Student Bodies

Student Bodies
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Mickey Rose Michael Ritchie (uncredited)
Produced by	Allen Smithee
Written by	Mickey Rose
Starring	Kristen Riter Matthew Goldsby Cullen Chambers
Cinematography	Robert Ebinger
Editing by	Kathryn Ruth Hope
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	August 7, 1981
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Student Bodies is an American comedy film first released on August 7, 1981, written and directed by Mickey Rose. It is a spoof of slasher horror films such as Prom Night, Halloween, and Friday the 13th. The film's style of humor can be compared to other spoof films, such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun (the latter 3 of which were also made by Paramount Pictures). For example, every time somebody dies, an on-screen body count appears. Along with National Lampoon's Class Reunion, which would be released the following year, Student Bodies was one of the first movies to satirize the then-thriving slasher film subgenre.

Michael Ritchie produced the movie, but later took his name off the picture and used the well-worn pseudonym Allen Smithee instead. One of a group of movies directed towards teenaged audiences during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Student Bodies had little box office success when it was originally released. The DVD was released on June 3, 2008.

Aside from Richard Belzer, Joe Flood, and Cullen Chambers, a large number of the cast contains completely unknown actors and actresses, most of them having appeared only in this film.

Plot summary

Student Bodies is about a serial killer who stalks female students at Lamab High School, while at the same time, voyeuristically watching them. The killer calls himself "The Breather", presumably because the killer is always breathing heavily.

The Breather enjoys stalking victims over the telephone, and, much like Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th movies, he hates seeing youngsters having sex. The Breather uses many unusual objects to kill his female victims such as a paper clip, an eraser, and a horse-head bookend. He kills his male victims by placing them in trash bags alive.

The identity of the killer is revealed in a surprising way where the audience would not see it coming.

The Stick

One of the film's oddest aspects is a character called Malvert, a creepy-looking janitor (itself a familiar trope in slasher movies), who does bizarre things like urinate in trash cans and move about in a herky-jerky fashion. Malvert is played by a tall, double-jointed comedian known only as The Stick, who never made another film and passed into obscurity. (The Stick's real identity, or even if he is still alive, remains a mystery.) Several on-line reviews give the film itself a mixed reaction but praise The Stick's performance. [1] [2] [3]

Movie cast

Filming locations

• Lamar High School in Houston, Texas — called Lamab High School in the film. Lamar High is perhaps better known for its use in the film Rushmore; the "Grover Cleveland High School" scenes were filmed there.

• Taylor High School in Katy, Texas's football stadium and exterior. Some interior scenes were shot there as well.

Parodies

• Friday the 13th
• Halloween
• Black Christmas
• When a Stranger Calls
• Prom Night
• Carnival of Souls
• Carrie
• The Shining

External links

• Student Bodies at the Internet Movie Database
• Student Bodies at Allmovie
• Review at 411mania.com ("Misunderstood Masterpieces")