Student Body (2022) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)

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Student Body is bloody, vulgar, and ridiculous. But whether or not it is in the best way? That’s hard to say.

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Director(s)	Lee Ann Kurr
Screenplay By	Lee Ann Kurr
Date Released	2/8/2022
Where To Watch	Video On Demand
Genre(s)	Action, Comedy, Thriller, Young Adult, Horror
Duration	1 Hour 29 Minutes
Content Rating	Not Rated
Noted Cast
Jane	Montse Hernandez
Merritt	Cheyenne Haynes
Mr. Aunspach	Christian Camargo
Ellis	Anthony Keyvan
French	Austin Zajur
Nadia	Harley Quinn Smith

Film Summary

With the passing of her mother, Jane is a bit reliant on her childhood best friend, Merritt, who has a lot going on in her life. But, at the elite school they both go to, problems arise as Mr. Aunspach, the math teacher, comes onto Jane, and Merritt is forced to use her privilege to stick up for her friend. As this happens, Ellis, Merritt’s crush, shows an interest in Jane, which causes a divide between the two lifelong friends.

Which makes a late-night party at school, not a means to reconcile differences, but perhaps fate’s way of permanently severing the two, rather than allowing them to mend the divide.

Other Noteworthy Information

• Reason(s) for Film Rating: Cursing, Blood, Drinking, Light Gore, Implied Assault

Review

Highlights

You Can See What They Were Trying To Do With Multiple Characters

Student Body seeks to be a horror-comedy, with the potential to be compared to the Child’s Play franchise, regarding its humor. However, that is by no means the highlight. The highlight is that the film ventures to show something beyond vulgarity. For example, Merritt is overwhelmed by both her mother’s expectations and feeling like Jane expects her to be her surrogate mother at school. It helps you see pass the arrogance, privilege, vulgarity, and actions of Merritt when you realize she is just a stressed-out teenager who is being crushed by the weight of expectation.

Jane, with her being new, socially awkward, and a long-time friend, Merritt feels responsible for her coming to school with a dirty bookbag, making sure she has friends and having social equity. All while dealing with a mother who compares her to Jane and puts her down since she isn’t as smart as her talented friend. It leads to what can be seen as a love/hate relationship since Jane might be Merritt’s only genuine friend, yet compared to Nadia, French, and Ellis? Her friendship with the others doesn’t contain the same amount of baggage.

But, it isn’t just Jane and Merritt’s relationship which shows the film has more depth than it wants to put front and center. There is also Nadia and French’s relationship as well. There is a crush there, but Nadia, being a jock and French not, makes him laying on her lap and hanging out confusing at times, like he is unintentionally sending mixed signals. And in what could be insecurities or a complicated relationship, you get another dynamic that shows there are more to these characters than eye-roll-inducing antics.

On The Fence

The Execution

Unfortunately, Student Body doesn’t lean into the good as much as it leans into trying to fit into the horror-comedy genre, and thus the execution is off and sometimes cringey. The dialog, especially from French and Merritt, often is unnatural and is either trying to force a joke or a persona that is a trope of horror films. Be it the dorky character with French or Merritt being the bad girl who has a sordid home life.

I’d even throw in Nadia being a pseudo bully towards Jane, and even the whole situation with Mr. Aunspach could potentially feel mishandled. It was almost as if Kurr wanted to do so much with the varying storylines and themes, but wasn’t sure how to balance the different genres. So instead of making things heavy in both what was said and performed, it was mainly done through what was said. Meanwhile, each performance, which could venture towards campy, didn’t necessarily honor what the character was going through but rather would move about between being serious, light-hearted, outright comical, or feeling like the film could have gone deeper but refused.

Overall

Our Rating: Mixed (Divisive)

Student Body is the type of film which almost works against itself. You can see it being capable of something deeper and more intriguing than what is ultimately delivered, but rather than go deep, it keeps things relatively surface level.

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