Student Bodies
Encyclopedia
Student Bodies is a 1981 comedy film
written and directed by Mickey Rose, with an uncredited Michael Ritchie
co-directing. The film stars Kristen Ritter, Matthew Goldsby, and Cullen Chambers
.
It is a spoof
of slasher
horror film
s such as Halloween
, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night. Student Bodies was the first movie-spoof to satirize the thriving slasher film genre. A prominent feature of the film is a body count that is superimposed
onscreen whenever a death occurs.
Aside from Jerry Belson, Joe Flood, Keith Singleton, and Cullen Chambers, many of the cast have only appeared in this film.
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, a chalkboard eraser, and a horse-head bookend. He kills his male victims by placing them in trash bags alive.
The film itself ends with several twists: initially, it is revealed that the Principal and his elderly female assistant are working as a duo as "The Breather", even though they are shown at one point in the film in the same room as other characters when the Breather contacts the school to threaten to commit further murders. The film then goes to reveal that the entire film was a fevered dream, caused by the main character Toby being sick and consumed by overwhelming sexual repression. The film then reveals that many characters are really the opposite of what they appeared to be for the bulk of the film: the jock-like shop teacher is really the school's French teacher, the stuck-up would-be prom queen is actually the school nerd (who is given the crown by Toby after she wakes up, due to her kind nature), the two handicapped kids turn out to be non-crippled, and a local ROTC cadet is a hippie.
After being released from the hospital, Toby and her boyfriend have sex at which point he puts on gloves similar to the ones worn by the Breather and murders Toby, due to her having sex with him. However, in a homage to the nightmare-ending of Carrie, Toby's hands rise up from the freshly dug grave after her funeral to attack her killer.
produced and directed the film, but because it was filmed during a strike he had to use the well-worn pseudonym
Allen Smithee
instead. Mickey Rose was given writing and directing credit, but actually co-wrote and co-directed the film. Jerry Belson was the actual head writer (everyone had to ghost write and direct except for Rose because of their prominence in the film guilds. They couldn't use their actual names.)
Carnival of Souls
, Black Christmas
, Carrie, Halloween
, When a Stranger Calls
, The Shining
, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night.
comedian known only as "The Stick," who made no other films and only did an appearance on the 1984 TV series Out Of Control
. Several online reviews give the film itself a mixed reaction but praise The Stick's performance.
— called Lamab in the film (not to be confused with Lamar High School in Houston, TX which is known for its use in the film Rushmore
). Taylor High School
in Katy, Texas
was used for the film's football stadium, exterior and some interior scenes.
was released on June 3, 2007. The HD Blu-ray version was released May 3, 2011.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
written and directed by Mickey Rose, with an uncredited Michael Ritchie
Michael Ritchie (film director)
Michael Brunswick Ritchie was an American film director.Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie...
co-directing. The film stars Kristen Ritter, Matthew Goldsby, and Cullen Chambers
Cullen Chambers
Cullen G. Chambers is an actor who has worked in over 3,000 film, TV shows, commercial, and video productions.He has appeared in such films as Pulp Fiction, Student Bodies, Harlem Nights, Die Hard 2, RoboCop 2, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.Chambers was born on October 4, 1960, in Lima,...
.
It is a spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of slasher
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s such as Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night. Student Bodies was the first movie-spoof to satirize the thriving slasher film genre. A prominent feature of the film is a body count that is superimposed
Superimposition
In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to conceal something .This technique is used in cartography to produce photomaps by superimposing grid lines, contour lines...
onscreen whenever a death occurs.
Aside from Jerry Belson, Joe Flood, Keith Singleton, and Cullen Chambers, many of the cast have only appeared in this film.
Plot
Student Bodies is about a serial killerSerial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
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
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
victims over the telephone and much like Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th , as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S...
of the Friday the 13th movies, he hates seeing youngsters having sex
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
. The Breather uses many unusual objects to kill his female victims such as a paper clip, a chalkboard eraser, and a horse-head bookend. He kills his male victims by placing them in trash bags alive.
The film itself ends with several twists: initially, it is revealed that the Principal and his elderly female assistant are working as a duo as "The Breather", even though they are shown at one point in the film in the same room as other characters when the Breather contacts the school to threaten to commit further murders. The film then goes to reveal that the entire film was a fevered dream, caused by the main character Toby being sick and consumed by overwhelming sexual repression. The film then reveals that many characters are really the opposite of what they appeared to be for the bulk of the film: the jock-like shop teacher is really the school's French teacher, the stuck-up would-be prom queen is actually the school nerd (who is given the crown by Toby after she wakes up, due to her kind nature), the two handicapped kids turn out to be non-crippled, and a local ROTC cadet is a hippie.
After being released from the hospital, Toby and her boyfriend have sex at which point he puts on gloves similar to the ones worn by the Breather and murders Toby, due to her having sex with him. However, in a homage to the nightmare-ending of Carrie, Toby's hands rise up from the freshly dug grave after her funeral to attack her killer.
Director and writers
Michael RitchieMichael Ritchie (film director)
Michael Brunswick Ritchie was an American film director.Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie...
produced and directed the film, but because it was filmed during a strike he had to use the well-worn pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Allen Smithee
Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to...
instead. Mickey Rose was given writing and directing credit, but actually co-wrote and co-directed the film. Jerry Belson was the actual head writer (everyone had to ghost write and direct except for Rose because of their prominence in the film guilds. They couldn't use their actual names.)
Parodies
The film parodies a handful of previous slasher films and horror films, includingCarnival of Souls
Carnival of Souls
Carnival of Souls is a 1962 independent horror film starring Candace Hilligoss. Produced and directed by Herk Harvey for an estimated $33,000, the film did not gain widespread attention when originally released, as a B film; today, however, it is a cult classic...
, Black Christmas
Black Christmas (1974 film)
Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher film directed by Bob Clark and written by A. Roy Moore, and largely based on a series of murders that took place in Quebec, Canada around Christmas time. The film's score is by Carl Zittrer. It was distributed by Ambassador Film Distributors in Canada and...
, Carrie, Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
, When a Stranger Calls
When a Stranger Calls (1979 film)
When a Stranger Calls is a 1979 thriller starring Carol Kane and Charles Durning, directed by Fred Walton. The film derives its story from the classic folk legend of "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs". The original music score is composed by television composer Dana Kaproff.The film ranked #28...
, The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night.
Patrick Varnel aka "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 never really talks but does bizarre things like move about in a herky-jerky fashion. Malvert is played by a tall, double-jointedHypermobility
Hypermobility describes joints that stretch farther than is normal. For example, some hypermobile people can bend their thumbs backwards to their wrists, bend their knee joints backwards, put their leg behind the head or other contortionist performances...
comedian known only as "The Stick," who made no other films and only did an appearance on the 1984 TV series Out Of Control
Out of Control (TV series)
Out of Control is an American comedy television series that ran on Nickelodeon from 1984 until 1985, and was the first series produced specifically for that channel...
. Several online reviews give the film itself a mixed reaction but praise The Stick's performance.
Filming locations
Lamar Consolidated High School in Richmond, TexasRichmond, Texas
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,081 people, 3,413 households, and 2,628 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,975.4 people per square mile . There were 3,595 housing units at an average density of 965.3 per square mile...
— called Lamab in the film (not to be confused with Lamar High School in Houston, TX which is known for its use in the film Rushmore
Rushmore (film)
Rushmore is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer , his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume , and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross . The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson...
). Taylor High School
James E. Taylor High School
James E. Taylor High School, also known as Katy Taylor High School, is a public high school in Harris County, Texas, in the city of Katy. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is part of Katy Independent School District...
in Katy, Texas
Katy, Texas
Katy is a city located in Harris, Fort Bend and Waller Counties in the U.S. state of Texas, within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area...
was used for the film's football stadium, exterior and some interior scenes.
Cast
- Kristen Riter as Toby Badger
- Matt Goldsby as Hardy
- Cullen ChambersCullen ChambersCullen G. Chambers is an actor who has worked in over 3,000 film, TV shows, commercial, and video productions.He has appeared in such films as Pulp Fiction, Student Bodies, Harlem Nights, Die Hard 2, RoboCop 2, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.Chambers was born on October 4, 1960, in Lima,...
as Charles Ray - Richard BelzerRichard BelzerRichard Jay Belzer is an American stand-up comedian, author, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as John Munch, which he has portrayed as a regular cast member on the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as in guest...
as The Breather - Joe Flood as Mr. Dumpkin
- Joe Talarowski as Principal Harlow Hebrew Peters
- Mimi WeddellMimi WeddellMarion Rogers "Mimi' Weddell was an American actress. She is best known for portraying Stanford's grandmother on Sex and the City and for being featured in a documentary film, Hats Off, about her life and her collection of some 150 hats.-Early life:She was born as Marion Rogers in Williston, North...
as Miss Mumsley - Carl Jacobs as Dr. Sigmund
- Peggy Cooper as Ms. Van Dyke
- Janice E. O'Malley as Nurse Krud
- Kevin Mannis as Scott
- Sara Eckhardt as Patti Priswell
- Oscar James as Football Coach/Sheriff
- Kay Ogden as Ms. Leclair
- Patrick "The Stick" Varnel as Malvert the Janitor
- Brian Batytis as Wheels
- Joan Browning Jacobs as Mrs. Hummers
- Angela Bressler as Julie
- Keith Singleton as Charlie
Release
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. It became famous as a late-night cult favorite on cable afterwards. The DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released on June 3, 2007. The HD Blu-ray version was released May 3, 2011.