Zombie High (1987)

This movie begins with a young 18-year old high school student named "Andrea" (Virginia Madsen) being dropped off at a prestigious prep school known as "Ettinger Academy" by her boyfriend "Barry" (James Wilder). And while Barry isn't too happy with the idea, Andrea is ecstatic at the opportunity that's been presented to her. Unfortunately, things aren't quite what they appear to be as there is definitely something odd with her fellow students. Now, although the movie title might cause some people to expect a film about brain dead sub-humans who feast upon human flesh, I should probably warn viewers that the "zombies" in this movie aren't the typical "Romero" type who have come into being due to a virus. Neither was there any black magic or voodoo involved in the creation of these "zombies". Such things weren't needed when there was something much more practical—medical science. At any rate, rather than disclose any more of the movie and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that I found it to be slightly disappointing for several reasons. First, although it had a decent cast I don't think any of the actors were given a script which worked to their advantage. Likewise, the comedy was flat and the horror was non-existent. Additionally, even though Sherilynn Fenn (as "Suzi") fit the part of a high school student I can't honestly say the same for Virginia Madsen. Put quite bluntly, she was a bit too mature for the role. That said, all things considered I rate the movie as slightly below average.

Not a high school but some preppy college and no zombies (unless you count the old men who played the college's staff) but lobotomized students.I only picked this up cause a favorite actress of mine Clare Carey is in it. Sadly she has a small part and plays her character using a very annoying accent.Not much happens until the last 15 minutes of the film when our leading lady Virginia Madsen tries to escape and outsmarts the college staff and finds herself trapped under the school grounds or something.No gore, no nudity, no real body count, there are one of two decent looking rotten corpses but that's it. Very similar to Disturbing Behavior.

See, this is exactly what you should do in case you want to make an 80's horror fanatic very angry. You just give the false impression that he/she is about to watch a movie with plentiful of zombies and then subsequently you serve a movie that features absolutely … NO zombies! The friend who borrowed me his VHS-copy luckily warned me beforehand about the complete lack of zombies, but I can easily imagine that back in the eighties a lot of initially enthusiast zombie buffs were severely disappointed. It's actually a big shame because misleading titles and disappointed genre fans lead to negative ratings, even though "Zombie High" really isn't that much of a bad film. It's a fairly spirited and harmless little 80's horror-comedy that only features derivative story elements instead of horror or comedy, but at least it's never boring AND it stars two of my personal favorite B-movie actresses; Virginia Madsen and Sherilyn Fenn. Madsen, playing an 18-year-old student at age 26, is very happy when she gets selected as one of the first girls ever to attend classes in a prominent boarding school that previously was accessible for boys only. Her enthusiasm gradually turns into fear as she notices that her fellow students start losing their personalities, like they are being lobotomized or something. Andrea has a bit of a crush on her handsome biology teacher Mr Philo, but can anyone in this entire perilous school be trusted? In the subject line of this user comment I raised the question of where this titular school could be located. Deriving from the brief plot description, I think experienced thriller fans know exactly the school is located. Rebellious and headstrong teenagers transforming overnight into exemplar students? Doesn't it ring a bell? Could this school possibly be a little side- project of the chauvinist males of Stanford? The concept of "Zombie High" is a mixture between the 70's classic "The Stepford Wives" and the plot of a horror novel by John Saul which I believe was called "Darkness". Eventually it turns out that the teachers are over a century old and extract fluid from the student brains in order to stay young and virile. Apparently extracting brain fluids turns people into model citizens! I sure hope the government doesn't find out about that! Anyway, after a pretty dull and uneventful first hour, the denouement sequences are amusing and contain a handful of decent special effects. Director Rob Link attempts to maintain an atmosphere of mystery surrounding the school's dark secrets, but it's too predictable and commonly known.

If you read the biography of Aziz Ghazal (writer/director) you'll glean that a lot of the work and equipment on this low budget film was provided by and done by USC film students. Editors put in temporary music (they could not afford to pay royalties for) but fell in love with it and insisted on sound-a-likes instead of original music. The songwriters Richards & Rocco, did a brilliant job of being musical chameleons at the behest of their employers. (Of note, the first two words of the seminal track "Kiss My Butt" are "Kiss It" - not "kick it" as another reviewer opined. The film wasn't ever intended to be campy but came out that way due to the poor production values, bad writing and acting.