: The Malibu High School a-hole is topless, getting ready for school. She is so unattractive that you could show her to Dawn Wiener from Welcome to the Dollhouse and give Dawn new hope. I guess the filmmakers thought she was attractive because she was thin. She goes to school, and we learn that her boyfriend has very understandably moved on to a rich girl who isn't stomach turning. She's flunking all her classes, mopes about at home, has a hilariously poorly acted flashback to when she stumbled across her father's corpse, and then decides to go the route of Julia Roberts to making her life better: prostitution. Without any effort, she seduces teacher after teacher (all of whom appear to be male) and blackmails them with knowledge of the locations of their birthmarks (they all have revealing birthmarks?) Then we get to see her become a whore with a van, working for somewhere around $.75 a head. When that doesn't work, she turns to murder. Unfortunately, not her own. She blows away complete strangers, and then we have a very predictable death by hiding heart pills and turning person on (in real life, her body would be the last one you'd want to use for that) In the end, she shoots her boyfriend's new girlfriend after trying to run her over and killing her father, and is about to shoot her ex-boyfriend, when the hero of the film, an anonymous cop, guns her down.Everyone I was watching this with cheered, and wished that last scene was interactive. The camera work is bad, the film is grainy, the people look like they were cast because they would work for free, and you can't help but feel apathy or hate. If that weren't enough, we get rotten music, too.Rating: -1 star out of four.