After-School Special (2004)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Aaron Baker

Writer:

Aaron Baker (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Eric, a plucky 12-year-old, is disillusioned and horrified by the bizarre cruelty experienced during his first day of junior high school, where he encounters a bullying jock, a cruel vixen, a screaming gym teacher, and a kindly janitor. |

Plot Keywords:

Parody Of After School Specials

Cast

Amy Anderson	...	Student 1
Jill Anderson	...	Student 2
Aaron Baker	...	Eric
Brian Bertsch	...	Boy in Gym Class 1
Aleah Binkowski	...	Student 3
Daniel Birkeland	...	Boy in Gym Class 2
Ben Braun	...	Boy in Gym Class 3
Allison Brown	...	Student 4
Jeremy Colbert	...	Boy in Gym Class 4
Brady Daley	...	Seth
Ken Davis	...	Coach Lipnicki
Kelly Economon	...	Tricia Boatswain
Tom Ehlen	...	Evan the Janitor
Jadey Hansen	...	Lance
Jon Hudson	...	Detective Banquet
Dale Lashley	...	Detective Swanson
Matt McGregor	...	Officer Nivea / Televangelist
Ryan Murphy	...	Large Ephram
Mitch Rudolph	...	Boy in Gym Class 5
Nate Wanzek	...	Student 5

Runtime:

USA:15 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Fargo, North Dakota, USA

Company:

Cheddar Wolf Productions

In junior high no one can hear you scream.

In a stroke of diabolical genius, the makers of "After-School Special" cast a group of twentysomething actors as junior high students. Perhaps they thought this gimmick would be good for a few laughs. Instead they've inadvertently unleashed some of the most disturbing images ever seen in the history of moving pictures. To this day, I still have nightmares about junior high. I often wake up in a cold sweat after forgetting my locker combination, bringing the wrong textbook to Math class and running afoul of the 300-pound, six-foot-tall, hairy-faced resident bully. Sometimes, the only way I can force myself to crawl out of bed in the morning is by reminding myself that I'm a grown-up now and these kinds of things can't happen to me anymore. But in "After-School Special," they do happen. And if full-sized adults just like these poor b***ards can suddenly find themselves reliving the horrors of junior high, I guess there's no hope for the rest of us, either.

"After-School Special" might be a charming, funny, creepy little movie. But director Aaron Baker should still be ashamed of himself.