Zombie High (1987) User Reviews

It was a student film

[LA_Musicworks · 5/10 · 24 October 2006]

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.

Not exactly ripe for rediscovery.

[Hey_Sweden · 4/10 · 5 February 2016]

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.

Slightly Disappointing

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 13 June 2014]

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.

Not bad.

[bigpappa1--2 · 26 June 2000]

Virgina Madsen ( looking a bit too old for her role ) stars as a student at a prep school who discovers that the staff is stealing brain tissue from the students and using it to keep their youth. The idea is nothing new, but the film is given decent treatment and remains entertaining for most of its running time. The ending feels rushed though, but it is nice to see a zombie film with only mild violence that manages to scare and entertain these days. Rating: 6 out of 10.

Not a high school, a college. Not zombies, more like lobotomized preppies.

[mamamiasweetpeaches · 1/10 · 8 March 2005]

I love '80s movies. I love Horror Movies. So when I saw an old VHS copy of ZOMBIE HIGH starring Virginia Madsen I thought "Why haven't I ever seen THIS before?" I wasn't missing much. Although the title is ZOMBIE HIGH I don't think this is set at a high school. It looks like a college to me. Virginia Madesn plays Andrea who has been accepted in a fancy schmo yuppie school much to the chagrin of her local public school boyfriend. He pleads with her to switch back to the local Towny school, she refuses. When she meets the Rick Sprinfield-esque professor she's smitten with him. Surprise surprise, the Prof is smitten with her as well. But she's smart enough to know students shouldn't stoop their teachers. What she isn't aware of is that the teachers in this school are doing experiments on the brains of the students to make them obedient geniuses. (Think THE STEPFORD WIVES and DISTURBING BEHAVIOR). Andrea starts to get wise to this when the rebellious spiky haired leather jacket-wearing guy who hates the school and authority all of a sudden shows up at school in a suit spouting pure genius. As time goes by more and more friends who were fun loving seem to be listening to Classical music, dressing like they're going to church and being good little boys and girls and studying their toots off. This film had one funny scene: at a school dance the zombie-fide students are dancing robotic-ly together in box steps. A sassy funk black band playing the dance breaks into a wild song (much to the dismay of the all-white faculty) and the zombie students STILL do their slow manic box steps! Alas the film needs more jokey shots like that. It isn't funny enough to be fun and it isn't serious enough to be scary. The soundtrack...trying to sound like wanna-bes staples from the '80s like THE GO-GOS and JOURNEY is God awful. Particularly bad is the end song that is a blatant rip off of THE BEASTIE BOYS party anthem FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY. It starts off with the familiar "YEAH!....Kick It!" and launches into a song called, I kid you not, KISS MY BUTT(!) I actually went online to see which came first, this song or the BEASTIE BOYS one. Surprise surprise...The Beasties did there's first! I usually don't notice stuff like this but the editing was terrible. The movie wants to be quirky and fast paced so it has choppy MTV editing that takes you back and forth between scenes. Very annoying. If you must see a Horror Movie starring the lovely Virginia Madsen rent CANDYMAN instead.

Stupid!!

[lthseldy1 · 2/10 · 12 August 2001]

This movie is really BAD. It's about a female that goes to a boarding school for all males and soon learns that everyone is nothing but preppy zombies that do nothing but study and act weird. Her boyfriend that tries to get her out of that school goes back and forth between her and her biology teacher that goes around stalking her as she keeps resisting him. The students as well as the staff are all over a hundred years old and this special serum is what keeps them alive and into zombies. towards the end the serum is discovered and the girl discovers the truth behind all the control of the zombie kids and turns to her boyfriend for help. Yes.... it is a rushed ending but I guess that after all that wasted money and time filming this piece of cheese they had to hurry up with an ending for makeing us wait for this crap to end.

What's with the title!?

[thatgayguymatt · 3/10 · 23 November 2011]

Not a high school but some preppy college and no zombies (unless you count the old men who played the college's staff) but lobotomized students.

I only picked this up cause a favorite actress of mine Clare Carey is in it. Sadly she has a small part and plays her character using a very annoying accent.

Not much happens until the last 15 minutes of the film when our leading lady Virginia Madsen tries to escape and outsmarts the college staff and finds herself trapped under the school grounds or something.

No gore, no nudity, no real body count, there are one of two decent looking rotten corpses but that's it. Very similar to Disturbing Behavior.

worse than stupid

[sandcrab277 · 1/10 · 8 June 2020]

Virginia madsen was 26 when this abomination was made and sherilyn fenn was 22 both way too old for prep school and should have graduated college by that age ... i think the producer missed the boat by not showing t&a of the well built female stars .. it might have become a cult classic

The Stepford Students.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 24 December 2019]

Babes Virginia Madsen and Sherilyn Fenn play college room-mates in Zombie High, which I guess is as good a reason as any to check out this cheesy '80s horror. The lovely young ladies play Andrea and Suzi, who are targeted by the college faculty, who have been transforming pupils into perfect preppies with the aid of crystal brain implants. Also, by extracting blood and brain tissue from their students, the professors have created a serum that makes them immortal. Andrea discovers what is going on, and with help from faculty member Dr. Philo (Richard Cox), who has the hots for her, and her boyfriend Barry (James Wilder), she attempts to put an end to their nefarious behaviour.

Borrowing heavily from The Stepford Wives (1975), and providing the template for Disturbing Behaviour (1998), Zombie High attempts to blend teen comedy, satire and horror, but rarely does so successfully. The result is a frequently bizarre late-'80s oddity that feels extremely awkward for much of the time, never sitting comfortably in either the comedy or horror genre; that said, it still manages to be moderately fun, largely thanks to its camp nature (which may or may not have been the intention). The film is full of stereotypical teen characters, from the leather-jacketed rebel to badly-dressed nerd Emerson (played by Paul Feig, who would go on to direct the terrible female Ghostbusters remake), and the ending is suitably silly, the faculty growing old and decaying when deprived of their serum, with the preppies keeling over when rock music (a Beastie Boys rip-off called Kiss My Butt) is transmitted to their brain crystals.

The film's funniest moment is the homecoming dance, where an R&B band fail get the party started, the mind-controlled students responding to the music by moving uniformly in a robotic manner.

Fun boarding school mystery/horror with a dash of comedy

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 15 June 2020]

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-

No Zombies, No High

[JasonXIX · 2/10 · 10 October 2020]

I can live with the fact that this isn't actually a zombie movie, the bigger problem is it's barely even a horror movie. You have to sit through 45 minutes of a boring 'teen' drama, with some of the worst dialogue ever put to film, before anything even remotely 'horrific' happens.

Just because Virginia Madsen is the movie doesn't mean it's any good

An Amazing Film

[dodgecameron-43059 · 9/10 · 14 February 2021]

I'm not going to summarize the story here; if you want to know it got watch the movie. I'm just going to say that, contrary to popular belief, this movie does indeed contain zombies, just not the ones most people know. The word zombie has more meaning than people seem to realize. There's the Romero 'Night Of The Living Dead" variety that most are familiar with, but there's more than just that. There's also the old voodoo zombies that are brought back by magic, usually to be used as slaves. There's the kind where you drug someone so they appear dead even to the trained eye, and then after all is said and done you kidnap them and use them for your own gain, continuously drugging them so they don't regain their memories or become too smart. Then there's this movies type of zombies, where it's a regular person who's either brain dead, lobotomized, or otherwise hypnotized into becoming perfectly capable, yet usually perfectly obedient, robot-like zombies.

Now, first things first, the writing. I felt that the writing here was pretty good, the conversations didn't feel forced, and the story was interesting. What we have here is a group of people from the 1800's who stay alive by injecting themselves with a serum made from the brains of others. One of the teachers replaces the missing brain piece with a crystal, resulting in the students becoming smarter, robotic, and subservient zombies. They control the students through classical music that connects to the crystals. Truly great stuff. A+

Still, a good script is nothing without a good cast, and this movie sure delivered on that end. Virginia Madsen does great work as Andrea, especially in later scenes as she grows more frightened and shocked. The ever lovely Richard Cox turns in a wonderful performance as Philo, a professor who administers the crystal, and who slowly starts to want to change his ways by helping Madsen's character. Everyone else does an amazing job as well, though if I kept going on and on I wouldn't be able to stop. A+

The music in the film is great. The incidental pieces are at times creepy, saddening, and beautiful, everything that they need to be. It truly elevates the film. There's also a number of rock and pop songs thrown in, and they are of a good enough quality that I find myself wishing these people had gone on to a career in music. After finishing this I'll be trying to get my hands on a copy of the soundtrack, that's for sure. A+

There's not much room for special effects in the movie, but what we do get is great. The blood looks as realistic as you could get at the time, the aging effects on Philo and the other teachers are phenomenal, and there's this great scene near the end where the teachers have aged so much that their flesh is rotting and falling off, and you can often see their bones underneath. These are more close to the type of zombies a modern viewer might be looking for. A fight to get some of the anti-aging serum erupts in a wine cellar, and as it drags on they just keep aging and rotting, until they're nothing but bones, and even a few of those keep moving. Then there's that final shot where Andrea and Barry are triumphantly riding off on his motorcycle to the tune of "Kiss My Butt", and the film takes on a "Take On Me"-esque look, all pencil drawn and stuff. Just incredible. Again, A+

Finally, the editing. This is the one part where I have to dock some points. There are some really odd cuts throughout the movie, sometimes barely giving characters enough time to finish speaking before it jumps away. There's a lot of odd dissolves placed between scenes that can sometimes ruin the mood. At times it seems like a new editor trying to show off all their new effects, which is incompetent, even for a student film. Also, there's times where the sound mixing is off, where the actors can't be heard over the music. Still, it suffices. B

Overall, an amazing horror movie from the 1980's that managed to slip through the cracks for many, and one that I will definitely be revisiting time and time again. Final score: A-

A horror comedy that is actually quite likeable!

[meathookcinema · 6/10 · 25 October 2020]

A very exclusive school is lobotomising (what is it about lobotomies in my choice of films for this year's 31 Days of Halloween?!) it's students so that they become the kind of upstanding captains of industry that makes society great. This is the High School version of The Stepford Wives.

Played more for comedy than horror, this film isn't as irritating as many other horror-comedies. Great characters, especially the unconventional supporting players and nice art direction help proceedings pass very well indeed.

The idea of the school being a kind of sausage factory to make capitalist highflyers out of isn't really explored enough but who cares as this is a late 80's horror comedy yarn after all.

Notable for it's cast which includes Virginia Madsen, Sherilyn 'Laura Palmer' Fenn and Richard 'Cruising' Cox all of whom should be known to cult film/TV fans.

you want a movie that's completely out there, here it is.

[triple8 · 5/10 · 26 November 2004]

Ohh I need to see this again! My buddy and I were reminising about bad movies that make good watching because their so bad their fun to pick on, which is how I thought to review this "movie". If you are indeed reading and maybe looking for a movie like that congratulations! You've found your pick in Zombie High!

I saw this a long time ago but really remember how ridiculous it was with the zombieized students and chaotic goings ons. Although, this is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, it's worth seeing for the pure entertainment factor(and really did not bore me at all-surprisingly not boring)which is at least one good thing I can say about it. This is pure camp but it's fun and funny and I need to find it so I can watch it again. If comedic camp is your thing you've found it here.

Not an undead film, but is that enough to condemn it?

[deadguy-1 · 26 May 2002]

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.

Not much to see here

[kevin_robbins · 4/10 · 26 May 2021]

Zombie High (1987) is a movie I recently watched on Shudder after seeing it highlight in Into the Darkness. The storyline focuses on a woman off to college when she discovers her university has a checkered past. When she starts falling for one of her college professors she discovers the faculty may have something to do with the treacherous history. This movie is directed by Ron Link as his only major motion picture and stars Virginia Madsen (Candyman), Richard Cox (Cruising) and James Wilder (3 Holes and a Smoking Gun). This movie was such a disappointment, especially if you want to see a zombie picture. The focus was much more about the cult. There are a couple good scenes like the "sieze the day" classroom sequence, the professor's "pin board" and the fight in the library when the guy punches the professor then immediately says, "Sorry, I'm immature;" outside of that, not much to see here. I'd score this a 4/10.

What a prom!!!!....

[FlashCallahan · 5/10 · 21 August 2016]

Andrea goes to a previously all-male boarding school on a scholarship.

She begins to separate herself from her boyfriend in order to devote more time to her new environment, and the director of the Ghostbusters reboot.

Over a course of time she notices that more and more students have lost their individuality, and approach their activities in a lifeless and automatic manner.

Eventually a diabolical plot fostered by the faculty begins to emerge........

The first thing you need to know about Zombie High is the fact that the film features not one Zombie. It's about the undead, and if it were called Vampire High, it would have suited the film better.

And to be honest, it's not a very good film. We get to spend the entirety of the film following Virginia Madsen being stalked by one of her lecturers, and then having her jealous boyfriend come and go, just to give her a hard time about her faithfulness to him.

Paul Feig pops up as a styles/screech type character, but he soon just becomes an afterthought.

But there are a few moments that redeem the film, even if they are amusing for the wrong reasons. The prom scene is laugh out loud funny, and the look on the singers face is priceless when he sees the way the guests are dancing.

And the final five minutes where the tutors are desperate for the serum, and they run down to the basement where Andrea is and the next thing you know, they are all wearing really bad Halloween masks.

So it's not a wonder that this film is long forgotten, but them again, these cheesy eighties horror films always have some redeeming factors

Exactly where is this school located?

[Coventry · 4/10 · 30 July 2009]

See, this is exactly what you should do in case you want to make an 80's horror fanatic very angry. You just give the false impression that he/she is about to watch a movie with plentiful of zombies and then subsequently you serve a movie that features absolutely … NO zombies! The friend who borrowed me his VHS-copy luckily warned me beforehand about the complete lack of zombies, but I can easily imagine that back in the eighties a lot of initially enthusiast zombie buffs were severely disappointed. It's actually a big shame because misleading titles and disappointed genre fans lead to negative ratings, even though "Zombie High" really isn't that much of a bad film. It's a fairly spirited and harmless little 80's horror-comedy that only features derivative story elements instead of horror or comedy, but at least it's never boring AND it stars two of my personal favorite B-movie actresses; Virginia Madsen and Sherilyn Fenn. Madsen, playing an 18-year-old student at age 26, is very happy when she gets selected as one of the first girls ever to attend classes in a prominent boarding school that previously was accessible for boys only. Her enthusiasm gradually turns into fear as she notices that her fellow students start losing their personalities, like they are being lobotomized or something. Andrea has a bit of a crush on her handsome biology teacher Mr Philo, but can anyone in this entire perilous school be trusted? In the subject line of this user comment I raised the question of where this titular school could be located. Deriving from the brief plot description, I think experienced thriller fans know exactly the school is located. Rebellious and headstrong teenagers transforming overnight into exemplar students? Doesn't it ring a bell? Could this school possibly be a little side- project of the chauvinist males of Stanford? The concept of "Zombie High" is a mixture between the 70's classic "The Stepford Wives" and the plot of a horror novel by John Saul which I believe was called "Darkness". Eventually it turns out that the teachers are over a century old and extract fluid from the student brains in order to stay young and virile. Apparently extracting brain fluids turns people into model citizens! I sure hope the government doesn't find out about that! Anyway, after a pretty dull and uneventful first hour, the denouement sequences are amusing and contain a handful of decent special effects. Director Rob Link attempts to maintain an atmosphere of mystery surrounding the school's dark secrets, but it's too predictable and commonly known.

Zombie Low

[NoDakTatum · 2/10 · 8 October 2023]

Virginia Madsen plays high school student Andrea, who is awarded a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school originally attended exclusively by boys. Andrea kisses boyfriend Barry (James Wilder) goodbye, and she moves in with wild roommate Suzi (Sherilyn Fenn). Andrea begins seeing a young debonair biology teacher (this is so sci-fi), and he makes a clumsy pass at her. Barry finds out and gets upset- the film takes its time setting up its premise. Eventually, different student friends of Andrea's wind up, well, different. The senator's rebellious son, who wanted to quit the school, suddenly becomes the star pupil. All the boys start dressing alike and reciting facts from books, without showing any emotion or feelings. Andrea finds out that cute bio teach Philo (Richard Cox) is really into brains and discovers his diabolical plan.

Despite the sexy dream team of Madsen and Fenn, who have been better in much more, here they are given little to do. Madsen was twenty-four when this was made, and does not pass for a high schooler. The zombies themselves are not much too look at- the students appear a little pasty, and nothing more. "Zombie High" is a misnomer, but I do not think "Brainwashed High" has the same effect. One gaffe has "zombie" students dancing very slowly at a school dance, but still able to sprint across the quad after Barry and Andrea. Lumbering undead like a Romero film, or runners straight out of "Chariots of Fire"? The film makes no mystery of what is happening behind closed doors in the infirmary, and that is unfortunate. Letting the audience in on the secrets too soon results in a complete lack of suspense. There are no scary scenes. The great production values, great sets, and lots of creepy blue light are all negated because we know exactly what will happen every time a scene begins. What is left is a very padded ninety-one minute film filled with awful pop music. The end credits anthem is some drivel called "Kiss My Butt." If anything, the viewer may wish that on the people responsible for "Zombie High."

Taken for what it is, it's an absolute lost gem

[drownsoda90 · 7/10 · 21 December 2015]

"Zombie High" has a too-mature Virginia Madsen attending a remote prep school to the chagrin of her bad-boy boyfriend; "So when did you become an expert on prep schools?" she asks over the opening credits. But once she goes to hit the books, it becomes all too apparent that something is off with the student body and the administration, who seem a bit too primped and erudite for their own good.

I had never heard of this film until Scream Factory resurrected it and put it out on Blu-ray for the first time this past week, and I'm glad it got to see the light of day, as it appears to have slipped through the cracks into '80s video hell. It apparently was a student film put together by a group of USC enrollees at the university's film & television department, but the production values don't really show—in fact, it is a rather glossy picture that looks like any other late eighties teen movie. It appears to be knocked quite a bit for the cheese factor, which I also find odd given that most, if not all, films in this vein liven up the kitsch.

The film is essentially an eighties teen retelling of "The Stepford Wives," and the title is a bit misleading when taken literally—there are no zombies here in the George Romero sense of the word, and while the crux of the entire film is cribbed from the wives of Stepford, it still manages to be a somewhat sharp and witty satire on the stuffy world of New England boarding schools. Sure, it's contrived, but what late eighties horror flick isn't? The script is quirky and the pacing is well done; the subplot between Madsen's character and the vampy, suave teacher comes off as a bit half-baked by the end of it, but he is essentially the through-line that ties the events of the picture together.

The acting here is really good, especially given that it is mostly delivered from film students and newcomers. Virginia Madsen is always a pleasure to watch, and possesses an old Hollywood look and performance style that seems to elevate any projects she's involved in; her role here as a young woman oppressed by forces around her precedes her not so dissimilar performance in "Candyman" a few years later. Cult icon Sherilyn Fenn, who we all know and love as Audrey from "Twin Peaks" also has a small role in the film as Madsen's roommate and peer; Paul Feig and Scott Coffey also have memorable supporting parts.

Overall, "Zombie High" is a quirky eighties horror flick with tinges of teen comedy steeped in rather straightforward yet witty-enough satire. On one hand, I can understand some of the gripes people have with the film, but on the other, this is the type of movie that demands to be taken on its own terms, and in the world of late eighties thrillers (ala "Heathers"), this modest, somewhat silly horror-satire hits its marks—as a student film, I'd give it an A+. 7/10.

Warning, does not contain zombies (sort of)

[bowmanblue · 4/10 · 8 April 2024]

It's never a good sign when you pause the film you're watching and expect to see the counter reading roughly an hour of the way through, only to find that you're only thirty minutes in (to a movie that's only an hour and a half in total). In short, this film is a drudge to watch.

I like to think I'm hardly a 'cinema snob.' I've watched every film with 'living dead' in the title and, as long as there's a few brains being eaten here and there I can totally enjoy a cheesy B-movie, especially if it's set in the eighties.

I don't know whether this is a 'spoiler' or not, but there are basically no 'zombies' in 'Zombie High.' Okay, so that statement may be open to interpretation, but if your definition of 'zombie' involves a walking corpse (or 'infected' person, if you're in the '28 Days Later' world) hunting humans down for food, then you're going to be severely disappointed here.

A young girl (supposed to be in her teens, but actually 26 in real life) joins an elite school, only to slowly discover that the pupils are being transformed into mindless er 'zombies.' Nothing wrong with that plot (let's face it... it's basically the story behind every variation of a 'Bodysnatchers' movie and they could be pretty awesome!). The problem here is that it's just so damn slow.

If I had to sum up 'Zombie High' in one word it would simply be 'boring.' The eighties ambiance is on full display here and everything from the sets to the music and costumes spell out this decade to the full. It also has a (pre 'Twin Peaks') Sherilyn Fenn as a side character - usually a fine addition to any cast and yet even she can't really elevate the script enough to make this worth watching.

I really wanted to like this, but it's such a slog that I can't really recommend it for anything. Not even any real gore to speak of. I guess if you like looking at eighties style sets and wardrobes then you'l definitely get that here, nothing 'horrific' in this 'horror' movie.

Little seen gem from the 80's

[para_fernandoborges · 8/10 · 29 January 2021]

Virginia Madsen is very beautiful on this movie that is based on a kind of a Stepford Wives premise. But here conformity and brainwashing are not a gender issue but aiming to transform the youth into passive college students that are "perfect" for the financial market. There is also a subplot involving the myth of the ageless vampire but in a very peculiar way, what seemed refreshing for me. Soundtrack is very good and the conclusion is abrupt but also funny. It is surprising how little seen this movie is, at least here, on IMDb. I noticed other reviewers are complaining because they say there are no zombies and no high school. Indeed the story is set on a college. But that did not bother me at all. As for the zombies ... if you are open to a broader concept of zombies, then we have 2 types of zombies in this movie, the young and the old ones. Watch it and you will get what I mean. There is really nothing much to complain about this movie. Give it a go, it is worth it. Review by Fernando Ramos.

Decent, Not Wonderful

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 4 June 2013]

A woman goes to previously all-male boarding school on a scholarship. She begins to separate herself from her boyfriend in order to devote more time to her new environment. Over a course of time she notices that more and more students have lost their individuality, and approach their activities in a lifeless and automatic manner.

The most notable thing about this film is the pairing of two cult actresses: Sherilyn Fenn ("Twin Peaks") and Virginia Madsen ("Candyman"), as well as producing legend Cassian Elwes. Beyond that, the movie is largely forgettable.

Honestly, I think the worst part of the movie is the title. There is little inspiration that could have made such a bland title, and the film deserves better. Indeed, the first half exudes the 1980s horror sensibility and many fans of that era will like this one. It goes a bit downhill later on, but overall could have acquired a bit of a cult following with a better name and maybe a minor tweaking of the script.

Boringf

[drthorstenkrings · 1/10 · 7 April 2024]

I guess that behind this film is the intention to produce a satire as to how private schools produce people who are only meant to function effectively within the system and show as little individualuity as possible. It is a nice idea to combine that with Zombies as Romero used the Zombie shoppers as a satire on consumerism. Having said that this film is just incredibly boring. Nothing really happens (at least for the first 60 minutes as I stopped watching then). No suspension is created, music is not used effectively and you have really no idea what's going on. And quite frankly at thta point you don't even care what's going on. Pity, because the idea could have made a great movie.