A Reunião dos Alunos Loucos

National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)

1/2 (out of 4)

Really awful horror-comedy starts off in 1972 when a man has a cruel prank played on him. Flash-forward ten-years and it's the high school reunion and before long people involved in that prank are being murdered.

Wow, what a really, really awful film this is. Obviously NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE was a huge hit and a flat-out masterpiece but this film crashed and burned with fans and critics and it's not too hard to see why. There are all sorts of problems with this movie but the biggest can be aimed at John Hughes screenplay. This was his first solo screenplay credit but I must say it's quite awful but thankfully he would quickly turn that around and it would lead to some classic comedies.

The biggest problem with this movie is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. It's obviously spoofing some of the slasher movies of the era but nothing is really done with this. You've got a killer with a paper bag over his head and that's it. The murder sequences are all bland and boring and there's certainly nothing creative going on. Even the comedy elements are a big disappointment because there's nothing creative going on here either. I mean, one of the running gags deals with a lunch lady picking up the food with her hands. Really? When you've got a "spoof" that isn't funny and doesn't have anything going for it you're just left with a dead movie that drags even with its short running time.

It should be noted that there aren't any Saturday Night Live members here. Gerrit Graham, Michael Lerner and Stephen Furst are all good actors but they're given very little to work with. There are a couple very small gags throughout the film but certainly not enough to keep you entertained. Chuck Berry shows up for a quick sequence but the film doesn't have any "fun" with him as he basically plays a couple songs and disappear.

All in all, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CLASS REUNION is a film that has pretty much been forgotten and it's easy to see why. The Lampoon guys would eventually get back on track but this film here is just a complete misfire from start to finish.