Student Bodies

Laugh it up, fuzzball, at IS THIS A JOKE? Month at Mondo Mondays, featuring a full house of sci-fi/horror spoofs that will have you in stitches AND hysterics, and that’s gotta hurt!

“13 ½ Murders + 1,423 Laughs = Student Bodies!  The Laugh Count Begins …”   In this oddball slasher flick parody, made at the very beginning of the slasher craze in 1981 and billed as “the world’s first comedy horror movie,”  a mysterious, wheezy killer with a thing for crank calls and rubber chickens, known only as “The Breather,” begins terrorizing Lamab High School, and in between bouts of recreational sports, recreational drugs, and recreational sex (no homework at this school!), students AND teachers start dropping dead in variously ridiculous ways (if you’ve ever wondered what death by paperclip and halitosis might look like, this is your movie).  Through it all, the spunky and smart Jamie Lee Curtis-wannabe Toby (Kristen Riter) tries to uncover the identity of the killer – without becoming the next victim.  Overflowing with silly sight gags (including an onscreen body count ticker), dumb one-liners, painful acting, and much low-budget charm, Student Bodies became a frequent favorite on USA Up All Night by gleefully skewering the already-familiar conventions of the ‘80s teen horror genre in its highly messy, wildly uneven, and endearingly goofy attempt to be the Airplane! of slasher flicks. (Dir. by Mickey Rose, 1981, USA, 86 mins., Rated R)