Student Bodies (1981) User Reviews

"Sex kills! Sex kills!"

[lost-in-limbo · 6/10 · 22 May 2011]

Before "Scary Movie" decided to spoof the slasher genre, the 80s had its very own send-up called "Student Bodies". It came quite early you might add, even before the sub-genre had completely hit it off. Anyhow despite that, we know where the ammo for this fun is coming from. "Halloween" and "Black Christmas" comes to mind. Quite variable, but this cheeky and in bad-taste enterprise pokes fun at everything (no one… that's no one is safe), including itself which makes it enjoyably amusing as the typical stereotypes are turn upside down. The story is old-hat and a little tame, but the craziness of the situations makes it hard not to get a tickle out of it. The script holds an exceedingly self-knowing attitude, filled with smart-lipped dialogues and the humour is visually evident too. Slapstick bumbling (the murderer's weapon of choice is just ridiculous) to the humorous use of subtitles pointing out the obvious. The intro perfectly paints it ("I have the feeling this is the last time I baby sit"). Even the music score gets into the action. The apparent genre staples are turned into gags, because how blatant they are in a story's progression for things to work. Horny students, suspicious red herrings, virgin heroine and of course heavy breathing. Some gags are repeatedly used, some to good effect and others became a little tiring. After halfway through it was starting to wear a little thin, but then it breaks out even more insane revelations… one topped off by another. There are about three climaxes! The ending has a nice little homage to a horror classic… which you simply see coming. The performances are spot-on, aiming for a mock seriousness approach and it works with the kooky array of memorable characters like Malvert the janitor. A more than decent little slasher parody.

"Funerals get me hot!"

[Jonny_Numb · 6/10 · 12 July 2008]

Part of me thinks that, if the ever-reputable Criterion Collection can put out a 2-disc special edition of crap like "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas," they certainly could throw a bone to a sharp-witted parody like "Student Bodies," which nails the genre better than the 3 "Scream"s (which eventually went down the route of self-parody anyway) and the 4 (and counting) "Scary Movie"s. So why, then, has this cover-all-bases send-up been relegated to a word-of-mouth cult item since its 1981 release? Distributor Paramount, which hit paydirt with "Friday the 13th" the year before (and its sequels in the years following), likely saw "Bodies" as an opportunity to take a satirical jab at a genre that really only "began" with the breakout success of John Carpenter's "Halloween" (1978). The result? A film so ahead of its time that the audience didn't know what to make of it--relatively goreless and sex-free (our killer offs his teen victims BEFORE they get a chance to score), "Student Bodies" approaches an "Airplane!"-style level of pull-all-stops humor (albeit on a shoestring budget) that remains surprisingly tasteful, even in the midst of cracks about necrophilia and a farting corpse. The opening 15 minutes alone stuffs in references to "Halloween," "When a Stranger Calls," "The Prowler," and even Dario Argento's gialli (our killer's gloved hands figure heavily into the plot); the filmmakers superimpose a helpful "body count" tally plus other deliciously obvious mistakes the characters make (a door kept unlocked, for instance). I only have one major complaint about the film: even at a scant 86 minutes, it goes on for too long, halting to a crawl during a prom sequence that unwisely tries to build some suspense to accompany the humor (though I will give the climax credit for successfully managing to lampoon "Carrie," "Psycho," and even "The Tenant"). That being said, "Student Bodies" is a fine, funny horror lampoon, even more resonant in the fact that, despite its early placement in the slasher pantheon, it still manages to nail all the clichés that have afflicted the genre ever since.

silly but enjoyable 1980s horror spoof movie

[FieCrier · 6/10 · 10 March 2005]

I didn't find it to be hilarious, but it is an amusing horror spoof; generally I've found horror comedies to be funnier than horror spoofs.

The movie starts by noting how many horror movies have been made recently, and that they've all made money. We see a shot of a house at night with ominous music, and a caption reading "Halloween." This fades out, and then fades back up with the caption "Friday the 13th," which fades out and is replaced by the caption "Jamie Lee Curtis' Birthday" (the movie doesn't say, but that is November 22). This is an early indicator of the cheap and silly humor of the movie.

A heavy breathing killer wearing black boots and green rubber gloves makes phone calls to the babysitter in the house. After she looks outside for a cat that turns out to be a meowing dog with gas, she leaves the door unlocked (a caption and arrow call additional attention to this fact). Her boyfriend shows up, he's turned on by something that should be a turnoff, but he leaves the room (this series of actions repeats throughout the movie). The killer enters the house, and picks from a collection of weapons under a rolltop desk: a gun, knife, noose, hatchet, pack of cigarettes, paperclip. He picks the silliest one, of course. The girl dies by the silly weapon, and the guy gets killed by suffocating in a large black trash bag (this MO repeats too; the weapon is always different, but always silly).

A number of people at the school wear the same things the killer does, making them suspects to the audience, who knows, but not to the police. In fact, I'm not sure there are police - the school itself seems to be in charge of investigating the murders. The one person in the movie that becomes a suspect to other characters is a virgin girl.

Lots and lots of silliness in the movie, too much to cover. Anyone that likes silly spoof movies is likely to find something to make them laugh here.

Whatever happened to the actor "The Stick"?

Dead-on(ahem)parody of eighties slasher flicks

[thomandybish · 11 August 2001]

STUDENT BODIES is a great, satirical take on the bevy of horror flicks that flooded theater and drive-in screens(and consequently, polluted video store shelves)in the eighties. Watching this group of no-name actors trudge through all the stock situations that teens in these flicks find themselves in goes to show how the people who conceived and made this flick got the joke long before most of us. What's incredible is that this movie came out in 1981, well before the genre peaked and the films became stale variations of HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH, OR NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. While SCREAM was a black comedy/satire that pays homage to the genre(and served to revive it), STUDENT BODIES plays it strictly for laughs, thumbing its nose at all the insolent jerks and dumb bimbos who, despite having knowledge of a killer on the loose, wander alone through isolated woods or dark hallways and wind up on the wrong ends of axes, chainsaws, butcher knives, or pitchforks. Now, who stole my paperclip?

Starts with a bang - Ends with a whimper

[jrs-8 · 2/10 · 28 August 2006]

"Student Bodies" came out at the height of the mad slasher craze with high expectations. The timing couldn't have been better as it seemed there was a new low budget horror film opening every other week. "Student Bodies" seemed like a welcome refresher as the genre was ripe for parody.

Sad to say but "Student Bodies" is a dead fish of a comedy after a strong first ten minutes which do illicit some genuine laughs. After that the jokes become obvious and tedious which comes as a surprise since writer/director Mickey Rose had collaborated with Woody Allen on some of his early work. The real sign that this is a stinker is that acclaimed director Michael Ritchie took on the role of producer here and had his name removed from the finished product. Yes, Alan Smithee became a producer for a time.

Mr. Ritchie knew of the stench he was part of and wisely distanced himself. The cast is a cross of no talent stiffs crossed with people that appear to have been cast from the circus. Apparently Rose thought just the sight of a man with long arms and legs (credited as "The Stick") was funny enough.

Audiences apparently agreed as the film would bomb after a strong opening weekend before the reviews made the Monday papers. This is a major blown opportunity. Can you imagine what might have been had the Zucker brothers with Jim Abrahams had followed up "Airplane" with their take on mad slasher films? A classic that was not to be.

Before "Scary Movie" there was Student Bodies.

[Calyxx · 7/10 · 28 December 2000]

This film is a terrible classic. The acting is painful and the plot is thinner than cheap takeout soy sauce packets. But it is marvelously entertaining and succeeds as a wonderful parody of Halloween, Friday the 13th and many other horror slasher flicks in the early 1980s.

High School students are being killed off because they're having sex, everybody's a suspect as the breather, a witty and lovable killer who the camera only sees through gloves and shoes.

Have fun trying to recognise any actor as their careers went completely downhill after this disaster.

A fun date movie, seriously. If you enjoyed "Scary Movie," you should definitely see this film.

Redundant parody that mostly misfires .......................

[merklekranz · 4/10 · 23 June 2011]

I will admit that there are a few moments of chuckles in "Student Bodies", such as the attempt to insure an "R" rating, and the curious use of an eggplant as a murder weapon. However there is much dead material connecting these bright spots. Many scenes go on for far too long, such as the stair climbing scene. The characters are somewhat of a mixed bag, with the lanky janitor perhaps the standout. The horse heads joke is funny the first time, but then is overused to the extreme. It is my guess that everything was stretched to the maximum to attain feature length for something that would have difficulty filling out a "Saturday Night Live" skit. - MERK

Predates "Scary Movie" with nearly 20 years AND it's funnier!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 25 December 2008]

"Student Bodies" is already a fairly good and successful cinematic satire, but it even gets better when realizing the film actually got released in 1981. In other words, when the trend of prototypical 80's high school slashers still had to be launched properly, this movie already parodied all of its trademarks! The script of "Student Bodies" deliberately intended to spoof the pioneering classics of the slasher sub genre (such as "Black Christmas", "Halloween" and "When a Stranger Calls"), but by doing so unwarily also ridicules the vast majority of slashers that still have to be made throughout the entire 80's decade. "Student Bodies" is basically one giant collection of gags that can be placed in three main categories. First and foremost, there are many slapstick jokes that aren't necessarily related to the horror genre in particular. Following the tradition of films like "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Airplane", these are simply brainless absurdities causing you to laugh out loud whether you want to or not. A fine example to illustrate this type is, for instance, a student throwing a overripe tomato at the intercom in his classroom and then subsequently the camera cuts towards the principle's office where the tomato hits the speaker in the face. It's extremely stupid, yet so inventive you simply have to laugh! Then there's the specifically horror related jokes that are either (1) brilliantly witty or (2) fall painfully flat. Most of the jokes that are meant to emphasize the clichés of the genre and to point out the stupidity of stereotypical horror characters are hilarious and very effective. Whenever an empty-headed character does something really dumb (like leaving the door unlocked or wanders off by herself), an arrow appears on screen in order to make it even clearer. There's even a tally to keep us informed about the increasing body count and the killer him/herself has a heavy breathing problem, like cinematic stalkers often do. Unfortunately, however, the misfires are numerous as well and these are usually the longest-running jokes. In between all the craziness, there's also some room left for a textbook horror movie story. High school student Toby's friends have the annoying habit of showing up barbarically murdered, strangely enough always immediately after having sex. When suspicion falls upon her, Toby has no choice but to investigate what's going on herself and there are plenty of potential culprits to choose from; including the perverted janitor, the angry shop teacher, the sneering school counselor and even the principle who insists that his school is one of the best run in the county. In spite of having a small but loyal fan base, "Student Bodies" is a relatively unknown and underrated movie. I remember when "Scary Movie" got released a good 8 years ago, many people acted as if it was the first comedy ever to parody the slasher genre. For all those people, and of course for everyone who enjoys a good laugh as well, please grab the opportunity to check out this pleasant little gem.

So unfunny; how could anyone laugh with this movie?

[buddypatrick · 3/10 · 11 November 2009]

Student Bodies is one of the most over-hyped and acclaimed films by the horror loving public. Personally, I think it suffers the "unheard of gem" syndrome because it's a horror parody that is fifteen to twenty years ahead of movies that set out to do the same idea like Scream and Scary Movie...but there is no way on this earth that it's a better film than those two. Just because a movie is ahead of its time, that doesn't mean it'll be good.

The movie starts out okay only for its script to jump into a whirlpool of unfunny scenarios and jokes. The comedy of this movie is overwhelmingly tedious as the jokes are all dragged out more than three times and often resort to potty humour and sex jokes – not a good move, immaturity can be fun as it's always great to find the child inside us, but really, there are limits and Student Bodies goes way beyond them as the film thinks it is so much funnier than it actually is. The opening scene may mislead you as it parodies the horror "rules" and clichés perfectly but as soon as the first ten minutes are over, bam; here comes the cringe-fest.

The parodies are okay however they're swallowed up by the god awful humour. If the creators knew how to parody "the unseen killer" cliché they would have properly leave him as "The Breather" and occasionally give him jokes to make, not talking throughout the whole film every time he has a scene and especially not noticing the audience – that's annoying and it becomes unbearably unfunny. It's so disappointing seeming as the spoofs and parodies of the clichéd slasher formulated sub-genre seem to be going so well, only to leave you cringing in frustration due to how tediously unfunny the entire film is.

That's all there really is to say. Student Bodies is a parody that relies on its jokes and the jokes are bad so where is the fun in that? There seem to be good ideas to parody the cliché's in horror but they're thrown out the window because the movie is so focused on cramming its humour in your face...and it isn't even funny, it's all ten year old humour. It's a shame as I was really looking forward to where Scary Movie started and sure I saw it, but man was I disappointed. I'd choose Scream over this any day. 3/10

"Let's have a murder that makes sense!"

[LanceBrave · 7/10 · 11 November 2013]

Now let's blow off some steam with a goofy slasher movie parody, shall we? It says a lot about the subgenre that, even as early as 1981, writers and producers realized that slasher films were largely composed of a per-assembled selection of clichés and stereotypes. "Student Bodies" predates "Scream" and "Scary Movie" (And even "Bloody Movie" and "There's Nothing Out There") as picking out and making fun of the rules of the genre. Teenage males are always thinking about sex, no matter how incongruous the setting. The adults and authority figures are blazingly clueless and unhelpful. The killer, when not breathing heavily and monologing his ridiculous actions, kills people in the most absurd of ways. I mean, absurd even by the standards of a genre that includes Jason punching a dude's head off his shoulders. Virginal final girl Toby, along with her androgynous name, wears buttons that say "NO!" in big letters on her bra. When sleuthing through a file, like a final girl is prone to do, she comes upon a piece of paper that says "Look in the other draw!" Many of the gags brilliantly mock the genre. A flashing running tally appears on screen with every kill. Floating graphics and text point out suspects and foolish mistakes the characters have made. Any time a phone is picked up, we hear the killer's heavy breathing on the other end. The villain disguises his voice by talking through a rubber chicken. A meowing cat turns out to be a meowing (gassy) dog. The movie is set on Halloween, Friday the 13th, the night of the big game, big parade, and prom. (And, finally, the big funeral.) Surprisingly, some of the best gags in the movie have nothing to do with the horror genre. The oddball high school principal is prone to delivering lines like "All these years, I've secretly been naked underneath my clothes" or "Hasn't there been enough senseless killing? Let's have a murder that makes sense!" with a straight-face worthy of Leslie Nielson. The nutty psychologist takes a minute to rearrange all the items in his room before sitting down and saying "Someone's been in my office." The workshop teacher is obsessed with horse head bookends, the film's most goofy odd gag. The football game is played between a group of small children and giant black men. There's a draw full of marbles. The biggest laugh might come when the movie literally stops just so a censor can have a direct word with the audience. Many of the best gags belong to Malvert the Janitor, your typical red-herring oddball. This guy is inexplicable. He stands somewhere around 6'3, looks even taller because he's rail thin, has really long limps and hands, the loosest joints I've ever seen, and is played by an actor credited only as "The Stick." His overbearing weirdness sets up one of the best gags in the movie during the post-prom reveal. (To those who have seen the film: "Absurd!") Not all the gags land. The extended bits about gum and galoshes aren't very funny, neither is when the Breather interrupts the movie to give us a rundown on all the suspects. The reoccurring bits about an African exchange student are uncomfortably racist. The farting corpse gag is overdone. The movie can't sustain its comic momentum throughout the whole runtime. With about twenty minutes to go, the movie runs out of gags. The entire chainsaw sequence goes on for way too long. The movie gets weirdly serious at the end. I think it was attempting to slip into some type of surreal nightmare tone but it's played totally straight and jives badly with the rest of the film. The final sequence is also weirdly serious. Like a lot of gag based parodies, I suspect this would have worked better at only an hour long. "Student Bodies" feature absolutely no actors you've heard, though I do wonder what happened to adorable Kristen Riter. Fans of the genre or goofy eighties comedy should definitely check it out.

Spoof of early slashers

[Wuchakk · 4/10 · 20 September 2022]

A heavy breather is murdering teens from a high school in southeast Texas, usually while they're engaging in sex.

"Student Bodies" (1981) satirizes slasher flicks like "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" with a high school milieu of baby sitters getting strange calls, funerals, classes, teachers, football games, parades, proms and the like. It starts out amusing enough with decent goofy humor, but as it progresses there's too much tastelessness, which is simply offensive or eye-rolling and not actually funny.

Still, there are some highlights if you're in the mood for a moderately amusing throwaway flick.

The film runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in Katy, Texas, a town just west of Houston.

GRADE: C-/C.

"What's Going on in my Home at 75 Cents an hour?"

[alanmora · 10/10 · 5 September 2007]

Question:"Did you hang up?" Answer: "No I just said 'click'" This is just one of the hysterically funny lines in the very first horror-comedy ever made "Student Bodies"! This movie set the standard for future funny fear flicks like "Scary Movie" and it is hysterically funny. There are so many references to other movies in this one that at times it's hard to keep up. It's not just full of funny lines like "It was the killer, Chicken Lips!" but it is also full of funny visuals, like the teacher who erases the man's penis from the drawing on the chalk board and says "This is totally ugly, unnecessary and gets in the way!" or the teacher who quiets her class by clapping her erasers together and creating a huge puff of chalk dust! The killer wears green rubber gloves and uses the most bizarre murder weapons in cinema history such as an eggplant, a paper clip and yes even a horse head bookend! In this film you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about horse head bookends! This is a must-see horror comedy that will have you laughing till you pee yourself!

Go in with an open mind

[jiggles-32740 · 7/10 · 15 March 2018]

This Movie by today's standards would be an instant Failure!!! However, keep in mind it was released in 1981. If you can do that, you will find it just Silly and flat out funny. Mainly, it's funny because of how silly it is.

You'll find the Humor. It won't take long.

early spoof

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 18 December 2023]

It's Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Jamie Lee Curtis' birthday. A serial killer calling himself "the Breather" is killing. He makes a phone call and kills two Lamab High School students. Of course, there are more to come.

It's an early spoof of the new age of slasher horror movies. It is interesting that these are their contemporaries and still relatively new. This is not the best made, but there is some fair spoof humor. Some jokes get repetitive. For example, the breathing is funny until it keeps coming back. At some point, the humor is gone. I would really consider doing the breathing only for the phone calls. There is a constant point out the mistakes of the victims and a running count of the dead. Richard Belzer is the most recognizable name in the cast although he doesn't get on screen. Otherwise, these are mostly unknowns and amateurs. Despite the lack of experience, they do well. This low budget indie was filmed in Texas. It does run out of steam before getting to the halfway point. It's not a crash as much as it plateaus and fades over time. The way to save it would be a more charismatic Toby. She's just not a star.

Better than Scary Movie

[scottmar · 6 September 2001]

I stumbled upon this flick by accident. I was more interested in the other side of the Commander USA double feature. I just figured this was some lame 80s slasher flick. To my surprise, it was an Airplane style spoof of the slasher flicks of the late 70s/early 80s. In fact, it almost plays like a parody of "Scream", years before it came out. Everyone tries to figure out who the killer is that is picking off the students. The killer calls up and breathes heavy. Every horror fan should check this out!

It's OK

[S_dot_M_dot · 5/10 · 13 October 2021]

As the school year comes to a close, a group of students and teachers start receiving calls from some called The Breather. One by one, and after each student has sex, the bodies start to pile up. Now Toby (Kristen Ritter) must learn the killers identity before she is the one held responsible.

The premise of this film follows the slasher archetype made famous the years prior to this films release. The writers succeeded in hiding the killer identity throughout the film and that contributed to the success of this film. The score surprised me the most as it is very well done and effective.

The acting is serviceable considering the type of film this is. No performance stands above the rest but each has moments that stick out. The gimmick of the killer can irritate you're nerves, not in a good way, when you hear the deep breathing.

This film knows what it wants to be and is successful at that. What you have here is a parody of the recent success in the genre and capitalized on that. While some viewers might be turned off by this, others will enjoy the younger in cheek references and take the material for what it is trying to be.

Worth watching just to see The Stick as Malvert the janitor

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 3 July 2021]

One poster for Student Bodies claims this to be the first horror comedy. That is pure nonsense, however I think it is the first film to parody the slasher movie, which was still in its "Golden Era" in 1981. Saturday the 14th was released in the same year and although it used a similar wacky style of comedy it was not a slasher comedy, despite its title. Student Bodies makes no apology for sending up the likes of Halloween, Friday the 13th, even Carrie! Viewers who have seen the later Scream and Scary Movie movies will see something familiar, Bodies was certainly a pioneer and influence on said films. Think zany "Aeroplane" humour, we get an onscreen body count counter, plus comments such as "clue", "unlocked door", etc. The killer is called The Breather and wears gloves, but unlike the leather ones worn in the Italian Giallo movies he (or she) wears rubber, washing up ones - and his (or her) boots keep getting stuck on chewing gum! As with many high school 80's movies we have a creepy janitor, Malvert. He was played by a guy credited as The Stick (real name Patrick Boone Varnell), he was one of the best characters, in fact it's worth watching just to see him! The film does start off well, there are plenty of laugh out loud moments, however the gags do start to wear thin and the end is disappointing. There is very little blood and only some very brief nudity - and that's a guy. Apparently the film makers deliberately got an R rated by having a brief intermission with the F word spoken. Horror comedies either work or they don't. Student Bodies is fairly good, a few beers probably helped me, ha ha! It could have been a little bit better, it does however capture that wonderful 1980's slasher look and feel.

Watch it for the opening scene, skip the rest

[Jex_Russell · 3/10 · 31 March 2022]

I discovered "Student Bodies" as a teenager in the early 2000s, thanks to my good friend Lucas and his family's massive VHS collection. At the time, we thought it was absolutely hilarious, however it hasn't aged very well, or maybe we just outgrew this juvenile type of humor?

Released in 1981 and spoofing Hollywood's slasher craze of horror films, (released the same year as "Friday the 13th Part 2", "Happy Birthday to Me", "The Burning", "Halloween II" and "The Prowler"), "Student Bodies" has a strong opening scene, using up ALL of their best gags in these first 10 minutes. Seriously, I can watch this scene over and over as if it were an SNL sketch.

In this opener, we are introduced to the main villain / antagonist (appropriately named "The Breather", who has it out for any teenagers being intimate) as he torments a babysitter with obscene telephone calls. We are immediately drawn to this "Breather" character as he expresses his dislike for chewing gum, and uses a paperclip as his weapon of choice.

The film has a certain charm, especially with it's body-count helper (numbers pop up on the screen at every kill, reminding the viewers how many deaths we're at in the movie), but unfortunately, the film quickly falls flat after a while with its bad acting, bland female lead, and loss of ideas (the film was rushed to release during a writer's strike, after all). However, there are some memorable quotes peppered throughout:

The Breather: (on the phone) I'm gonna kill next at the football game. Click.

Ms. Van Dyke: Did you hang up?

The Breather: No, I just said "click".

Other than the previously mentioned opening segment, not much rewatchability here, but plenty of nostalgia!

"Student Bodies" (1981), directed by Mickey Rose, produced by Allen Smithee (Michael Ritchie under a pseudonym), starring Kristen Riter, Matthew Goldsby , and Richard Brando as "The Breather".

A review by Jex Russell.

Either the hidden gem you are looking for or over the top parody with a few good laughs that's still worth a watch due to it's uniqueness...

[markovd111 · 6/10 · 20 June 2023]

If you can, I strongly recommend to watch this movie with a good friend because it's probably hilarious that way. Watching it alone, I found it hard to laugh at most of the jokes because they are so constant and over the top they are just not funny to me. If you liked the movie "Airplane!", you will probably like this movie and have a good time. While I acknowledge the effort and good ideas in the movie, I personally didn't laugh a lot, but never the less I think the movie deserves it's share of praise for parodying horror genre clichés. Acting is also really great and, all in all, I give "Student Bodies" 6/10! It's definitely worth a watch both to hardcore genre fans and casuals alike. Just make sure to enjoy it in company!

Dreadful

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 18 April 2005]

I was one of the (very) few who paid to see this in a theatre in 1981. I LOVE horror films and, by that time, slasher films were all the rage and ready for a parody. The story (so to speak) has somebody called the Breather killing off high school students in (supposedly) humorous ways. The opening 10 or 15 minutes were pretty good...then the film went to pieces.

The "story" quickly became incoherent, the jokes were stupid and pretty desperate and it had an ending that left me slack-jawed. I'm really surprised people like this movie. I realize comedy is subjective and a matter of taste but (aside from the beginning) I didn't find anything even remotely funny. The cast was attractive (especially the hunky guy who got killed first) but none of them could act. I think for most of them this was their first (and last) film. That should tell you something. And the director removed his name from the final cut. When a director does that it's pretty obvious the film is hopeless.

I also caught it a few years later on TV (uncut). It STILL wasn't funny! So, I don't recommend this at all but it does have its defenders. Use your own judgment.

Fun movie,

[atinder · 7/10 · 25 May 2014]

Student Bodies (1981)

I saw this the other night, I really enjoyed, I think I did try to watch before, few years back, when it on you tube,

I loved the way how started with meowing dog, loved to see, Loved the mum screaming at dishing at the TV.

I found some jokes really funny made me laugh out loud, some jokes seem a little fall flat, no many,

I enjoyed most of the movie, I wasn't big fan of twist at the end, I really hate it when movies do the that.

I did enjoy the very last scene from movie, which spoof Carrie Fun movie.

7 out of 10

One of the worst

[homer_simpson91 · 1/10 · 3 December 2001]

Dear lord, I can't believe how many people think this movie is actually funny! This movie was painfully to watch, especially the ending, which could quite possibly be the worst ending in cinematic history. At first, this movie seemed to be one of those that was so bad, you could laugh AT it, but it soon became worse than that. To call the humor juvenile would be an understatement, but there are many lines that actually WOULD be funny if the timing and delivery were correct, but they rarely are. The acting, directing, dialogue, cinematography and possibly everything that can be wrong with a movie is wrong with this one. The worst "comedy" I've ever seen.

1/10

The best of it's kind. Way ahead of it's time.

[insomniac_rod · 8/10 · 21 August 2005]

"Studen Bodies" is the movie that started the Horror parody movies. The winning formula of the movie is a mix between sexual/scatological humor and cheesy/teenager humor.

I had to dig into a rare video store's catacombs and after researching and finding some atrocities, I found "Student Bodies". I searched for this movie for years and finally the time came. The VSH copy I found to my surprise had good sound (although Mono) and decent image. I prepared myself pop corns and sat to enjoy this hidden gem.

The Slasher genre has a lot of clichès and "Student Bodies" makes the adequate and necessary parody of them. Sex being the motive for death scenes, gore, dumb characters and a lack of logic are the elements that this movie makes fun of.

The movie makes fun of "Friday the 13th", "When A Stranger Calls" and "Prom Night" mostly (also, look for the "Carrie" ending spoof). I wonder if Wes Craven was inspired by this movie to create "Scream" because most of it's scenes are very similar (including plot!).

The situations are very funny and perfectly mix with the funny lines and one-liners. With some discriminatory jokes towards a black guy, a minus-valid guy, a foreign student, etc. the movie works without being very rude. The script is clever and asks for the jokes and parodies. They don't make movies like this anymore. I prefer 10 times "Student Bodies" than the "Scary Movie" trilogy.

The actors do what they have to do. "The Stick" is a great comedian! and a cult classic character of the 80's cheesiness. The body count meter is another classic moment in the genre. I watched this movie under the name "Thirteen corpses and a half"; the title is explained because of the body count meter. My only beef with the movie is it's silly ending. I know the movie is a Horror Comedy but still the ending left a lot to desire. With a dumb explanation the events get resolved although I felt good for Malvert!

I wonder if they re released this movie in these days, would it be a hit? I think yes. It's a cheesy but funny movie and a good way to kill 80 minutes.

Fun slasher

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 7 March 2019]

Director Mickey Rose collaborated with Woody Allen on the films What's Up, Tiger Lily?; Take the Money and Run and Bananas. He also wrote the movie I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? He had uncredited directing help from Michael Ritchie, who also directed The Island, Downhill Racer, The Candidate, Semi-Tough, The Bad News Bears, both Fletch films, The Golden Child and more.

A serial killer called The Breather (voiced by Richard Belzer!) is watching and murdering the female students at Lamab High School. He loves to call people on the phone - the makers of Scream had to have watched this film - when he's not getting upset and killing them after sex. The women are all killed with a ridiculous arsenal of weaponry, like bookends and paperclips, while the men are placed in trash bags.

I kind of love that this movie references the giallo tradition of a black covered killer, except here, The Breather wears dishwashing gloves. The film ends with reveal after reveal, with The Breather's identity coming out, it all being a dream - like The Wizard of Oz - and the real killer being revealed, but then the ending of Carrie gets parodied.

I'm also a big fan of how this is shot. It looks like an honest to goodness horror film, no matter how silly things get. The music, the camera angles, the feel of the movie - it's all legit. The story itself is what's silly.

While Student Bodies contains no gore or violence, it does contain one moment of profanity in a really clever way. A man interrupts the film to explain that in order to get an R rating, movies "must contain full frontal nudity, graphic violence, or an explicit reference to the sex act." For this movie to be a success, it needs that R rating, so the man says that "the producers have asked me to take this opportunity to say, 'CENSORED you'." Then, the MPAA rating card appears. This scene is legit - it's what really got the movie the rating it demanded.

My only downer here is that an eggplant was used to kill the black victim in this movie. In case you didn't know, the term mulignan is a Sicilian word taken from the derived from the Italian melanzane, or eggplant, as a slur against the skin color of African-Americans. One hopes this was a coincidence, but I think not. I get that culture was different in 1981 and I hope that we all continue to grow, but it's pretty jarring in 2019.

Ooo it's sooo good, right? WRONG!

[ianmutimer · 2/10 · 7 April 2007]

Come on! This movie is garbage. It may be the first of it's kind yada yada, but what difference does that make when it's not funny. There are many other spoofs 100 times better so don't waste your time. I'll tell you why - the same 'jokes' are played over and over and for too long. For example: a telephone that rings for a stupidly long time and also shakes and some guy heavily breathing and making dumb comments about being tired walking up the stairs and whacking off watching girls in the locker room. Yeah OK, he is supposed to be a cliché heavy breathing killer, but it's so played and not funny after 1 minute. The only funny line is when a girl and a guy are gonna get jiggy, the girl asks - 'are you clean?' the guy replies 'no, but you can't wash herpes off anyway'.