Student Bodies

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Student Bodies
Student Bodies.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Mickey Rose
Written byMickey Rose
Produced by Michael Ritchie [i]
Starring
  • Kristen Riter
  • Matt Goldsby
  • Cullen Chambers
CinematographyRobert Ebinger
Edited byKathryn Ruth Hope
Music byGene Hobson
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • August 7, 1981 (1981-08-07)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$510,000 [3]
Box office$5.2 million [4]

Student Bodies is a 1981 American parody slasher comedy film [5] written and directed by Mickey Rose. A spoof of slasher horror films such as Halloween , Friday the 13th , and Prom Night , the film focuses on a serial killer targeting students at a high school. Student Bodies was the first film to satirize the thriving slasher film genre. [6] A prominent feature of the film is a body count that is superimposed onscreen whenever a death occurs.

Contents

Principal photography of Student Bodies took place in and around Houston, Texas, with a cast made up entirely of unknown actors. Paramount Pictures released the film theatrically on August 7, 1981. The film was a moderate box office success, grossing $5.2 million in the United States against its $510,000 budget.

Plot

While babysitting on Jamie Lee Curtis's birthday, teenager Julie and her boyfriend Charlie are stalked by a voyeuristic serial killer known as the "Breather". As Julie and Charlie prepare to have sex, the Breather, bypassing conventional weapons such as a butcher knife or hatchet, selects a paper clip which he uses to stab Julie to death, before suffocating Charlie with a trash bag.

After the funerals for Julie and Charlie, the local Lamab High School principal, Mr. Peters, announces the scheduled events for the day, including classes, a parade, football game, and prom. Students Joe and Bertha sneak away to have sex in a car, but Joe realizes he did not bring condoms. While he goes to purchase them, Bertha is clobbered by the Breather with a wooden horse head bookend similar to ones made for a school wood shop project, after which Joe is again smothered with a trash bag.

In the girls' locker room, the Breather spies on female students, among them Toby Badger. Hearing the killer's heavy breathing, Toby flees. Later at the parade, Toby's friends Ralph and Dagmar attempt to have sex with inside one of the moving floats. The Breather infiltrates the float, killing Dagmar with an eggplant before smothering Ralph. When Toby investigates, the Breather throws the bodies out the back of the float before escaping, making Toby a suspect. Toby is interrogated by school authorities and police and sent for evaluation by psychologist Dr. Sigmund. When Toby returns to her English class, Principal Peters announces over the school intercom that Sigmund believes Toby is the killer. Miss Mumsley presses Malvert, a former teacher-turned-janitor with a traumatic brain injury, to falsely confess to the killings if Peters becomes a suspect.

At the football game, school Nurse Krud and wood shop teacher tie student Mawamba up inside a garbage bag, as Krud attempts to prove a point that it will suffocate him. The two become distracted by the game, resulting in Mawamba dying. Under the bleachers, Joan and Al sneak away to have sex. When Toby goes to search for them, she is knokced unconscious by falling trash as the Breather murders Joan using a chalkboard eraser, and Al dispatched with a garbage bag. When Toby regains consciousness, she overhears a conversation suggesting she is being framed, and teams with her friend Hardy to try and find the real killer.

Toby steals a risqué dress from the school's drama prop room and manages to infiltrate the prom unnoticed. While Hardy sneaks into Miss Mumsley's office, Miss Mumsley announces that all of the prom queen candidates, save a student named Patti, are dead; instead of crowning a student, Principal Peters is awarded the title of prom queen. In the wood shop, the Breather kills Patti with the prom crown before smothering her boyfriend Scott with a trash bag. Wood shop teacher Mr. Dumpkin crosses paths with the killer, who uses a chainsaw case to murder him.

Sneaking into Principal Peters's office, Toby is confronted by Peters who admits to having killed all of the female students for having premarital sex. Toby tells him she is a virgin, but he does not believe her. He attempts to kill Toby with a school trophy, but slips on marbles Toby spilled and impales himself to death with it. In Miss Mumsley's office, Toby finds Hardy's body before being confronted by Miss Mumsley, who claims to be Principal Peters's father and the one responsible for killing the male students, whom could have implicated Peters in their girlfriends' murders. Toby flees through the school and witnesses the reanimated corpses of her dead friends stalking her before falling out an upper-story window.

Toby is suddenly awoken by Hardy kissing her as she lay in a hospital bed, having suffered from swine flu—the events depicted are revealed to all be a fever dream. The individuals from Toby's dream are revealed in reality to be the opposite of their personas in her dream state: For example, Mr. Dumpkin is in fact a flamboyant French teacher rather than a burly wood shop instructor, and Patti is an unpopular social outcast. When Toby is released from the hospital, she tells Hardy that Dr. Sigmund had diagnosed her swine flu as stemming from her extreme sexual repression. Toby suggests that she and Hardy have sex to cure her. As she undresses, Hardy dons green gloves and strangles her to death. At Toby's funeral, which is held one hour after her death, Hardy places flowers on the grave, only for Toby's arm to reach up and grab him by the throat.

Cast

Films referenced

The screenplay for Student Bodies parodies various horror and slasher films of the era, mainly John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) and Prom Night (1980), bearing similar plot elements of both. [7] It also heavily utilizes first-person point-of-view shots similar to those featured prominently in Halloween and Friday the 13th (1980). [8] Another element adopted by the film is the screaching violins featured in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' to accentuate suspenseful or terrifying scenes, although to comedic effect in this film.

The film's climactic sequence in which the events depicted are revealed to have been elements of Toby's fever dream—with the real-life counterparts having personas opposite of those in the dream—is inspired by the finale of The Wizard of Oz (1939). [7] . The final scene in which Toby's arms reach out from her grave is a spoof of the final scene in Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976). [7]

Production

Development

Mickey Rose wrote and directed the film, with executive producer Jerry Belson offering additional material; however, Michael Ritchie was placed on set as an overseeing producer to guide Rose should he need it. [3] The film's production budget was $510,000. [3]

Casting

Student Bodies features a cast of true unknowns; most of them, including leads Riter and Goldsby, have never made another feature film. Future Travis County Judge and Texas State Senator Sarah Eckhardt appears in a small role. [1]

Filming

Principal photography of Student Bodies took place on location in Houston and Katy, Texas. [1] Lamar High School in Houston was used as the school in the film. [1] Additional locations included the campus of Texas Southern University and the James E. Taylor High School football field in Katy. [7]

Release

Paramount Pictures, who had recently had significant commercial success with the slasher film Friday the 13th and the comedy Airplane! (both 1980), acquired distribution rights to Student Bodies, purchasing the film for $1.5 million. [3] The studio sought to capitalize on the audiences of both films, which were major box-office hits. [9] Student Bodies was first released theatrically in cities on the U.S. west coast on August 7, 1981. [10] It opened in New York City that fall on October 18, 1981. [11]

The film became a late-night cult favorite on cable after its theatrical release, appearing frequently on the Rhonda Shear-hosted USA Up All Night, as well as the network's USA Saturday Nightmares double feature series. [1] [12]

Home media

A DVD edition was released by Legend Films on June 3, 2008. [13] [14] Olive Films released the film on Blu-ray on August 25, 2015. [15] The British distributor 88 Films released a Blu-ay in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2018. [16]

In August 2025, Terror Vision announced a forthcoming special edition 4K UHD Blu-ray set scheduled for release on October 25, 2025, licensed through Paramount Pictures. [17]

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $5,165,432 at the U.S. box office. [4]

Critical response

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "a real disappointment", writing that it "just slowly topples over as you watch it, like a stand-up comedian in the act of failing". [11] Variety found that the jokes became "depressingly repetitive", writing that "unfortunately, once you've seen the trailer, you've seen all but one of the good gags included in the entire film, meaning that there are about three minutes of effective material over the course of the 86-minute running time". [18]

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave it two stars out of four, writing that it "exposes all its comic tricks in the first reel, suggesting that the genre itself is not all that deep and that there may be less to parody than one might think". [19] Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The film has some very funny moments, but it is definitely not another Airplane! ". [20] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote: "Although it frequently misfires and occasionally keeps firing away on empty satiric chambers, Student Bodies is a likeably sarcastic and knowing assault on the clichés of horror movies". [21] Ted Mahar of The Oregonian praised the film as a "knowning, clever, brutal and over-long spoof" of slasher films. [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Credited as Allen Smithee. [1] [2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 O'Neal, Sean (October 28, 2021). "'Student Bodies' Remains Texas's Strangest Contribution to Horror Movie History". Texas Monthly . Archived from the original on November 2, 2021.
  2. ↑ Klady, Leonard (September 13, 1987). "The Strange, Faceless Tale of Allen Smithee, Man of Mystery". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on August 18, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Mahar, Ted (August 15, 1981). "'Bodies' breathes heavily over horror films". The Oregonian . p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 "Student Bodies". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on October 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ Hutchings 2009, p. 71.
  6. ↑ Nowell 2004, p. 244.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Bergeron, Michael (July 27, 2022). "Hollywood in H-town: Looking back at the Houston-shot horror parody 'Student Bodies'". Houston Chronicle . Archived from the original on August 18, 2025.
  8. ↑ Gillota 2023, p. 18.
  9. ↑ Nowell 2010, p. 245.
  10. ↑ "Student Bodies". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Canby, Vincent (October 18, 1981). "Film: Mickey Rose's 'Student Bodies'". The New York Times : 67. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023.
  12. ↑ Figueroa, Dariel (March 6, 2015). "Looking Back Fondly At The USA Network's Racy '90s Programming". Uproxx . Archived from the original on January 5, 2019.
  13. ↑ McGaughy, Cameron (June 28, 2008). "Student Bodies". DVD Talk . Archived from the original on August 18, 2025.
  14. ↑ Weinberg, Scott (March 23, 2008). "Fan Rant: 'Student Bodies' to Hit DVD! Paramount Obscurities Unleashed!!". Moviefone . Archived from the original on April 17, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Student Bodies Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Student Bodies Blu-ray (Slasher Classics Collection)". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Student Bodies (1981) 3-Disc (UHD/BD/CD) Deluxe Edition (Pre-Order)". Terror Vision. Archived from the original on August 18, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Film Reviews: Student Bodies". Variety : 18. August 12, 1981.
  19. ↑ Siskel, Gene (August 11, 1981). "'Bodies' just a ghost of horror parody". Chicago Tribune . p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ Gross, Linda (August 11, 1981). "Comical Parts In 'Student Bodies'". Los Angeles Times . p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Arnold, Gary (August 11, 1981). "'Bodies' Kills Clichés". The Washington Post . p. C10.

Sources


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