One of the most important slasher parodies is also relatively little-known. For HaHaHalloween we had to be sure to take on 1981’s Student Bodies, released in the heyday of the slasher movement and mostly satirizing Halloween and Friday the 13th. We talk about the jokes, the Airplane!-esque comedy, and how inspirational this film would be on a new line of horror comedies. We’re also drinking Artisinal Brew Works’ Turn to Channel Three New England IPA!
Approximate timeline
0:00-8:00 Intro
8:00-16:00 Beer talk
16:00-end Student Bodies
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Transcript – Student Bodies (auto-generated)
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0:04
Cookie Walk of Halloween horror over here.
Let Let the Black Run podcast All season long.
September and October will be celebrating with creaky funny our parodies Just bring your favourites from satirical splashes to classic parodies and even some rollback Spooks.
0:30
I’m even told Everton to go solo.
Please rising from the dead.
Celebrate with us.
Welcome back from podcast as we dive into Halloween.
0:52
Hey guys, welcome back to the Blood and Black Rum Podcast.
I’m Ryan from cultsploitation.com and I’m joined with my Co host Martin.
How’s it going?
Doing good, doing good.
We are knee deep in our Ha Ha Halloween series of parodies and satires in the horror genre.
1:11
And you know, last week, it’s hard to top when you do scary movie to to, you know, it’s one of the most recognized horror parodies of all time.
But the one that we want to do this week, or at least I wanted to do is it is another one of the classic horror parodies, one that is probably pretty not super recognizable for most people.
1:34
You know, if you just asked a random person, do you know this movie, you’d be like, no, I’ve never heard of it before.
But it did come interestingly right in the really early period of the slasher heyday in 1981.
1:54
And that’s interesting because it really riffs and satirizes slasher films quite a bit.
And most of the big slasher films hadn’t even happened yet, which is kind of interesting.
You know, when you think about the obviously they wouldn’t know at the time in 1981, but when you think about the time period now and you try to contextualize it, really interesting that this film was actually a little bit early.
2:22
We talked about how Scary Movie was kind of late when it came to, you know, parodying Scream.
And I know what you did last summer, which had already been out for probably like 4 years at the time.
While Student Bodies is kind of like in the midst of all of these slasher films and I don’t know, I think it’s kind of interesting.
2:43
And while it’s not really like often recognized as a, you know, horror parody by most people, it is a classic film in the sense that it was really important to something like Scary Movie, which would come a lot later, but yet use a lot of the same ideas that this film really did.
3:02
So I don’t know, to me, it’s kind of an interesting movie and we’ll talk about how effective it is.
But at the same time, I do think it’s like an important, important film in the horror genre, you know, and again, when we set out to do Ha ha Halloween, there was a, you know, we, we, we want to do a couple things we want to do tackle some of those, the movies that people really do recognize concurrently as horror parodies that a lot of people enjoy now.
3:31
And we also want to do a lot of the classic films that you might not think about in terms of what was a horror parody that you may not even know is on your radar.
So I’m going to throw it over to you.
And I already accidentally mentioned the name, but we’re doing student bodies today.
And do you have any experience with student bodies?
3:50
Never fucking heard of.
It never heard of See.
Yeah, exactly my.
Point my point.
Entirely.
It’s been, I’ll say it’s been a while since we’ve done a film on the podcast that’s getting the old never heard of.
It well, sure, sure, yeah, I think you’re not the only one.
4:07
But again, it definitely has a cult following and and actually it’s kind of serendipitous, but I didn’t realize this Terravision, which is a record company and also now a Blu-ray distribution company is releasing student bodies on 4K very soon.
4:26
They have a pre-order out and everything.
It’s a special edition like comes with tons of content.
I think it’s got like a slip box and everything for the special edition, you know, on the pricey side, especially when you’re considering paying for all the extras that come with it.
4:42
But I didn’t realize when we picked this, you know, this this series of films for Halloween.
And also when I picked specifically that we’re going to do student bodies.
I know that was coming out.
So I was kind of doing some research today because I was watching my old Olive Films Blu-ray, which is kind of dated at this point.
5:01
The transfer is a little bit sketch here and there, considering I don’t know that they had the best source available to it for the Blu-ray, but I was looking it up to see, like, did this film get, you know, get any more wide recognition after the Olive film’s release?
And yeah, yeah, apparently, you know, Terravision is going to release it on 4K so you can watch it and it’s pristine glory, you know.
5:25
So that’s I thought that was interesting that that’s that’s happening right now.
So prescient.
Anyways, so I’ve seen student bodies once.
I think back when I reviewed the movie when it came out from all of films and I really enjoyed it When I watched it the first time, I was like, oh, this is actually, you know, pretty interesting, pretty pretty entertaining for, you know, slasher parody.
5:51
And so I thought it would be a really good movie to cover for, for this episode.
And not only that, but we do do so many slasher movies.
And, you know, this ha ha, Halloween has actually had a disproportionate amount of slasher parodies involved with the the whole series that, you know, it just made sense to throw it in there as well.
6:16
Yeah.
Anything else you want to add for the intro ’cause I know I talked a lot in the intro and you didn’t get to talk that much but.
Yeah, I had.
I had no idea what this film was about.
Never heard of it before.
You just said, hey, I’d like to do student bodies.
I think it’s be a lot of fun.
6:31
And I said sure, You know, after kind of watching it, I’m kind of surprised that this isn’t, you know, more well known.
It’s, you know, it’s got a lot of ha ha in it.
6:53
Yeah.
And I’m kind of surprised at some of the humor in the film, like how much it leans into that Airplane National Lampoon style of humor.
So, you know, I didn’t really have too much.
7:11
I didn’t have any expectations going into this.
I didn’t look anything up or, you know, watching trailers and reviews.
I just went into this totally blind.
And I think that’s kind of kind of the way to do it, especially for a movie like this.
I feel like though the trailer could be pretty good.
7:28
I haven’t specifically watched this trailer, but I feel like it could be pretty good in terms of going both ways, right?
It could like it could do try to do it like a very straightforward, like you’ve seen Halloween, you’ve seen Friday the 13th, you know, something like that.
7:44
Or, you know, it could go the opposite way and really, you know, tie into like what was coming out at the time, which, you know, kind of raunchy college frat humor, comedy, sex comedies, you know, it could go either way.
8:00
So I haven’t seen the trailer specifically, but I think it could be fun.
You know, and sometimes with movies like this, and I’m not saying that’s the case for student bodies, but with similar movies, especially those 80s sex comedies and stuff, sometimes the trailers have the best parts and that’s all you really need to watch.
8:17
Like if you just watched like a compilation of 30 different comedies from this era, you’d probably be good to go.
That’s that’s all you need.
You don’t need to watch the full movie.
So, all right, with that said, let’s take a step back and talk about the beer that we have on the show today because unlike last week, we did get a beer this time.
8:38
We are not doing tea Tuesday or whatever it was that we did last time.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, that’s a good one.
Although, you know, we’re not saying that we’re not doing tea because you did pick up the Yorkshire Gold on my recommendation.
8:55
Have you tried it?
Have you?
Have you had it yet?
Yes, I have.
And your thoughts on that?
Tastes like a black tea.
Oh my God.
OK all.
Right, like it’s good.
I like it, but I’m like, yeah, how did you?
How did?
You make it.
9:10
Did it?
Was it with milk and sugar?
Black.
Black.
Yeah.
And so.
Yeah.
Like I can’t.
Try milk and sugar combo for it.
Just see here.
See, here’s the.
Thing I can’t do that.
It’s I understand it’s a thing and it’s popular around the world.
9:30
Putting milk in tea just sounds horrible.
I don’t want milk.
And I, I used to think that as well.
I used to be right there with you.
I used to be like, you know, because again, I take my coffee black.
So the same idea held sway with me where I was like, ah, man, putting milk in my tea.
9:48
And this might be a holdover too, if you started with herbal teas, All right, if you start with herbal teas and you kind of think about tea now in an herbal sense and you’re like, put a milk in herbal tea.
But no, it it’s really good and actually accentuates a lot of the flavors of tea.
It really does it.
It seems like, you know, I would, it seems like that would not make sense because you’d be diluting the tea, but you’re not.
10:10
It’s you’re just bringing out the natural flavours of the tea, the milk and with the cream or with the, with the sugar, I mean, and it all melts together a nice golden hue in your cup.
It’s very good.
I I truly do recommend you try the Yorkshire Gold with milk and sugar.
10:30
Like I said, I understand, it’s just not something that’s I’m willing to go out on that one yet.
But honestly, I, I, I do think Yorkshire Gold is one of the best from the, from what I’ve had.
10:47
That’s no Lipton, thank God, right?
But anyway.
Well, I’ll say Lipton tea’s OK.
I just think of Brisk the they’re horrible iced tea.
That’s right, too.
That’s right.
I forgot to tell you remember you were disparaging Snapple the other day.
11:06
No, it wasn’t disparaging Snapple.
You’re saying who has a Snapple now?
No, no, it’s brisk.
No, you’re talking about, weren’t you talking about Snapple?
Too.
No, it was brisk rope.
It was just brisk because I like I haven’t had Snapple.
I was going to say, I thought about, I thought you had said Snapple, and I literally just had a Snapple last weekend.
11:26
Good.
What flavour?
It was Raspberry iced tea.
OK, there you go.
It was, it was great.
It was actually really good.
It was sugar free Raspberry iced teas.
Still tasty, still still enjoyed it.
I haven’t had a sample in forever.
I do still, like you know, sample.
My wife went too.
11:42
When they released those Earth, Wind and Fire ones again from the 90s, I didn’t try them, but when I saw them I was like, oh, that reminds me of 1997.
I need some 3D Doritos and some Mini M and Ms. to go with that.
11:58
Yeah.
I yeah, my wife had one too and she’s like Snapple.
Who knew?
Actually pretty tasty.
Pretty good.
It’s thirst quenching anyway though.
Way off track.
The beer.
The beer that we have on the show today.
12:15
All right, so you, we were going to do a beer and then you drank them all.
So we couldn’t do those.
So instead you went out and got a beer, and what’d you get first?
Yeah, well, it was a rough week at work.
OK, yeah, leave, leave a felt.
We’ll leave the working man alone.
12:33
So anyway, I went to our local beverage shop.
Was a hunt looking around.
No real folly.
Halloween things out there to try that we haven’t had yet.
Nothing pumpkiny either to make you upset.
12:51
No thanks.
I did see a Down East hard pumpkin cider.
No, thank you.
And that’s what I said too.
Waste of money.
No thanks, no man, I don’t care if we are adhering to themes.
I that is 1 area where I put my foot down and I say I will not have a pumpkin site.
13:13
Neither will I I mean, it’s, I mean, hell, I was actually kind of looking for Woodchuck’s fall.
Seasonal like the Friday the 13th pack that they have the the Jason pack.
No, well, no, I was just looking like to see if they had their fall season because I remember liking that a lot, you know, Yep, 15 years ago in college, you know, it was like my first cider being like this is fantastic.
13:39
But I was just looking around, nothing really speaking to me until I saw this really, really groovy can that made me think of Poltergeist and Scanners.
13:55
Sure.
And it’s artisanal Brew works turned Channel 3.
Yeah, behind and rewind.
It would have been nice if we were doing like paranormal activity as well, you know, like.
14:11
No, it wouldn’t be nice it.
Wouldn’t fit right in there.
Well, or the Matrix, like see, this would have been good for the Matrix or the Costas Mandalore trilogy of Saul, you know, but I saw it and I was like, well, the cans worth the purchase alone.
14:30
And we’ve had quite a number of artisanal beers on here because they’re local.
They’re based out of Saratoga and it’s a nipa.
Yeah, that’s surprising, right?
14:47
And you know what it tastes like.
It tastes like a knife.
Tastes like a knife, but it’s really very much more so on like the blood orange tangerine, very like grapefruit, definitely big on the grapefruit in the flavour.
15:09
So the juiciness is a bitter juiciness.
It’s also got, you know, rosiny taste to it, you know, evens off real nice.
It’s you know, nice.
I I like it quite a bit.
I think it’s pretty good.
15:28
Is there anything that like, you know, it, it tastes like an artisanals, you know?
Like their you know.
Their regular stuff tastes like their Ipas ’cause they like I was gonna say like, you know, Sloop, you know, their Ipas do have a distinct, you know, taste going on.
15:53
I think that’s.
Not bad particular malt profile that they probably use.
That seems like it comes out quite a bit.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I, you know, it’s pretty good.
New England style.
IPAI didn’t pour it out, so I can’t tell you exactly how hazy it looks or whatnot, but it tastes hazy.
16:13
It tastes yeasty a little bit.
You know, it has that, like you said, it has a little Rosny taste to it.
I definitely think that the Mosaic cops come out here because you do get a lot of the citrusy, grapefruit style citrus, grape, citrus orange.
16:33
I I agree with you there with the tangerine.
I think tangerine is probably the overwhelming flavour profile of it.
Are they taste pretty good.
You know, again, I think it’s interesting sometimes where, you know, there’s all kinds of jokes about this, but like, you know, obviously they can and the name really has nothing to do with the content of the beer.
16:54
It just stands out.
You know, I’m trying to I’m you know, I’m not saying I would be any better at it.
Like, you know, trying to give a theme to something like this where like what kind of beer would you make for a theme like turn to Channel 3?
17:09
I don’t know.
But you know, again, it seems like most of the time with these kinds of wacky naming conventions, it’s it’s a New England style IPA.
So I think it’s really good.
You know, the can is really eye-catching and especially if you grew up with sort of that, you know, you know, obviously, you know, if you grew up with that, you know what it means to turn to Channel 3, which I feel like a lot of people don’t really know anymore at this point.
17:39
So I, I enjoy it though I like, I like artisanal for the most part.
I haven’t been there enough.
I’ve been there a couple times and got a couple cans and stuff there, but I have not actually been to the location that often since it is pretty local to us.
But you know, I want to, I would like to rectify that at some point.
17:56
Check them out locally and and be a patron there.
But yeah, I enjoy, I think it’s pretty good.
Check it out if you get it around you.
I don’t think this is a wide release.
I think this is pretty close to home for us.
And I don’t I don’t think they ship really out too far.
18:13
So probably unlikely you’ll be able to find it.
But it is as a interesting beer, and we encourage you to look up the can because it is cool.
If we did, if we had an editor and stuff and we did some extensive show notes, we’d put the can in the show notes.
18:31
But we don’t, so how dare you?
I don’t, I don’t.
I don’t Dick around with all that stuff.
I just post the episode.
And go.
I don’t.
Do all that.
I don’t do all that fancy stuff and I let the AI do the other stuff like write a transcript for us.
18:50
OK, if you if you want to populate it, sure, go ahead, do the transcript, whatever.
But I don’t do that stuff myself.
So.
All right, well, let’s get on to student bodies.
What do you think about the name, by the way?
Student bodies.
19:08
I think it’s good.
It’s a good pun.
I think it’s yeah, yeah.
I think it’s it’s a nice little play on words play on the the idea.
I bet you there was some producers of slasher films kicking themselves like, damn, we really should have used that way, you know, before the parody got to it.
19:27
We should have actually made a real slasher movie called Student Bodies, because that’s it’s pretty good.
But anyway, so this movie released in 1981.
And as I was saying in the introduction, it’s pretty early in the slasher phase.
19:48
And you can tell because it has black Christmas references.
Black Christmas?
Yep.
Mainly the biggest references are Black Christmas, Halloween, and Friday 13th.
To a very limited extent.
Friday 13th.
The the Wikipedia is all it says.
20:05
It’s known for its parodying of Halloween, Friday the 13th and Prom Night.
Yep, and prom night.
Yep.
Well, who’s sitting around going?
Ah, yes.
Yeah, it’s not the biggest slasher.
I mean, it is fairly popular.
20:22
Again, that’s another Jamie Lee Curtis movie, which this film likes to riff on because the opening sequence, which is actually pretty funny, is the shot of a house.
And it just says.
Like Halloween?
Meyer’s hands, No.
It didn’t.
Say it didn’t say Halloween.
20:39
It’s Jamie Lee Curtis’s birthday.
Well, no.
It says Halloween, nothing happens, fades out.
Friday the 13th, nothing happens, fades out Jamie Lee Curtis’s birthday.
And then that’s when the the killing the the breather comes into the picture.
20:54
Well, who wouldn’t with those fucking Wambo Jambos and.
I’m killing in the name of Jamie Lee Curtis.
Got to let the, you know, take those, take those sweaters off.
Those puppies need to be freed.
Again though, you know, very forward thinking that, you know, at that time, Jamie Lee Curtis, you know, yes, she had been in a number of Sasha films at this point.
21:21
I believe she had been in, let’s see, Halloween.
I want to say Terror Train had released by this time as well, which she had a limited, yes, it was in 1980s.
She had a fairly limited, you know, part in that one and then Prom Night as well.
21:37
And so she had had three movies under her belt by this time, but still pretty forward thinking to include Jamie Lee Curtis as like the, you know, especially thinking in the future, like, will, you know, what if Jamie Lee Curtis doesn’t really make it off the off the ground here?
21:54
Will it really resonate with viewers later?
But you know, it did it, it worked, which I think is actually a pretty good joke.
And it’s not like, I mean, they pretty, they make mention of her quite a few times.
But I do think it’s really interesting in this movie that it’s really working off of like 3-4 primary movies of the slasher genre because we have to remember like A Nightmare on Elm Street hadn’t released yet.
22:24
You know, some of the, some of the bigger names in slasher films that we now think of as like the slasher mainstays hadn’t released yet.
So I do think it’s a quite, a, quite a feat to have released this like right in the heyday of when slasher movies were coming out.
Now we also have to mention at the beginning of the film, there’s this nice little title card.
22:43
There’s like in 1980 or like last year there were 26 horror films released.
None of them lost money.
That’s why we’re making this movie, basically.
Which is, which is hilarious.
That’s you know, like which is true too, because every time you read like just like a generalized like Friday the 13th, like mock up, it’s like and so paramount was disgusted with Friday the 13th.
23:12
Oh, what vile, putrid shit it was, but it made them a fuck ton of money.
So then they decided to make a second one even deeper and it made more money and it disgusted.
They like, you know, it’s, it’s like, just like.
23:32
Money didn’t stand on their moles.
Yeah, yeah.
They’re like, oh wait, that $200,000 movie made US $20 million.
Wow.
You know, like.
Wow, that’s.
That’s a lot of fucking money, you know, harder.
To.
To ignore like what?
23:47
Down from yeah, yeah, I I do think it’s funny though, because the at the beginning it does really make it pretty known that like, you know, at this time, horror movies were really flying off the shelves and dominating movie theatres.
And it’s a joke, obviously, but also not that far of a stretch to think like somebody, you know, a producer or something said, listen, horror movies are all the rage right now.
24:14
We should just make one, but like, kind of make it funny.
And that would be I I feel like that would really break in the dough.
And so I don’t think it’s that much of A stretch to think about it because this movie is pretty cheap to be let’s just be fair.
It it’s cheaply made, it has nobody very no name actors in it, you know, like even Kristen it.
24:38
Could be a porn, It could be a porno.
Yeah, exactly.
Kristen Ryder, the the main final girl in this movie has no other actual acting credits to her name besides being in the J Geils Band’s centerfold music video as just like unnamed model in that video.
25:01
So again, I it’s we should just point out the fact that this movie was most likely made on a very shoestring budget.
I do think too it was shot locally and it like in a school locally.
25:18
Probably a lot of people that were in the movie were just like random local extras that they invited to set.
Just be like you stay, you know, you be in the stadium, you you guys be players on the field and stuff like that.
So I, I definitely think that this was a pretty low budget movie all around, but you know it.
25:40
I think they were banking on the fact that slasher movies did really well and that they would make some money from it.
And I don’t think that joke is that far off from reality, to be honest with you.
Well, hold on, hold on.
I need you to do the J Geils synthesizer like no sound.
26:05
Come on.
Go most.
I don’t know why, but I want to.
I I keep wanting to do instead of that I want to do.
26:26
Dave Matthews there, but.
Hey, my aunt’s marching.
I do think, yeah, it’s again, like I said, I just happened to look at Kristen Wrighter’s filmography and I was like, oh, Jake Osman.
Yeah, Did you?
Know like that?
Yeah, well, it’s hard to find that fun.
26:41
I am, man.
I’m going to have a little bit more of an autism moment, did you know that?
The the top first in the student bodies, yeah.
I was going to say, did you know that the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers hit single Don’t Do Me Like That Tom was originally thinking about giving away to the J.
26:58
Geils Band until until the producer Jimmy Ivine said that sounds like a hit.
Don’t give that away.
Don’t bastard.
Well, there you go.
You have even more tism now that you can you can mention that that you know about this student bodies and people will be like what?
What are you talking?
27:14
What what the fuck is that?
Who’s Kristen writer?
What is student bodies?
Who is Jay Geils band?
Margo Kidder’s second cousin.
There you go, once removed.
27:33
So I guess what let’s start out by saying So what do you think about Student Bodies as as a slasher film?
How does it do as a parody?
It’s hilarious.
It’s I think it’s pretty funny though, the jokes like they do like the jokes are funny, but they do the bit of like, so when somebody says a joke, right and then it’s like like, I just think it like Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos, like, hey, you remember your first blowjob?
28:06
I remember mine.
She.
Yeah, I remember mine, Yeah.
What was the dude saying?
Hey, don’t Remember Me.
I just.
So sort of, yeah, sort of like waiting for the punchline to hit, like like a pause where every.
28:24
Time pause and then like just like a constant going back to the joke, like, you know, mileage will vary on some of those come, you know, callbacks.
But I do think there are like, you know, some funny bits like like the whole galoshes thing for the killer stupid.
28:43
But it’s funny because it’s like, I wonder like if like, you know, I know what you did last summer was taking notes or something like, you know.
And then every time they show the garage is too.
It’s kind of like a yeah, kind of like it, you know, like the SpongeBob.
Like with the squeaky sound of walking.
29:01
In water, like the phone call, like, you know, in the beginning, like is like, you know, like obviously like scream, but like at the same time, though, the fact that like it just keeps ringing and ringing.
Hardcore riffing on Black Christmas as well, you know, especially with like the the way that they have the breathe, they’re kind of being, you know, an inappropriate caller.
29:26
And I love the, I love that one little gag where she picks up the phone and there’s just saliva, you know, leaking out of the phone.
I think that’s a great little, you know, physical gag inclusion there that kind of goes a little further distance than just having the joke about like, you know, what they’re saying on the line.
29:43
I think that works pretty well.
The breathing too, like it’s sort of like, you know, but like, like it like so there’s like some nice jokes here.
I just like as funny as it can be too, It’s I find it hard that it’s stretched out even to 80 minutes, like 5 minutes, like because there’s not enough substance to keep the engine rolling.
30:11
Like I definitely agree.
The first I say the first half of the film is where the most of your humor and enjoyment is going to come from.
Yeah, I, I think that’s true.
I think the, the first, even even the first like 10 minutes are the probably the best part of the movie where you’re again, this is one of those things where you’re either going to enjoy the first part of the movie and want to continue or you’re just really not going to like the comedy or you’re not going to get it.
30:45
And it’s just going to be like there’s no point in continuing from that point on.
Because it’s very, very, very similar in the way that it presents the comedy throughout the whole film.
And actually to the point and to your point where I do think that the jokes kind of start to subside a little bit as the, the plot kind of continues to like morph around the killer.
31:12
And it kind of has to deal with the plot a little bit too much where the comedy just stops being as funny, you know, ’cause there’s always that issue of trying to present a seriousness of like, this is also, you know, a slasher film.
31:28
But at the same time we’re trying to make it funny.
And then you have to deal with all the plot elements that that comes with it.
And then you can kind of get bogged down in that to a certain extent, Especially when it continues to introduce like red herrings as characters and try to, you know, deal with the whole, you know, who’s the killer type thing.
31:46
I think that that’s where it kind of loses some of its steam.
I think the first probably 30 minutes are some of the better moments I’d like.
Again, one of the things that is really kind of early for the genre and sort of helps to dictate some of the influence of contemporary reviewers and things like that is the the body count that it presents right on screen.
32:14
You know, ’cause it it starts off really early where it’s like Ding Ding Ding 11 dead, one dead.
And it like presents it in writing on the screen, which I think is pretty interesting and it kind of corresponds to on the box art.
It says like 13 1/2 dead.
32:30
And so as you kind of go through the movie, you’re trying to figure out is, is that actually accurate on the boxer?
Is that, is that truly the case?
13 1/2 dead and it remains pretty accurate.
Score at home.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
I I like that though.
I like the score and I like the the the little asides where that those that writing on the the screen comes in, especially when they pinpoint stuff like she’s closed, the door is like unlocked, unlocked.
32:59
You know, I think those are good moments, you know that actually.
I think if they I think if they went more, it leaned into that more instead of like the opening bit like the kills obviously like they constantly go call back to like, you know, like Ting Ting Ting Ting yes.
33:16
But if they actually went and you know, continued like plot hole here this or that, you know, like they do with the whole like, you know, left door unlocked.
I think that would, you know, yeah, as a gag work as like something that’s, you know, a continuation throughout.
33:36
I agree.
I think there’s an inconsistency there because it it seems like eventually that sort of fades out.
There’s a there’s a moment later on in the movie where they show like trash bags in the one guy’s class, Mr. Duncan’s class, and they like do an arrow to that and say, you know, like what what do they say?
33:58
Like clues or something like that, like clue here.
And they kind that kind of like falls off throughout the the second-half of the movie.
They don’t really call back to that.
So I agree, I think some of those moments would have been pretty funny to just continue with that consistency and, you know, maybe riff on the satire of a slasher film a little bit more.
34:21
I do think that, like I said, it gets a little bit bogged down and trying to explore the the various suspects.
And while it’s kind of funny because there’s a point towards the end of the movie where it starts to flash to all the suspects and it’s like, is it Mr. Duncan or could it be Principal Peters or Miss Mumsley?
34:40
And, you know, it kind of goes through all the different people, which is clever, I think.
I don’t know that it does a really good job of paradising that part of the slasher film.
And and also there’s a, there’s a kind of a maybe too much focus on the sex part of the slasher, which it seems, it almost seems like the writers watched a slasher film and were like so focused on the sex element of like sex kills that, that that’s the only thing that they really took from a slasher movie.
35:18
And so oh.
I think I I think it’s Friday the 13th is the biggest like, I think, you know, guilty culprit there.
Sure.
Like like, yeah, like is that like a part of Halloween?
Kind of it’s not like an overarching, you know, crux of the film.
35:38
And I don’t really think that, you know, virginal, you know, Jamie Lee Curtis is the, you know, I don’t like, you know, that shit’s not there, right.
The 13th is literally about like you were fucking in upstairs and my boy, you know, So.
35:58
But the fact that they like, you know, kind of make cats a movie, you know, people being like, I’m horny and want to have sex and then they go off to have sex and the stuff happens is like.
36:18
I think it by looking at that again, like the whole repeating of the joke and like the punch line that definitely wears welcome help by, you know, the 4th time.
I mean, like you look at it like there are funny parts with it, like the whole where they’re at the football game and they go underneath the bleachers and there’s popcorn and Doctor Pepper falling all over the place.
36:42
Like that is like funny, like, Oh yeah, let’s go out and have some sex, you know.
Yeah, just some high school kids, you know, at the football game and, you know, and then, you know, not like, I think that’d be great.
You just sitting there like some chicks riding you and popcorns dropping into your mouth.
36:59
Like how?
Like what time to be alive?
That’s like like, you know?
I I mean, I think that it’s it is really funny.
Again, like you said, I think the callbacks to this one are a little bit stretched then because they all take on like us very repetitive element where it’s like the the joke is the same to route.
37:22
It’s like we’re in an inappropriate place.
Let’s go have sex, you know, because we’re horny teenage kids.
And then the one of the guys goes off, right?
Like leaves.
And then the woman is murdered.
And then the guy comes back and the guy is murdered.
37:38
And I even to the point where the dialogue is really similar, where the guy’s like, oh, yeah, X makes me hot, right?
Because it’s like, Oh yeah, popcorn falling around me makes me hot.
You know, funerals makes me hot.
Which, by the way, that opening after the death is hilarious.
37:58
A whole set up where they’re at school and the principal’s the one giving the eulogy for the fucking kids.
And he’s like, why didn’t it have to happen on the big day?
Yes, the big day with the big game and the big parade.
And like, you know, like just listed off like 20 functions.
38:15
He’s like that.
You’re probably wondering why we’re doing all this on the same day, but the state cut our funding.
So let’s say, you know, like that whole part is hilarious.
Like I was dying laughing at like.
You know, yeah, that or when he’s saying like, oh, I’m, I’m very upset about this.
38:33
I’m sure the parents aren’t having a picnic either over there, but I’m super upset.
Yeah.
The principal entirely, Principal Peter is played by Joe Talarowski is really great because he has sort of like that.
Henry Winkler effect.
38:50
Yeah, kind of.
Well.
Yes, from Scream, of course.
You know the Henry Winkler principle.
I was thinking.
I was thinking more water boys, the coach.
Oh.
I see.
Yeah, yeah, You know, I but I just, I like the way that he portrays the principle in like an overly dramatic, ridiculous way.
39:10
I think it works really well.
The times when he’s referring to Malford, the, you know, the mentally handicapped janitor that they have.
And he’s like, you know, well, we, you know, it’s, it’s really sad.
He was in an accident and whiplash both ways, which caused him to.
39:31
You think that I listen.
I think that’s that’s John Carpenter.
Yeah, yeah.
After after the fog bombed at the box office.
That’s right.
I, I mean, I just love that though.
I love.
I fucking think that’s super funny.
39:48
Also, the other one that I think is really good is the the psychiatrist, Doctor Sigmund Oh.
God, yeah.
Like, Oh yes, tell me about it.
Yeah.
Don’t be so formal with me.
40:04
Call me Siggy, OK?
Don’t be so for me.
Call me daddy.
And then like, and then after she’s talking about like the whores of her father, he’s like, don’t call me like.
Not and that and then when he’s like dressed up in the bathroom, just like dancing around doing a jig in the bathroom that this he reminds me of like what fucking RFK is doing every day.
40:27
They’re just like, I feel like that’s what RFK does all day long.
Is it like, go in the bathroom, look at his tan?
You know, that’s what it reminds me of.
But I yeah, I think both of those those character actors are very good at what they do in this movie.
40:45
What do you think about Kristen Ryder as the the final girl Toby?
She’s OK.
She’s OK, I.
Mean, like, nobody’s really like standing out in the film.
Yeah, I mean, like, she’s not really charismatic or anything.
41:04
Like she’s just there to be like, I don’t want to have sex.
No.
And she’s wearing like a little pin on her, you know, on her, like overalls like saying no, you know, that changes over time.
Yeah, I love that that just the pin that just.
41:23
Says just no, no.
What do you say?
What do you think about the whole like speaking about, you know, the chastity that these people are prescribing?
41:39
The film’s definitely very, you know, sexually open because, you know, they’re constantly saying like, oh, well, you know, you’ll if you you know, you get blue balled, you’ll become a moron.
And it’s just, you know, you’ll end up a social idiot.
42:00
So, you know, yeah, have the sex.
I mean, yeah, I think that’s, you know, it, It’s funny because the slasher films that ended up being there’s like sort of a, there’s sort of a like conservative hypocrisy to slasher films of the time, right?
42:20
Because they were like, you know, especially as you got later into the slasher craze, it was like, don’t have sex.
At the same time, we’re going to titillate you with the sex on the screen.
And we’re going to make sure that like the every movie that we put out after 1983 has at least three women who take their tops off.
42:42
And so there is that hypocrisy there of like, don’t have sex, but like, you know, like, edge for us, baby edge for us.
We have women of different bus sizes for you to decide which one.
Titillates, yes, but but but also don’t do anything.
43:00
Don’t spill that seed.
Jesus needs that seed.
So don’t.
It is just funny because I do think, you know, slasher films ended up with that hypocrisy and student bodies, I think kind of sees that hypocrisy, sees like, well, all stupid really, but.
43:18
Was gonna say well, also too, like again, like it’s pointing out the hypocrisy because again, it’s the production companies that are like, this is the stuff that’s our slop that we, you know, we can’t bring this to, you know, the Oscars.
This is an Oscar, babe.
43:35
This, this isn’t, you know, the colour purple.
I’m just sad.
And it’s like, yeah, but it, you know, you pump that shit out in a heartbeat because money, you know, you’re right, because it doesn’t take much to, you know, and horror at the time too.
43:55
And for a long time, you know, was viewed as, you know, slop content regardless.
Like, you know, there wasn’t anyone really saying like how this is a horror is high art until like, you know, probably like the mid 2000s when like, you know, you got like stuff like Gilmore.
44:15
I’m going to butcher it, Sir.
Guillermo del Toro was doing, you know, or something, stuff.
Yeah, I mean, I like what Student Bodies does with that though.
I think, you know, again, it plays off of both the sex comedies of the time that were really coming out, you know, Porky’s, Animal House, stuff like that.
44:35
And then also doing the whole slasher film and then at the same time trying to be sort of like the airplane of slasher movies.
Because while I’m not saying Student bodies is as good and it’s comedy as Airplane, of course, it does have those same types of moments where some of the jokes really land like that.
44:55
It’s, it’s, you know, it can be understatedly funny or even funny it to the point where you’re kind of like chuckled, but it’s moved on to the next joke already, you know, ’cause it’s very, it’s very quick in the way that it presents a joke.
And then even though it’s sometimes it does pause for like that, you know, to let the audience get it, it’s on to the next joke very quickly after.
45:21
So I think that, you know, it, it has its moments of being very funny.
I don’t think it’s the funniest.
And I do think that it’s it kind of Peters out after a little while, you know, to to not not be to land a jokes as much in the later half.
45:39
What do you think about the the whole reveal of the killer and killers and, you know, the end of the the conclusion?
This is all right, like, again, like the film doesn’t really build up a red herring tries, it doesn’t succeed.
45:54
And I’m, I wasn’t, you know, engaged with it at all.
So like when it came to like, oh, who is doing that?
And it’s like, I don’t care.
Yeah.
And I think that’s that’s part of the problem with the movie, like student bodies, is that again, this movie presents a red, red herrings galore.
46:14
But at the end of the day, for a parody movie like this, do you read really care who’s doing it at the end?
Like does it does it need to come to a fulfilling conclusion?
I I think no, you know, I’m I’m OK with the fact that like, it just kind of does its thing at the end and it has the fake out, you know, where it’s like, oh, wait, I thought it was, you know, the principal.
46:37
And then it ends up being misses Van Dyke.
And then later on it does the whole no way I was actually having a dream the whole time thing, you know, which I think again, when you when you really stop and think about it, it might seem like a cop out, but at the time it probably was actually pretty forward thinking again to have sort of like this just be a dream sequence.
46:59
Because this was even before actual slasher movies had dream sequences at the end or, or like fake outs like April Fool’s Day, for example, of the whole fake out being like, no, it’s not actually real at all.
It was all just a joke.
47:17
I think, you know, even before Roseanne ending on a dream, you know, So I think, I think that.
They’re still sore.
Don’t.
Don’t be rubbing, you know.
Salt in the wound there for the yeah, I gotcha.
47:35
And we’re speaking about Roseanne during Halloween, which is probably arguably Roseanne’s best episodes, Halloween episodes.
So just to point that out.
Yeah, what else?
What?
Else, what else did we talk about that you wanted to discuss?
47:55
I think we have bad covers, yeah.
I mean, again, this movie is very irreverent.
There’s nothing here that you’ve probably not seen before in a slasher parody.
But at the same time it it really it for 1981, it was very pointedly on, you know, basically wearing its hard on its sleeve for slasher films and slasher films again, we’re not really huge at the time.
48:27
So you know, like at least in the the how we see them now, you know, they were they were big in that the box office was doing really well for slasher films that the the minimum ones that were released at the time.
But when you think about how many were actually released in the 80s throughout the course of the 80s, student bodies is pretty early in that craze.
48:50
And I think it does a pretty good job, or at least it does feel like that now of of maintaining the feel and the atmosphere that you think of of an AD slasher film.
So I think that’s.
Especially early 80s.
49:05
Yeah, yeah.
I think that’s another credit to it that if you like really like AD slasher films because of the atmosphere, because they do have a particular feel to them in a particular style.
Student Bodies is one of those movies that will really, I think, meet the expectation that you’d have of a of that type of style.
49:28
And we didn’t talk about how how do you feel about this movie for Halloween?
Is it good Halloween watch?
I think it is just because of what a fun like getting a lot of slasher films or you know, people, you know, tie into Halloween.
49:47
So I think this being like an OG parody, why not mix it up, throw it in, see what you think.
I would agree with that.
I think it’s pretty fun to watch for Halloween.
I think it would be a fun thing to throw on for a party or something.
50:05
Especially for people who aren’t really don’t know it, aren’t well versed in this type of film.
I think that this would be a good starting point for them.
So are you happy that I introduced you to Student bodies?
50:21
Well.
The only time I haven’t been happy about a.
Film that you’ve.
Introduced on this podcast is Mako, so I actually just watched another movie that was very similar.
In feeling to Mako, which was killer crocodile and I was thinking about that I was like, should I force him to watch that one too for the podcast at some point?
50:42
How are you gonna be?
Feel like he’d be, really.
Pissed off.
Yeah, well, I mean it doesn’t help.
Maybe if I sell Mako on Blu-ray, I have a better, better appreciation than the 147 P, You know, we watched, you know, a decade ago.
51:02
Yeah, I actually think I do have.
Mako on Blu-ray, to be honest, so.
Yeah, don’t you know?
Don’t make wishes like that because make them come true.
You know what that’s we’re going to start our second podcast soon where we.
51:19
Are revisiting all our previous episodes and re reviewing the content to, you know, yeah.
All.
Right on a scale of 0 to. 10 Doctor Pepper ads haired with KFC and Dunkin’ Donuts there, by the way, like I.
51:40
I forgot to mention that Jesus Christ.
Like Dunkin’ Donuts?
Wasn’t even that prevalent like in the set early 80s.
How many, how many, how many people put?
Doughnuts in the fridge there is my question.
51:58
There sacrilege.
For have you?
Have you ever put?
Doughnuts in the fridge?
No.
Because I’m not I’m.
Not a poor even though Dunkin, even though, even though Dunkin’ Donuts is not a poor man’s food anymore.
No, that’s just silly.
52:16
And to be honest with you about like like.
You know, putting KFC in the fridge, I would probably.
Think twice about just like, just like leave it in your oven and like you know, or something like that is fucking funny though when the dad comes.
52:33
Home and sees the broken piece of chicken on the floor and he’s kind of like Cole Phelps from.
Fucking.
LA Noire picking it up and and then he’s fucking together, puts it in the fridge.
52:51
Speaking of something I forgot, we forgot to.
Mention because it was part of the funniest part of the whole film, the opening.
The mother constantly sank.
For $0.75 an hour, she should be doing like, you know, doing all these dishes, yeah.
Which that was a mountain of fucking dishes.
53:07
Like, what the hell?
You know what?
That mom’s a bitch.
Are you kidding me?
You’re coming.
You’re coming into to do babysitting.
Who’s like, by the way, here’s this mountain of dish dirty dishes.
The the week’s worth the accumulation of dishes that we’ve, you know.
53:25
You just had, obviously.
You just had KFC.
What?
Sharon, why do you have a mountain of dishes in your fucking room?
You know it’s true.
She’s a bitch though.
I now I want KFC in the drink gravy.
Well then the movie did it.
53:41
It’s job there.
It sold me and I need a Doctor Pepper.
Yeah.
With it?
Yeah, exactly.
What’s going on?
I’ll give it a six out of 10, I think.
I think.
The movie is funny.
It has some genuinely smart funny and obviously I’m not, you know, well versed in, you know, early 80s horror parodies.
54:03
So I don’t know, you know, if the humor itself is, you know, if this is like a one off like kind of copy of like airplane style humor or if that was in vogue.
54:19
I don’t know.
I haven’t felt falling down AZ list level of airplane spoofs and spin offs, but I think it’s fun enough.
It’s got some smart ideas.
It has some smart jokes, some nice premises, but a lot of the jokes rely on like the constant, like, you know, like elbowing, you know?
54:45
It’s fun enough.
It’s hard to stretch it out into an almost 90 minute film.
There’s not much you know for the third act.
The whole prom bit is incredibly long winded and gets a little boring, even though the whole Sandy Grease joke’s funny.
55:07
But like, it’s smart enough.
And I think if you’re a fan of slasher films, if you’re a fan of horror, if you’re a fan of like 80s films, I think this is like a fun little watch.
I like, I like I said, I’m pretty pleasantly surprised that this isn’t like something that like a bloody disgusting parades out as like a, you know, like colossally like overlooked gem of the 80s and the horror genre. 6 out of 10.
55:38
Yeah, like a click bait article that says we.
Bet you’ve never seen this.
Yes, underrated word.
Something.
Like you know that you.
Think is OK, but Pitchfork gives a 10 out of 10 because they, you know, we’re, we’re trying to be, you know, sure.
But yeah, No 6 out of 10.
55:55
Like I I thought.
It was fun enough.
It overstays its welcome, but you know, it’s it is what it is, I think.
Yeah, 6/6 and a.
Half is pretty fair.
I think this movie does a pretty good job of of doing a parody of a slasher film, especially considering its time frame.
56:16
It doesn’t always work, doesn’t always land.
I do think that it runs a little bit long.
As you said, there are parts that do tend to get a little bit boring towards the end of the movie.
I don’t think necessarily the adherence to the slasher formula really helps this movie as much as it hinders it because some of the comedy kind of starts to fall out as it gets later into the movie.
56:41
But at the same time, I I think it’s pretty funny regardless.
I think it has a a number of good jokes, number of like laugh out loud jokes and then also ones that just sort of make you like chuckle or think as you move on to the next one.
You know, fans of of films like airplane or irreverent comedies, Blazing Saddles, sex comedies.
57:05
The two are related.
Blazing Saddles and sex comedies, I think that you know, all of those types of films, if you like those, you’re probably going to get some mileage out of Student Bodies.
And it helps if you, again, if you know the basics about slash films, student, you know, Student bodies is really working off of Halloween and Friday the 13th specifically because of those were the big ones that had released by the time this came out.
57:32
But I think, you know, if you like those, you’ll really enjoy this movie.
If you don’t like those, where if you just give it 10 minutes and you’re like, this is not that funny, then you’re probably, I mean, that’s it, You know, just give up from there because it’s not going to get any better for you.
It it stays very true to that style of comedy throughout.
57:54
But if you do like that, which I do, I have an appreciation for that type of comedy, then I think you’ll enjoy student bodies and very important to the.
Slasher horror.
Parody genre.
All right, so that’s our episode on student bodies.
58:10
Hope you enjoyed.
I think we’re going to we got two more episodes, right?
Yes, we do, because our last episode is actually going to release on Halloween day.
So spooky.
Oh yeah, I know we’ll have to do something extra special for that one.
So we got two more two more episodes of Ha ha Halloween should be a fun time.
58:31
Hope you’ve been enjoying your October season so far.
It’s going by quick, it’s really fast.
Actually, it’s just.
You know, when you do week to week episodes like that, it’s just all of a sudden you’re done, it’s gone.
That’s it.
58:46
So yeah, it’s surprising that we’re already 6 episodes into this ha ha Halloween season.
All right.
So thanks for listening.
Hope you enjoyed.
We have basically our podcast on any podcast app that you can think of, Apple Podcasts.
59:05
Our home base is Spotify or whatever you listen to.
I’m sure we’re on it.
Subscribe, leave us a nice review.
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Blood and Black Rum podcast.
We have an e-mail address at [email protected].
You can write to us, let us know what you like, what you don’t like, what movies you want us to cover.
59:21
And you can also donate to us on our Patreon page or Spotify page.
Anything you donate goes back towards beer.
So we appreciate that in advance.
Again, thanks for listening to our episode on Student Bodies.
Come back again next week for another episode of Ha Ha Halloween, and until then, take care.
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