MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Bonehead-XL 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.

Michael_Elliott Student Bodies (1981)BOMB (out of 4) This spoof of horror movies takes place at Lamab High where kids wonder off to have sex and are murdered in a variety of ways. Suspicion falls on a girl (Kristin Bell) who has issues about sex. That's pretty much the only way to explain the storyline to this film. After the success of AIRPLANE! more and more spoofs started to happen and with the slasher craze going at full blast it was just obvious to combine the two. Sadly, STUDENT BODIES is one of the worst spoofs you're going to see and it's impossible to consider it a slasher since there's really no slashing going on. The film starts off as we get the classic POV of the killer looking at a house where we know the murder is going to take place. We're introduced to "The Breather," who of course is the killer who is constantly breathing way too loud. This opening ten-minute sequence will let the viewer know if they wish to go on with the rest of the film because the type of humor here just keeps getting repeated throughout. We have the killer breathing too loud. He goes to murder but steps in gum. He could pick an axe to murder with but instead takes silly weapons like an egg plant. We get scenes where the suspect, who is of course innocent, gets caught up with the dead bodies. This film even goes as far as to add subtitles to try and get jokes including a running body count. I know this film has a good cult following but I found it nearly impossible to get through for a number of reasons. The film doesn't contain any good writing and instead we've just got one obvious joke after another. If you've seen at least one slasher film then you're going to know all the obvious jokes like how a victim always hurts themselves by running into a place they can't escape. These jokes aren't funny but what made me violently hate this film is how annoying the attempts of laughs are. The non-stop heavy breathing it's funny but annoying. The way the killer is constantly picking silly ways to kill isn't funny. The way the music score is overdone is just bad. There's nothing funny about this movie including the various ways it tries to show off suspects that pop up every few scenes. I thought the performances were bad, the direction poor and in reality there wasn't a single good thing here. God knows that the slasher genre offered up some really horrid movies (GRADUATION DAY, HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE) but at least those films offered up something that fans could enjoy. That being sex, nudity, violence or gore. This film offers up none of those and what's worse is how bad the attempts at comedy are. This here is without question the bottom of the 80s slasher period.

lost-in-limbo 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.

thesar-2 I could fill this entire review with quotes and comedic bits I thought were funny in Student Bodies, a movie I am on the fence with calling "a guilty pleasure."Because, despite the fact it was simply made in order for Paramount to make at least some kind of profit during the writer's strike in 1981, it was actually a well shot and unbelievably well thought out movie – they certainly knew their subject down pat. I am saying that as an adult who has not watched this film in many, many years and knows (now) the history behind the subject matter and why they would make such a movie.Now, allow me to speak as the kid who practically grew up with this movie: I LOVED THIS MOVIE. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. Okay, not enough to award it 5/5 stars, or even 4.5. In fact, it barely reached 4/5 stars because it's certainly not perfect. While 90% of the jokes were spot on and absolutely hilarious in regards to the FLOOD of late 1970s and 1980 horror films released, the other 10% were just plain silly and not silly-good. In addition, as in most movies, namely comedies but almost exclusively to spoofs, this one followed suit: start with a bang, continue with consistent humor while heading south and finishing in the recycle bin. It's sad how far this fell, and hard, in the last third that it couldn't hold up to the 5/5 stars I wanted to give it. It simply…fell apart.So, that said, I will wholeheartedly recommend the first two-thirds as some of the most ingenious and honest jokes when it comes to the slew of just plain horribly clichéd horrors released during this period of Hollywood's horror fest.A girl babysitting one night invites her boyfriend over in order to have sex with him on the parent's bed. Sound like a recipe for disaster in any/all horror slashers? Duh, that's what this movie's about. Naturally, the couple perishes and friend Toby (Riter) is distraught. But, not enough to keep coincidentally showing up when other sex-crazed teens "get it" before "getting it."Of course, this makes her the prime subject, even though the movie is…literally…telling us everyone's a suspect. God, it's refreshing to see such honesty in a movie. Along with pointing out who should be considered for the killer, the film also presents all the clues we need to know when someone's in danger or how to solve this.I'm not trying to give anything away for anyone who has not seen this (almost) comedic masterpiece; I'm just pointing out that they're pointing out how dumb those numerous horror-of-the-week releases were. And I've seen plenty. And I've done the obligatory countdown to when the killer will appear or roll my eyes when the best friend obviously has an ulterior motive.The movie creators seem almost embarrassed with the product they released, from what I've read. And despite what I stated about it being well shot (not perfect, but not amateurish by any means) it did seem rushed. Still…this was extremely close to the (actual) masterpiece Airplane! with the multiple jokes every minute ratio. Frankly, this movie barely gives us a second to stop laughing and take a "breath" (get it? The killer's name is "The Breather." Ah never mind.)Watch this movie. Sober or not. Preferably not. And with your drug of choice. In fact, there's got to be a dozen drinking games in regards to certain scenes in Student Bodies, such as: how many calls the killer makes (or at least how many times he's on the phone) or how many product placements you can find. Trust me…ask the DR. on how easy they are to spot.Side Note: I would welcome any comments from people who've actually seen this, namely for those who grew up on it, like I did. Guaranteed, we would be laughing our asses of with quotes from the movie or scene recaps, such as: "No, I just said 'click'" or "Ms. Shouldn't-Be-Here-Anyway" or "____ gets me hot" or when the music stops until the call's picked up or "…at 75 cents an hour…" Heck, I've personally used jokes from this movie since the first time I've seen it in the early 1980s, such as the fact I'll never get old and ugly thanks to Cyanide pills: "Death before disfigurement." – Thank goodness practically no one I know has seen this or they would know I plagiarized that line, even though I do eventually give credit to Student Bodies.(The following contains spoilers. In fact, it ruins everything for Student Body Virgins. Now: see the movie and then press on…)Side Note Part II: Above, I wrote the typical (for me, that is) movie review. Now, for personal notes on one of my all time favorite movies (despite the rating.) I loved the character of Malvert, the "ABSURD!" janitor who finds the cheese, pees red and unbelievably is known as "The Stick" in real life. I loved THE ENTIRE opening segment, especially the stairs, the look through the mail slot when there's four window panes, the weapon selection (which was stolen in Scary Movie,) the mother's – oh, God – reaction when she gets home and the fact the babysitter can hear the footsteps over the shower but not the creaky knob-turning. I loved the recurring jokes such as the phone's breath and "___ makes me hot" and the entire funeral & parade scenes. I loved the principal/faculty interrogation scene. I loved the tear wipe-away psych evaluation. I loved the horse-head book ends. I loved the garbage bag check. I loved the handicapped parking spot. And I loved the "It could be any/some-one" conclusion. And I loved the 911 call. And...perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...