Zombie High

A girl decides to go to a prep school on a scholarship (Virginia Madsen), which displeases her cool beau (James Wilder). He warns her with rumors of a diabolical covenant the faculty has, but she dismisses it until strange things help her to see otherwise. Sherilyn Fenn plays a student and Richard Cox a sympathetic teacher.

"Zombie High" (1987) is a mixture of two future movies: "Disturbing Behavior" (1998) and a little "Dead Poets Society" (1989) albeit with a wink of humor & camp. There's also a bit o' "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956/1978). The title is somewhat misleading since you won't see a school full of literal zombies, yet it's applicable in another way.

It's nice to see Virginia when she was so young (25 during shooting) and Fenn doesn't hurt.

The film runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot at School of Cinema-Television, USC, Los Angeles, California.

GRADE: B-

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.

This movie isn't bad for an 80's "school-based" horror film, but it's name is misleading. It has nothing to do with voodoo zombies, or undead zombies, and although it has a single scene which delivers something similar to those types of zombie flicks, it's just not enough for the hardcore undead enthusiast.

The "High" part of the name is misleading too. It certainly seems more like a College to me. That's why it scores so low on the star meter.. Most folks that are buying it now, are expecting a high-school invaded by undead folks, even the movie description doesn't really dispell this notion.

Why would folks choose such a misleading name? This should have been called "tranced college" or something, not "Zombie High"

In any event, if you're looking for undead folks, this is NOT the movie for you. However, if you like cheesy 80's teenage school rebellion films (complete with references to preppies, but little, or no drugs/alcohol) mixed with horror, this one is DEFINATELY for you.

The lovely and appealing Virginia Madsen stars here as Andrea, a young woman who wins a scholarship to a snooty prep school, which has only recently begun accepting female students. Her boyfriend Barry (James Wilder) has his misgivings about this institute of higher learning right from the start, but she tries to make a go of things. She eventually discovers that there is a sinister plot being engineered by the faculty, who are turning their students into emotionless automatons.

The student film "Zombie High" is hard to completely dislike, but overall it misses the mark. An odd, awkward horror comedy, it's nothing more than a minor variation on the old "Stepford Wives" theme. Its attempts to be irreverent are sometimes amusing, but more often than not, they fall flat. It's got a few action sequences, but nothing terribly impressive. The makeup effects are basically adequate. There's an omnipresent rock soundtrack to sort of make things interesting.

The performances are better than the material deserves. Also starring are Richard Cox ("Cruising") as a nice guy professor, Kay E. Kuter ('Green Acres', "The Last Starfighter"), who gives the best performance in the movie as the diabolical Dean Eisner, future film director Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids"), who has his moments as the aggressive, amorous Emerson, the extremely foxy Sherilyn Fenn, Scott Coffey ("Satisfaction") and Clare Carey ('Coach', "Waxwork").

At least "Zombie High" manages some poignancy in its final act. It needs to get a demerit, though, for including one of the worst closing credits rock songs that this viewer has ever heard.

Four out of 10.

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.