STUDENT BODIES (1981)

zombie no.one · September 13, 2021, 03:56:31 AM

I thought I could pretty much deal with any crappy early 80s slasher, just because of my overall love for the genre... but I was wrong.

This is so painfully unfunny it was actually depressing. I've never seen a 'parody' that tries to ram every joke home so hard as this one does. never. It's like a movie for people who watched AIRPLANE and missed that it was a comedy.

I feel the most of my favourite 80s slashers already have a kind of self-aware comedy element built in to them anyway... most of those films have some OTT wackiness and deranged nonsense scenes. PIECES, HOSPITAL MASSACRE, GRADUATION DAY, THE MUTILATOR etc... they don't need parodying imo

Apparently this one has a big cult fanbase, but I can't see why. Any fans here, lol?

claws · September 13, 2021, 05:06:07 AM

When I first rented Student Bodies back in VHS days I didn't find it funny at all. I bought the DVD in the 2000s and I did laugh at a few scenes. It is probably the best known of all horror parodies from the 1980s. From the one's I've seen I'd rank them like this:

1. Student Bodies (1981) 2.5/5
2. Pandemonium (1982) 2.5/5
3. Wacko (1982) 2/5
4. Blades (1989) 2/5
5. Class Reunion (1982) 2/5
6. Saturday the 14th (1981) 2/5
7. Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988) 0.5/5

Alex · September 13, 2021, 05:46:20 AM

Think this is one I've not seen yet.

chainsaw midget · September 13, 2021, 10:59:34 AM

I watched it. I didn't think it was horrible, but it wasn't great either.

It just belongs to some unnamable genre of 80s horror parodies that aren't funny. It's some kind of un-comedy that you really never saw again after the 90s hit.

lester1/2jr · September 13, 2021, 01:55:08 PM

absolutely loved it. The main actress was charming and of course who can forget Malvert?

zombie no.one · September 13, 2021, 02:30:34 PM

Quote from: claws on September 13, 2021, 05:06:07 AM
When I first rented Student Bodies back in VHS days I didn't find it funny at all. I bought the DVD in the 2000s and I did laugh at a few scenes. It is probably the best known of all horror parodies from the 1980s. From the one's I've seen I'd rank them like this:

1. Student Bodies (1981) 2.5/5
2. Pandemonium (1982) 2.5/5
3. Wacko (1982) 2/5
4. Blades (1989) 2/5
5. Class Reunion (1982) 2/5
6. Saturday the 14th (1981) 2/5
7. Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988) 0.5/5

there's an interview with Kim Newman in the extras and he mentions a few of those, saying that WACKO is his favourite of the bunch.

Quote from: lester1/2jr on September 13, 2021, 01:55:08 PM
absolutely loved it. The main actress was charming and of course who can forget Malvert?

fair enough. main actress is attractive... couldn't save it for me though.

the nicest thing I think I can say is it wasn't quite as bad as SPLATTER UNIVERSITY

zombie no.one · September 13, 2021, 02:34:27 PM

Quote from: chainsaw midget on September 13, 2021, 10:59:34 AM
I watched it. I didn't think it was horrible, but it wasn't great either.

It just belongs to some unnamable genre of 80s horror parodies that aren't funny. It's some kind of un-comedy that you really never saw again after the 90s hit.

it definitely seemed to take a lot of its cues from AIRPLANE, imo

wonder what the MST3K guys would make of it... perhaps they'd just watch in silence?

retrorussell · September 13, 2021, 10:01:43 PM

This was a favorite of me and my sisters when we were kids. Looking back on it, it is pretty dumb and.. feels rather unfinished. I think it was popular with the high school/college crowd.

The Breather's dialogue did crack me up on occasion though. Complaining about all the stairs he had to climb ("I hope I don't die first!"), stepping in gum, and passing out seeing girls in bras and panties in their locker room. And that Malvert.. that was one.. um.. unique actor that played him.

zombie no.one · September 14, 2021, 02:12:32 AM

Quote from: retrorussell on September 13, 2021, 10:01:43 PM
This was a favorite of me and my sisters when we were kids. Looking back on it, it is pretty dumb and.. feels rather unfinished. I think it was popular with the high school/college crowd.

ok I guess I didn't think about 'nostalgia factor'... and this clearly isn't a film directed at a 40-something living in 2021. hard for me to say if I would've gotten any enjoyment out of it if I was a teen in 1981. maybe I would.

I can still watch the POLICE ACADEMY movies. If I saw those for the first time today I'd probably be slating them just as hard

FatFreddysCat · September 15, 2021, 05:01:47 PM

I just saw this on Pluto TV a week or two ago, for the first time since it made the HBO rounds umpteen years ago. Of course, I thought it was WAY funnier when I was twelve, but I still got a couple of chuckles out of it ("Malvert pee red!" and the running gag about the killer stepping in gum).
It's nothing I would buy on DVD or ever sit through again, but I didn't hate it.

pennywise37 · September 15, 2021, 11:26:41 PM

i watched this some years back and i had high hopes for it and i think some have said it pre-dates Scream (1996) by being the 1st horror film aware that it's a horror film. it's f... terrible. honestly I love Pandemonium (1982) it's one of my all time favorite movies. my brother introduced me to it when i was growing up i do not remember how he found it but i love it and he does as well.