Student Bodies

For the Canadian-produced television series, see Student Bodies (TV series).

Student Bodies
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mickey Rose
Written by	Mickey Rose
Produced by	Michael Ritchie (as Allen Smithee)
Starring	Kristen Riter Matt Goldsby Cullen Chambers
Cinematography	Robert Ebinger
Edited by	Kathryn Ruth Hope
Music by	Gene Hobson
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	August 7, 1981 (1981-08-07)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$5.2 million

Student Bodies is a 1981 American parody slasher comedy film written and directed by Mickey Rose. A spoof of slasher horror films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th and Prom Night, Student Bodies was the first film to satirize the thriving slasher film genre. A prominent feature of the film is a body count that is superimposed onscreen whenever a death occurs.

Plot

Student Bodies is about a serial killer who stalks students at Lamab High School, while at the same time, voyeuristically watching them. The killer calls himself "the Breather", presumably because the killer is always breathing heavily.

The Breather enjoys stalking victims over the telephone and hates seeing youngsters having sex. The Breather uses many unusual objects to kill his female victims such as a paper clip, a chalkboard eraser and a horsehead bookend.

The film itself ends with several twists: initially, it is revealed that the Principal and his elderly female assistant are working as a duo as "the Breather", even though they are shown at one point in the film in the same room as other characters when the Breather contacts the school in order to threaten to commit further murders. The film then goes to reveal that the entire film was a fevered dream, caused by the main character Toby being sick and consumed by overwhelming sexual repression. In a send-up of the film The Wizard of Oz, many characters are revealed to be much the opposite of what they appeared to be for the bulk of the film: the jock-like shop instructor is really the school's French teacher, the stuck-up would-be prom queen is actually the school nerd (who is given the crown by Toby after she wakes up, due to her kind nature), the two handicapped kids turn out to be ablebodied, and a local ROTC cadet is a hippie.

After being released from the hospital, Toby and her boyfriend are about to have sex, at which point he puts on gloves similar to the ones worn by the Breather and strangles Toby, as he has lost respect for her. However, in a homage to the nightmare-ending of the film Carrie, Toby's hands rise up from the freshly dug grave after her funeral to attack her killer.

Cast

• Kristen Riter as Toby Badger
• Matt Goldsby as Hardy
• Cullen G. Chambers as Charles Ray
• Joe Flood as Mr. Dumpkin
• Joe Talarowski as Principal Harlow Hebrew Peters
• Mimi Weddell as Miss Mumsley
• Dario Jones as Mawamba
• Carl Jacobs as Dr. Sigmund
• Peggy Cooper as Ms. Van Dyke
• Janice E. O'Malley as Nurse Krud
• Kevin Mannis as Scott
• Sara Eckhardt as Patti Priswell
• Oscar James as Football Coach/Sheriff
• Kay Ogden as Ms. Leclair
• "The Stick" as Malvert The Janitor
• Brian Batytis as Wheels
• Joan Browning Jacobs as Mrs. Hummers
• Angela Bressler as Julie
• Keith Singleton as Charlie

Production

Student Bodies features a cast of true unknowns; most of them, including leads Riter and Goldsby, have never made another feature film. Future Travis County Judge and Texas State Senator Sarah Eckhardt appears in a small role.

Mickey Rose wrote and directed the film, with executive producer Jerry Belson offering additional material; however, Michael Ritchie was placed on set as an overseeing producer to guide Rose should he need it.

Release

One of a group of films directed towards teenaged audiences during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Student Bodies grossed $5.2 million at the box office. It became famous as a late-night cult favorite on cable afterwards, appearing frequently on the Rhonda Shear-hosted USA Up All Night, as well as the network's USA Saturday Nightmares double feature series. The DVD was released on June 3, 2007. The HD Blu-ray version was released on May 3, 2011.

Critical reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "a real disappointment", writing that it "just slowly topples over as you watch it, like a stand-up comedian in the act of failing". Variety found that the jokes became "depressingly repetitive", writing that "unfortunately, once you've seen the trailer, you've seen all but one of the good gags included in the entire film, meaning that there are about three minutes of effective material over the course of the 86-minute running time". Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave it two stars out of four, writing that it "exposes all its comic tricks in the first reel, suggesting that the genre itself is not all that deep and that there may be less to parody than one might think". Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The film has some very funny moments, but it is definitely not another Airplane!". Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote: "Although it frequently misfires and occasionally keeps firing away on empty satiric chambers, Student Bodies is a likeably sarcastic and knowing assault on the clichés of horror movies". AllMovie wrote, "Student Bodies, though occasionally very funny, is not consistent enough to recommend as a comedy or scary enough to be an effective horror film."

External links

• Student Bodies at IMDb
• Student Bodies at Rotten Tomatoes