One poster for Student Bodies claims this to be the first horror comedy. That is pure nonsense, however I think it is the first film to parody the slasher movie, which was still in its "Golden Era" in 1981. Saturday the 14th was released in the same year and although it used a similar wacky style of comedy it was not a slasher comedy, despite its title. Student Bodies makes no apology for sending up the likes of Halloween, Friday the 13th, even Carrie! Viewers who have seen the later Scream and Scary Movie movies will see something familiar, Bodies was certainly a pioneer and influence on said films. Think zany "Aeroplane" humour, we get an onscreen body count counter, plus comments such as "clue", "unlocked door", etc. The killer is called The Breather and wears gloves, but unlike the leather ones worn in the Italian Giallo movies he (or she) wears rubber, washing up ones - and his (or her) boots keep getting stuck on chewing gum! As with many high school 80's movies we have a creepy janitor, Malvert. He was played by a guy credited as The Stick (real name Patrick Boone Varnell), he was one of the best characters, in fact it's worth watching just to see him! The film does start off well, there are plenty of laugh out loud moments, however the gags do start to wear thin and the end is disappointing. There is very little blood and only some very brief nudity - and that's a guy. Apparently the film makers deliberately got an R rated by having a brief intermission with the F word spoken. Horror comedies either work or they don't. Student Bodies is fairly good, a few beers probably helped me, ha ha! It could have been a little bit better, it does however capture that wonderful 1980's slasher look and feel.
Review of Student Bodies
