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Zombie High
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (17th January 2016). |
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The Film
 Before watching “Zombie High” (1987) viewers need to take into account the fact that this is essentially a student film with recognizable actors. As written in the liner notes (found on the inside of the cover art) the production worked out a deal where students could use equipment from the School of Cinema-Television for free, with shooting to take place on the campus of USC during the winter break of 1986. How deals were worked out with a few of the known names remains a mystery, but this is definitely an amateur production in every sense. It’s far from an underrated gem, too, garnering most of its current spectacle simply because it stars some folks who have gone on the greater acclaim; however, being a for-all-intents-and-purposes student film it is not entirely terrible and there are a few fleeting moments where it’s pretty good. Andrea (Virginia Madsen) just got accepted to the prestigious Ettinger, a boarding school that until this year was all-male. Her boyfriend, Barry (James Wilder), isn’t exactly thrilled for her since it means she’ll be leaving him behind, but he tries to act semi-supportive and vows to visit. Andrea makes friends quickly after arriving on campus. Suzi (Sherilyn Fenn), her roommate, is a bit of a party girl, while Emerson (Paul Feig) is a hyper, annoying girl-obsessed geek. Most of the other students are a bit… off, though. Everyone else seems to be too rigid and formal, championing the school above all else and behaving like zombies. After far too long an amount of time, Andrea comes across an underground lab on campus that seems to indicate students are being used for some kind of experimentation. She seeks help from her professor, Philo (Richard Cox), who uncovers the mystery: student brain tissue is being harvested and used as a serum to keep the staff members young. The students, meanwhile, are fitted with a crystal inside their heads that keeps them docile and subservient, with classical music being used to keep them in line. Andrea and Philo, along with help from Barry (who keeps showing up on campus), devise a plan to disrupt the crystals and end this centuries-old academy’s power. The only saving grace of “Zombie High” is the acting, primarily that of Virginia Madsen. This picture is a total snoozer, boring from one end to the next, and it’s only because of professionals like Madsen and Fenn that it has any value at all. Fenn, I should note, doesn’t exactly set the film on fire but back here, in her prime of 1987? Scorching hot. The whole notion here is this campus has become like “The Stepford Wives” (1975) for higher education, with students forcefully kept quiet while their brain matter is harvested so old guys can get even older. These salient plot points don’t come up until well into the second act, though, which makes nearly every scene preceding them seem tedious. The film spins its wheels for what seems like an eternity, pretending like its building relationships between characters and connecting cinematic tissue when all it’s really doing is nothing. Nothing at all. What kills “Zombie High” dead is the writing. As an exercise in sharpening skills and learning how to structure a story, this film was likely a great education. Had it been completed as part of a student film requirement it could be graded on a lesser scale. But this was released theatrically, and so it is graded relative to other theatrical films of a similar nature – and the grade it receives is low. The plot revelations – teachers living forever, students turned into zombies for brain tissue – should have come much earlier, allowing some tension to build before getting to the climax. Yet these revelations pretty much are the climax, and after a head-scratching “That’s it?” most viewers are going to wonder just what the hell we’ve been doing for the past 75 minutes and change. There’s a decent movie buried in here, among all the dead weight scripting and pedestrian direction, but no one on the crew was seasoned enough to coax it out. As such, “Zombie High” is best viewed as a curiosity and should never be taken too seriously. In fact, as a final point this picture should have been done more tongue-in-cheek and dropped the severely serious angle that was attempted.
Video
Featuring a 1.85:1 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded image, “Zombie High” actually doesn’t look all that bad considering its amateur production. Colors are decently saturated (if not a bit too warm at times). Film grain looks mostly natural but it does tend to spike sporadically, occasionally looking too heavy. Contrast is middling, with some of the white levels blown out in daylight scenes. Image detail is almost entirely missing once the action moves to nighttime. This is probably the absolute best the film could ever look, though, and for that reason I’m going to say this is a good presentation.
Audio
The lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track features reasonably good fidelity and a simple but effective sound design. Dialogue is clear but can come across a little soft at times, and during a few moments when the climax is blaring music it’s practically indecipherable. Subtitles are available in English.
Extras
Other than the liner notes on the inside of the case, the only extra here is a theatrical trailer. DISC ONE: BLU-RAY The film’s theatrical trailer (1080p) runs for 1 minute and 5 seconds. DISC TWO: DVD This is a DVD copy of the feature film.
Packaging
The two-disc set comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keep case, with each disc on a hub opposite the other.
Overall
I enjoyed watching this more for the actors and less for the story, which takes entirely too long to get to the point.
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