"Hasn't there been enough senseless killing? Let's have a murder that makes sense!" Lamab High School is stalked by a killer known as the Breather. His target? Students who engage in sexual activity. So, the suspect on top seems to be Toby Badger (Kristen Riter, in her only acting role besides the "Centerfold" music video), the girl who promotes abstinence and saving herself for that one special boy. What follows is a horror comedy (mostly just comedy) over a decade before "Scream"... and allegedly the first of its kind.
After having this film recommended to me by my cousin, I watched it many, many years ago. I loved it. So when I saw it came out on DVD in 2008, I had to get a copy and I love it all over again. Showing it to a few more people, they generally seemed to approve, especially once a character claimed that "you can't wash away herpes". So, "Student Bodies" has stood the test of time... and in some ways was ahead of its time, coming out just before the big slasher craze of the 1980s.
This film has some problems... such as not pushing the R rating enough. We could use more nudity and definitely more gore or vulgarity, but the movie is what it is. And the jokes seem to go downhill -- while very strong in the beginning, especially the first ten minutes, they're not all that great later on... with maybe one or two exceptions ("Yes, Toby, all these years I've secretly been naked under my clothes").
Of interest to those today, there's a "swine flu" tie-in, where we learn that swine flu is caused by sexual repression. When I last saw this film, I assumed swine flu was an illness made up for the movie. Now that I know it's a real thing, the humor seems even more brilliant.
If you can get your hands on this one, check it out. It features a very early appearance from Richard Belzer, which seems appropriate. Everyone else, though, pretty much went on to do a whole lot of nothing as far as I know. But this one has a special place in horror and comedy history, and has carved out my heart in order to make itself at home.
After having this film recommended to me by my cousin, I watched it many, many years ago. I loved it. So when I saw it came out on DVD in 2008, I had to get a copy and I love it all over again. Showing it to a few more people, they generally seemed to approve, especially once a character claimed that "you can't wash away herpes". So, "Student Bodies" has stood the test of time... and in some ways was ahead of its time, coming out just before the big slasher craze of the 1980s.
This film has some problems... such as not pushing the R rating enough. We could use more nudity and definitely more gore or vulgarity, but the movie is what it is. And the jokes seem to go downhill -- while very strong in the beginning, especially the first ten minutes, they're not all that great later on... with maybe one or two exceptions ("Yes, Toby, all these years I've secretly been naked under my clothes").
Of interest to those today, there's a "swine flu" tie-in, where we learn that swine flu is caused by sexual repression. When I last saw this film, I assumed swine flu was an illness made up for the movie. Now that I know it's a real thing, the humor seems even more brilliant.
If you can get your hands on this one, check it out. It features a very early appearance from Richard Belzer, which seems appropriate. Everyone else, though, pretty much went on to do a whole lot of nothing as far as I know. But this one has a special place in horror and comedy history, and has carved out my heart in order to make itself at home.