Plot
In the 1950s, a bickering teenage couple, Wally and Buttercup, stop at a diner before their prom. To settle their argument about romance, the diner owner, Jojo, tells them the "tale of the prom, of love, of Cherri and Spud."
Cherri is the popular, spoiled head cheerleader at Echo Lake High, and her boyfriend, Rod, is the school’s aggressive football star. When Spud, a new student, inadvertently offends both of them on his first day, Rod forces Spud to become Cherri’s personal servant as punishment. Though they initially despise one another, Cherri and Spud eventually fall in love.
They decide to attend the prom together in secret. On prom night, a jealous Rod discovers them and uses his car to force their vehicle off the road and into the lake. Spud and Cherri are unable to escape and drown in a final embrace. Back at the high school, Rod covers up the crime by claiming the pair eloped to Mexico. He remains the prom king, while Cherri’s friend Darlene is crowned the new queen.
One year later, on the night of the next prom, the car—and the skeletal, decomposing bodies of Cherri and Spud—magically rises from the lake. They drive to the school and enter the ballroom during the coronation ceremony. As they approach the stage, various creatures including spiders, snakes, and fish emerge from their rotting skin. The creatures attack and devour Rod and his friend Dwayne. Darlene flees in terror, allowing the undead Cherri and Spud to be crowned the rightful Prom King and Queen.
Back in the diner, Wally and Buttercup are moved by Jojo's story. Their skepticism vanishes when they hear the sound of Cherri and Spud’s car driving past. The couple reconciles with a kiss as the film ends.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Hair High isn't first-tier Plympton, but like the rest of the animator's work, this is an assuredly odd tale that should resonate with fans of strange cinema." [4] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [5]
Production
Hair High was created with a style reminiscent of old cartoons and 1950s high-school dramas. The film was almost entirely hand-drawn by Plympton himself; he noted that while he attempted to hire other animators, they could not match his specific art style. [6] He used physical celluloid and hand drawings to achieve the "clean" look of the film. This was his final cel-animated feature, with his subsequent project Guard Dog switching to digital scanning and colors. [6]
Releasing in 2004, Hair High is recognized as one of the last major cel-animated projects produced in the United States. The process was largely abandoned by the industry following the completion of projects like 2003's Astro Boy and series such as King of the Hill and Ed, Edd n Eddy switching to digital ink and paint.
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