Zombie High is a late 80’s genre piece that I somehow never came across until Scream Factory released it on Blu-ray. This is the type of random one-off movie that I feel falls in line with what Scream Factory typically releases on their double features, but somehow this one received a stand-alone release. Perhaps it’s because the film starts Virginia Madsen? Or maybe because it features director Paul Feig in a supporting role? At any rate the film is now available on Blu-ray and will likely be of interest to some.
The film starts off pretty good as your standard 80’s time capsule. From the music to the way the characters dress to the somewhat montage-esque opening that introduces all the characters, the classic elements of a solid 80’s film are in place. The story is even straight out of most 80’s teen sex comedies.
Andrea (Madsen) is heading off to start her first year at Ettinger, a boarding school that up until this year was all-male. Andrea is very excited for the chance at a higher education, but naturally her boyfriend Barry (James Wilder) is not. Still, Barry takes Andrea to the new school and they have a moment before he heads back home. Andrea meets her new roommate Suzi (Sherilyn Fenn) and Mary Beth (Clare Carey), a girl from across the hall. Suzi and Mary Beth are very excited about the boy to girl ratio and can’t wait to start hooking up with cute guys. Andrea, on the other hand, is actually attending Ettinger to learn.
During her first day of classes Andrea meets Emerson (Feig). Emerson sort of plays like a composite of various characters we’ve seen in 80’s films. He’s sort of nerdy, but not entirely. He’s clearly very smart but also has a coolness to him. All the other boys in the school are very straight laced, stay in line and Emerson has a personality all his own. At the end of the day Emerson wants to hook up with Andrea or any of the other girls. He’s not really picky. Feig is pretty stand out in Zombie High. He’s very charming and has great comic timing.
The rest of the school is littered with your very standard characters. You have the “punk” kid who is way too cool. He’s a bad boy with spiky hair and a leather jacket. He doesn’t want to be at that stupid school and doesn’t need it. Of course, his dad is extremely wealthy and one of the most recognized alumni. You have Dean Eisner (Kay E. Kuter), an all business sort of guy that won’t take any shit from anyone. You don’t want to cross him, oh no! Then there’s Professor Philo (Richard Cox), the cool, hip teacher who develops a strange, and a bit creepy, affection towards Andrea.
After a few days Andrea begins to notice something very odd about the school. Kids act very weird and are all a little too well behaved. Kids you wouldn’t expect like Mary Beth and the cool punk kid take sudden changes in both appearance and attitude. They suddenly become focused. After some digging around Andrea discovers the school is running experiments to turn the kids into perfect students, or “zombies” if you will. It all has a Stepford Wives sort of vibe.
I really, really, really wanted to like Zombie High. I went into my viewing with such gusto and the opening had me hooked and then smack, the film hit a wall. The whole thing began to drag with little to no excitement for about 40 minutes. In the middle portion of the movie the most exciting thing to happen is when Barry dramatically puts out his cigarette by smashing it against a wall. He’s really upset and expresses as much by the way he puts this cigarette out. It’s something else.
Then there’s the relationship between Philo and Andrea that is just so bizarre. From the start we know that it’s bad because he’s a teacher and she’s a student, but it goes beyond that. Even though he’s portrayed as a cooler, hipper teacher, this isn’t one of those scenarios where he’s fresh out of college and only a couple years older than his students. Philo is undoubtedly older than his students and we can all see it. We kind of get hints that Andrea reminds Philo of a former lover, but they never go into any detail on it. The whole thing was just way too creepy for me.
Towards the end of the film things begin to pick up a bit as we learn more about what exactly the administration at this school is up to. We actually get some pretty decent practical effects and gore. It’s pretty enjoyable but the film takes a weird editing turn. We start getting these weird transitions and swipes that seemingly come out of nowhere. Interesting to be sure, but they kind of threw me off a bit.
I noticed a few interesting tidbits in the credits. The first being the music playing over them is a very obvious Beastie Boys rip-off/parody of “Fight For Your Right.” I kind of like this and it actually made me laugh. I also happened to spot in the credits that director Jay Roach served as a camera operator. Roach has directed a number of things over the years, most recently Trumbo. This looks to be Roach’s earliest credit, which kind of makes Zombie High a little more interesting and gives it a certain level of significance.
The Blu-ray release from Scream Factory looks great. Fantastic picture and audio quality, but the release is severely lacking in terms of extras as it only has a trailer. This seems weird for a Scream Factory solo release. Usually individually released films have a handful of extras and it’s the double features that are light. I wonder if this was initially planned as a double feature and then changed down the line?
Zombie High has some moments and offers a look back at the 80’s. This was essentially a student film and the only one from director Ron Link. When you look at it through that lens, and consider it’s an early look at the career of Madsen and features a fairly rare on screen performance from Feig, it gets a little more interesting. For me though, it ultimately was a little too boring and dull. I was never really able to fully engage and get into it.
Zombie High is now available on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.