Hello everyone, Matthew here with a new review. As you know, one of the things that I really tend to enjoy are checking out some of the horror indie films. I mean that's pretty much where things started when I was able to review Weird Fiction (go check it out on Tubi). So whenever a new indie emerges, I always look forward to checking them out. They tend to break the norm from typical horror movies. I mean a very solid example would be to look at Benny Loves You. That film is so off the wall with a very solid original premise.
When I first heard of Student Body, it was just the poster. Specifically the poster above as it grabbed my attention. I immediately could have checked out the trailer. But it feels like trailers tend to spoil films a lot of the time. And if they don't spoil anything, there's a chance that they will misrepresent what the film is actually about. So, I just went into the film completely blind.
The synopsis for the film is as follows: High school student Jane Shipley seeks to mend her splintering relationship with childhood best friend Merritt, and fit in with her rebellious peers. When Jane's math teacher oversteps his bounds, an apathetic high school administration forces Jane and Merritt to take matters into their own hands, driving their relationship into further turmoil and inciting deadly consequences.
When I first started the film, I wasn't sure what it was going for. It felt like a slice of life school film. Just kids going about their daily life. Montse Hernandez delivers a pretty interesting performance as Jane. She's our in for the story and view everything through her perspective for the most part. This is a film that has a really small cast as well. Besides Hernandez, the kids are played by Cheyenne Haynes, Anthony Keyvan, Harley Quinn Smith, and Austin Zajur. Each of them do a decent job with what they are given. The standouts for me were Smith and Zajur. Both of them made their characters believable and pretty likeable.
As the film went on, it felt like it was giving us time to know the characters. It was allowing time for the story to breathe. I know that there are some that may see it as potential filler. But with a small film like this, its understandable. Part of the appeal of this film was that it felt a little bit like a throwback to an 80s horror film. When we are finally given our slasher, Anvil Al, it doesn't feel like it was too long. The use of the school mascot being the slasher was pretty genius. However, the film does tip its hat very early on as to the identity. They do try to plant a red herring here and there. But it's pretty straightforward.
The kills in this film weren't really over the top. It all felt very in line with the tone of the film. The use of a sledge hammer was pretty interesting. It's something that I don't think we see too often really.
Overall, this wasn't a bad film. It felt very much in tone with something you would see from Hulu/Blumhouse's Into The Dark. A missing episode, if you will. That's definitely something I appreciated. However, it did feel like something that may be a rainy day film. It could have been fleshed out a little more if there was time. Sadly, it almost feels a bit too compacted.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Student Body can be found on iTunes, VUDU, Google Play, and the Microsoft Store.
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