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393px-Student Bodies

Student Bodies is an American Comedy Horror film first released on August 7, 1981, written and directed by Mickey Rose, and released by Paramount Pictures.

It is a parody spoof of such films as Prom Night, Halloween and Friday the 13th. The film's style of humor can be compared to other spoof films, such as Scary Movie. In the film, every time somebody dies an on-screen body count appears. Student Bodies was one of the first movies to satirize the then-thriving slasher film subgenre.

Plot[]

Student Bodies is about a serial killer who stalks female students at Lamab High School, while at the same time, voyeuristically watching them. The killer calls himself "The Breather", presumably because the killer is always breathing heavily.

The Breather enjoys stalking victims over the telephone, and, much like Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th movies, he hates seeing youngsters having sex. The Breather uses many unusual objects to kill his female victims such as a paper clip, an eraser, and a horse-head bookend. He kills his male victims by placing them in trash bags alive.

The identity of the killer is revealed in a surprising way where the audience would not see it coming.

Cast[]

  • Kristen Riter as Toby Badger
  • Matt Goldsby as Hardy
  • Cullen Chambers as Charles Ray
  • Jerry Belson as The Breather (credited as Richard Brando)
  • Joe Flood as Mr. Dumpkin
  • Joe Talarowski as Principal Harlow Hebrew Peters
  • Mimi Weddell as Miss Mumsley
  • Dario Jones as Mawamba
  • Carl Jacobs as Dr. Sigmund
  • Peggy Cooper as Ms. Van Dyke
  • Janice E. O'Malley as Nurse Krud
  • Kevin Mannis as Scott
  • Sara Eckhardt as Patti Priswell
  • Oscar James as Football Coach/Sheriff
  • Kay Ogden as Ms. Leclair
  • "The Stick" (Patrick Varnell) as Malvert the Janitor
  • Brian Batytis as Wheels
  • Joan Browning Jacobs as Mrs. Hummers
  • Angela Bressler as Julie
  • Keith Singleton as Charlie

List of Deaths[]

Name Cause of Death Killer On-Screen Notes
Scott Suffocuted The Breather No
Miss Mumsley Many unusual objects in chest The Breather Yes
Patti Priswell Killed with wooden horse head bookends The Breather Yes
Wheels Suffocuted The Breather Yes
Mawamba Killed The Breather No
Julie Suffocuted The Breather Yes
Charlie Suffocuted Sheriff, Nurse Krud Yes Show on TV
Ms. Leclair Soap in mouth The Breather No
Hardy Suffocuted The Breather No
Nurse Krud Killed The Breather No
Charles Ray Suffocuted The Breather No
Sheriff Beaten The Breather Yes
Dr. Sigmund Known N/A Yes
Malvert the Janitor Hands in mouth The Breather No
Toby Badger Strangled The Breather Yes Comes back as zombie
The Breather Strangled Toby Badger´s Arm No Fate unknown

The Stick[]

One of the film's oddest aspects is a character called Malvert, a creepy-looking janitor (itself a familiar trope in slasher movies), who does bizarre things like move about in a herky-jerky fashion and never really talks. Malvert is played by a tall, double-jointed comedian known only as "The Stick",who never made another film and only did an appearance on the TV series Out Of Control. Several on-line reviews give the film itself a mixed reaction but praise The Stick's performance.

He was recently identified as Patrick Varnel of Corsicana, Texas

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