John C
It's never a good sign when you pause the film you're watching and expect to see the counter reading roughly an hour of the way through, only to find that you're only thirty minutes in (to a movie that's only an hour and a half in total). In short, this film is a drudge to watch.
I like to think I'm hardly a 'cinema snob.' I've watched every film with 'living dead' in the title and, as long as there's a few brains being eaten here and there I can totally enjoy a cheesy B-movie, especially if it's set in the eighties.
I don't know whether this is a 'spoiler' or not, but there are basically no 'zombies' in 'Zombie High.' Okay, so that statement may be open to interpretation, but if your definition of 'zombie' involves a walking corpse (or 'infected' person, if you're in the '28 Days Later' world) hunting humans down for food, then you're going to be severely disappointed here.
A young girl (supposed to be in her teens, but actually 26 in real life) joins an elite school, only to slowly discover that the pupils are being transformed into mindless er 'zombies.' Nothing wrong with that plot (let's face it... it's basically the story behind every variation of a 'Bodysnatchers' movie and they could be pretty awesome!). The problem here is that it's just so damn slow.
If I had to sum up 'Zombie High' in one word it would simply be 'boring.' The eighties ambiance is on full display here and everything from the sets to the music and costumes spell out this decade to the full. It also has a (pre 'Twin Peaks') Sherilyn Fenn as a side character - usually a fine addition to any cast and yet even she can't really elevate the script enough to make this worth watching.
I really wanted to like this, but it's such a slog that I can't really recommend it for anything. Not even any real gore to speak of. I guess if you like looking at eighties style sets and wardrobes then you'l definitely get that here, nothing 'horrific' in this 'horror' movie.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
10/29/24
Full Review
Charles T
Virginia Madsen plays high school student Andrea, who is awarded a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school originally attended exclusively by boys. Andrea kisses boyfriend Barry (James Wilder) goodbye, and she moves in with wild roommate Suzi (Sherilyn Fenn). Andrea begins seeing a young debonair biology teacher (this is so sci-fi), and he makes a clumsy pass at her. Barry finds out and gets upset...the film takes its time setting up its premise. Eventually, different student friends of Andrea's wind up, well, different. The senator's rebellious son, who wanted to quit the school, suddenly becomes the star pupil. All the boys start dressing alike and reciting facts from books, without showing any emotion or feelings. Andrea finds out that cute bio teach Philo (Richard Cox) is really into brains and discovers his diabolical plan.
Despite the sexy dream team of Madsen and Fenn, who have been better in much more, here they are given little to do. Madsen was twenty-four when this was made, and does not pass for a high schooler. The zombies themselves are not much too look at- the students appear a little pasty, and nothing more. "Zombie High" is a misnomer, but I do not think "Brainwashed High" has the same effect. One gaffe has "zombie" students dancing very slowly at a school dance, but still able to sprint across the quad after Barry and Andrea. Lumbering undead like a Romero film, or runners straight out of "Chariots of Fire"? The film makes no mystery of what is happening behind closed doors in the infirmary, and that is unfortunate. Letting the audience in on the secrets too soon results in a complete lack of suspense. There are no scary scenes. The great production values, great sets, and lots of creepy blue light are all negated because we know exactly what will happen every time a scene begins.
What is left is a very padded ninety-one minute film filled with awful pop music. The end credits anthem is some drivel called "Kiss My Butt." If anything, the viewer may wish that on the people responsible for "Zombie High."
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
07/15/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A very exclusive school is lobotomising (what is it about lobotomies in my choice of films for this year's 31 Days of Halloween?!) it's students so that they become the kind of upstanding captains of industry that makes society great. This is the High School version of The Stepford Wives.
Played more for comedy than horror, this film isn't as irritating as many other horror-comedies. Great characters, especially the unconventional supporting players and nice art direction help proceedings pass very well indeed.
The idea of the school being a kind of sausage factory to make capitalist highflyers out of isn't really explored enough but who cares as this is a late 80's horror comedy yarn after all.
Notable for it's cast which includes Virginia Madsen, Sherilyn ‘Laura Palmer' Fenn and Richard ‘Cruising' Cox all of whom should be known to cult film/TV fans.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
1980's suspense film gets sillier and sillier as it goes along.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Wow we've come a long way with the portrayal of zombies. Cheaply made movie with bad acting and worse music
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Low Budget horror comedy is a forgotten gem of the genre, one that is amusing for fans that are looking for a tongue in cheek horror film to watch. The film features the performance of a young Virginia Madsen. Zombie High overall is a decent time waster with nothing great going for it, but for what it is a, manages to be an entertaining horror comedy that is better than you might think. However it does leave room for improvement, and there are aspects of the film that should have been much better. As it is, it's a decent affair, one that is good for what it tries to accomplish, but at the same time you do want a bit more substance to the film. But that is to be expected from a low budget, Straight to Video title. Despite the movie's shortcomings, Zombie High is entertaining, and for the most parts will surely appeal to diehard horror fans. There are some good ideas that are present within the film, but they never seem to come to fruition due to an underdeveloped script, which if it would have been rewritten and reworked, would surely have been a terrific and memorable horror film. Zombie High is a flawed picture, one that is worth seeing, but it never seems to take off with its interesting ideas, and you can only imagine how good the film might have been if the film's script would have been reworked a bit more. Nonetheless, it's a decent, worthwhile film to watch if you enjoy low budget, cheesy forgotten gems of the genre. The film is decent overall, and it's worth watching, just don't expect a great film with this one, you're surely going to be disappointed.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
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