Line #58 Film/StudentBodies


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/student_bodies_1981.jpeg]]
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3	Before you [[Film/{{Scream}} Screamed]], there were ''Student Bodies''.
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5	A 1981 HorrorComedy film directed by Michael Ritchie (uncredited in that capacity, though he's [[AlanSmithee sort of credited as a producer]]) and co-directed by early Creator/WoodyAllen collaborator Mickey Rose (given a full director's credit), ''Student Bodies'' is a {{Parody}} of the many {{Slasher Movie}}s of its era and includes much LampshadeHanging of the various tropes and cliches of that genre, with the most noteworthy lampshade consisting of an onscreen body tally.
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7	The plot revolves around a mysterious murderer [[TheFaceless whose face is never seen]], known only as [[VaderBreath "The Breather"]], who stalks and kills sexually active teenagers. The resident FinalGirl, Toby [[MeaningfulName Badger]], is something of a [[SexIsEvil Straw Prude]] herself and as such [[ClearMyName becomes the prime suspect]].
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9	In spite of having done a lousy job at the box office in its original release, the film has achieved cult status, largely in part because of its comic nature and rapid-fire subversions.
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11	----
12	!!Tropes butchered by this film include:
13	* AllJustADream: Parodied, so it's probably safe to mention it here.
14	* AmbiguouslyGay: Ms. Van [[MeaningfulName Dyke]]. During a health class she explained how the male reproductive organs were disgusting and unnecessary.
15	-->'''The Breather''': What's in a name? Everything.
16	* AndYouWereThere: Naturally, part of the AllJustADream mentioned above.
17	* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Parodied in one of the film's most famous scenes:
18	-->''Announcer:'' Ladies and gentlemen, in order to achieve an "R" rating today, a motion picture must contain full frontal nudity, graphic violence, or an explicit reference to the sex act. Since this film has none of those, and since research has proven that R-rated films are by far the most popular with the moviegoing public, the producers of this motion picture have asked me to take this opportunity to say "Fuck you."
19	* BasedOnATrueStory: played with in the OpeningScroll: "This film is based on a true story: last year, more than 30 horror films were made in America. None of them [[MoneyDearBoy lost money]]."
20	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted, but only barely; the black couple are [[spoiler:the second murder]].
21	* BrickJoke:
22	** During their first phone conversation, the Breather trolls the faculty by saying "Click" while on the phone. The second time he calls the faculty, Ms. Van Dyke pulls the same joke on him as payback.
23	** The first victim was house sitting for 75 cents an hour. At her funeral, the woman whose house she was watching meets the parents and gives them the money she earned, only now she's saying it was ''65'' cents an hour.
24	* CardCarryingVillain: The Breather at one point calls the faculty just to tell them this.
25	-->'''The Breather''': Let's not beat around the bush. I killed all those people, and I'm glad.
26	-->'''Ms. Van Dyke''': I appreciate your honesty.
27	* ClearMyName
28	* ComicalOverreacting: The first victim was house sitting for a couple, and when they arrive home the wife has a screaming fit when she sees [[spoiler: the girl has not cleaned the house]] and then plays TheStoic when [[spoiler:she finds the girl's [[DeathOfAThousandCuts "mutilated"]] corpse]]. Lampshaded by being juxtaposed with the husband's (completely opposite) reactions to same.
29	* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Victims are killed with increasingly ridiculous weapons such as a bookend, a paperclip and a ''chalkboard eraser''.
30	* DeathOfAThousandCuts
31	* DoesNotLikeMen: Mrs. Dyke, due to being AmbiguouslyGay.
32	* DropDeadGorgeous: The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Student_Bodies.jpg film poster]] focuses on the corpse of an attractive blonde girl suggestively sprawled across some classroom desks.
33	* DumbBlonde: who has to be reminded that "The North won" the American Civil War.
34	* TheEndOrIsIt
35	* EvilMatriarch: [[spoiler: Miss Mumsely, who apparently has every kind of relationship you could think of with her son the principal, was responsible for killing the boys after he killed the girls.]]
36	* {{Fetish}}: The shop teacher, Mr. Dumpkin, is '''obsessed''' with horse head bookends.
37	* GainaxEnding
38	* HandOfDeath
39	* HarassingPhoneCall / EvilPhone: Of the "heavy breathing" variety. Also notable that the breathing is heard virtually any time a phone receiver gets picked up.
40	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Invoked when the Breather mentions school guidance counselor Mr. Sigmund was once arrested for corrupting the morals of a hooker.
41	* HopeSpot: One would-be victim manages to talk the Breather out of carving him up with a chainsaw... [[spoiler:only to get bludgeoned with the carrying case]].
42	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The Film starts, says "[[spoiler:Halloween]]" on screen but nothing happens, FadeOut. FadeIn again on "[[spoiler:Friday The 13th]]" nothing happens on that day either, fade out again. Fade in again on "[[spoiler:Jamie Lee Curtis' birthday]]" that's when all hell breaks loose!
43	* HypocriticalHumor: "I wouldn't hurt a fly!" Cue [[spoiler:Body Count: 6 1/2]]
44	* ILoveTheDead: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] casually by one of the doomed boyfriends.
45	--> Oh geez, you're dead! [[{{Beat}} beat]] How about one for old times' sake?
46	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Taken to a ridiculous extent over the course of the film, but the very first murder really sets the tone: After breaking into a secretary desk which is loaded with potential weapons ([[TabletopGame/{{Clue}} revolver, rope, dagger]], rat poison, etc.), the Breather settles for [[spoiler:a paper clip]].
47	* AManIsAlwaysEager: Mercilessly parodied.
48	* MeaningfulName: Toby Badger "badgers" her friends not to have sex. Alas, [[SexSignalsDeath she lives in a slasher film]].
49	* MonsterMisogyny: Although the body count is fairly evenly divided between the genders, the boys are all discreetly suffocated in plastic bags, while the girls receive more exotic (and visible) deaths.
50	* MoralGuardians: InUniverse example with FinalGirl Toby, who follows her friends around to remind them not to have sex. They do, and [[SexSignalsDeath they die]].
51	* MyBelovedSmother: Miss Mumsley, who is apparently the principal's mother and follows him around at school while he's at work for no discernible reason other than she's his mom. She at one point tries browbreating Malvert into admitting he's the killer so suspicion will be taken off the principal, pointing out he doesn't have much to live for and no woman will ever want to have sex with him. She certainly doesn't.
52	* NoFourthWall / MediumAwareness: A staple of the movie.
53	* NoNameGiven / EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Breather.
54	** Meta example: The actor who plays Malvert the Janitor was known only as "The Stick".
55	* OutWithABang
56	* {{Parody}}: The 1981 film is remembered as the first parody of slasher movies, and it manages to identify and mock quite a large number of slasher film conventions that are still a part of the genre today.
57	* PoliceAreUseless: "You have reached the police. We are closed. [[GenreSavvy Look out behind you]]!"
58	* PrecisionFStrike: Delivered by the announcer to AvoidTheDreadedGRating.
59	* ProductPlacement: Several shots linger on various brands. A full list of products that supported the film is included in the credits.
60	* RunningGag:
61	** "X gets me hot!"
62	** The Breather being audible whenever anybody picks up a phone receiver, even if only for a brief moment.
63	* ScreamingWoman: Played with; see Comical Overreacting above.
64	* SexIsEvil: Comically used as a FreudianExcuse.
65	* SexSignalsDeath: Well duh, it '''is''' a slasher movie! The poster even lampshades it, with a button reading "sex kills" beside the corpse of a co-ed.
66	* ShoutOut:
67	** The AllJustADream sequence at the end parodies ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
68	** The [[spoiler:hand bursting from the grave]] parodies [[spoiler:''Carrie'']] in which it itself is just a dream.
69	* SpitTake: ''Everyone'' (understandably) when Malvert describes how he "helped make" the punch.
70	* ToiletHumor: A [[spoiler:farting dog]] and a [[spoiler:masturbating phone]].
71	* TooDumbToLive: Hardly unexpected in a slasher film, but here it's repeatedly lampshaded; on-screen notes point out when a clue is missed or a door left unlocked. Hilariously, nobody says 'boo' to the girl who wanders around in a darkened kitchen mere seconds after receiving {{Harassing Phone Call}}s.
72	* VaderBreath: The Breather, natch.
73	* WeaksauceWeakness: Male victims are dispatched by being put in garbage bags. ''While alive''.

Context Film / StudentBodies