student bodies Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Killer B's on DVD: Student Bodies
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Killer B's on DVD »
I first discovered this slasher satire (recently released to DVD by Legend Films) during one of its many runs on cable in the early '80s. I recall liking it at the time, but I was a college kid with a fondness for beer, so I probably watched it through a hop and barley flavored filter. There's an obvious Airplane influence, though the laughs never flow as freely and the premise runs out of steam early on. The film's nostalgia appeal is probably its biggest selling point these days, and viewers watching it for the first time will probably wonder what all the fuss was about. Still, I'm glad I had a chance to reacquaint myself.
Since it was released in 1981, it's interesting to see how many of the sub-genre's cliches were already in place. The horror begins on Jaime Lee Curtis's birthday, as a randy young babysitter named Judy receives threatening phone calls from an asthmatic-sounding character who calls himself The Breather (voiced by Richard Belzer). Soon her boyfriend arrives and both of their fates are sealed when they decide to have sex (this IS a slasher film after all). The two are done in by the clever and deadly application of a paper clip and a garbage bag. Like all good slashers, The Breather has a trademarked look, though the green rubber gloves and galoshes just don't have the same impact as a goalie mask.
Fan Rant: 'Student Bodies' to Hit DVD! Paramount Obscurities Unleashed!!
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Paramount », Home Entertainment »
Ask any horror fan "of a certain age" to quote some lines from the infamously unadored horror spoof Student Bodies and you'll no doubt get a dozen different responses: "I'm gonna kill the kid with the gum!" // "Did you hang up?" // "No, I just said click", and, of course, "Horsehead bookends!!"
Now, Student Bodies is noteworthy for a variety of strange reasons: It was written and semi-directed by one Mickey Rose, a former writing partner of Woody Allen's who vanished from the movie biz right around 1981. (The year Student Bodies was released, oddly enough.) One of my favorite comedy directors (the late Michael Ritchie) had his name taken off the film and replaced with the Alan Smithee moniker. The flick died a quick death at the box office -- perhaps because the now-cemented conventions, cliches, and tropes of the slasher genre weren't quite stale enough back in 1981. But Student Bodies wanted to be the slasher fan's answer to Airplane! -- and this was about twenty years before Scary Movie hit the scene.
Cinematical Seven: '80s Horror Flicks STILL Not on DVD
Filed under: Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Cinematical Seven »
Did you guys know that Jack Arnold's The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) has never been released on DVD? That's right: One of the most imaginative, intelligent, and thought-provoking science fiction films of all time (yes, I said all time) is still sitting in some vault collecting dust, while genre contemporaries like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, War of the Worlds, and The Day the Earth Stood Still have all hit DVD sporting all sorts of well-deserved bells & whistles. Directed by Black Lagoon's Jack Arnold and penned by certified ultra-genius Richard Matheson, The Incredible Shrinking Man stands as one of the most influential movies in the history of Weinberg. Plus all that stuff with the cat, the spider, and the dollhouse ... awesome.
So this got me to thinking about other movies that I loved as a kid, most of which (stuff like 1941 and Jaws 2 and The Goonies) already have a home on a special little DVD shelf all their own -- but SOME of which have never seen life as a shiny digital disc! For example, how is it that we can get 11 different versions of (the truly awesome) Evil Dead 2 -- yet The Incredible freakin' Shrinking Man remains DVD MIA?? I actually have a theory on this one: Universal owns the rights to Shrinking Man, and that studio has spent several years trying to cobble together a remake with Keenen Ivory Wayans as the director. One can only assume that Uni is waiting for that retread to bear box office fruit before releasing the original film on DVD as a "tie-in," which (obviously) annoys me to no end.
So listed below in this most recent edition of Cinematical Seven are a bunch of semi-obscure 1980s horror movies that I'd really like to see on DVD. Why switch over from The Incredible Shrinking Man to the generally unpleasant topic of "forgotten 1980s horror movies?" Because a wise man once said "write what you know," and I know very, very little outside the realm of 1980s horror movies. (OK, and Futurama and Halo ... and The Phillies. I know a lot about those things, too.)
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