The Student Body (1976)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Don't listen to the negative reviews

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The Student Body (on DVD titled Classroom Teasers) is available on DVD from Code Red video. http://codereddvd.bigcartel.com/products This classic from 1976 is the 83 minute version in anamorphic widescreen. Its not the best print, but I am sure this is the best CR could find (and this guy works hard to get decent prints) but this is better than the videotape bootlegs of this drive-in classic. Its your typical T&A flick from the '70s but its very tame by today's standards (like those cheerleader flicks from the same era) but the writing and acting is not bad for its type. Three girls coming from reform school into college for experiments and loads of erotic exploits soon follow. Just glad to have found this on legit DVD after all these years.

This here is a perfect example of seventies drive-in sleaze. up to my review it isn't available on DVD. You can find it on a double feature VHS but it doesn't go cheap on the web. Still, the copy I have is still in excellent condition. No extra hiss or scratches or damaged tape. Lucky to have such copy. But was I lucky to see it, well, it's a good story and I was surprised about the excellent filming and even editing. But of course the director Gus Trikonis became a famous director of television series the best known, Baywatch. So you can see that he had it to make it. Even the cast in this flick went further into the business and it shows also because they all act pretty well. But naturally, it's drive-in style so nothing really happens, you got 3 girls which are really bad ones in jail so they are send to some kind of farm were they get involved in experiments. They have to take drugs so from nasty girls they become really nasty girls. There is a bit of nudity in it, a catfight in a penitentiary, and some fights. But it's funny to see it all just for the hairstyles and the clothes. So 70's. If you collect grindhouse or exploitation than you must have it, because some actors and the director made it in the scene. But for me it lacked a bit of sleaze, yes, the fountain was sleazy but still, I have seen better drive-in's. My version clocked in at 86 minutes and not as stated on IMDb as 76 minutes...

This starts out as a WIP film with three female convicts getting in a brawl in a prison laundry room. Afterwards, the fed-up warden decides to send them to a special experimental program at the local college, after which they'll be completely released. If this sounds like a bad idea, it gets worse--the real intention of the program is to experiment on them with a dangerous psychotropic drug. Of course, as is typical for these movies, the three girls are much more meant to be scrumptious pieces of tail than they are to be remotely believable as hardened criminals. The trio quickly make all the other girls on campus jealous, and the lead (Jillian Kessner) becomes involved with the son of the corrupt professor heading the experiment (much to the dismay of the latter since he kind of has a thing for her himself). After a (kind of) wild pool party where everyone gets naked, the effects of the drugs kick in, and the movie starts to get enjoyably ridiculous.Under the effects of the drug, the Kessner character ends up becoming a VERY serious student, who punctuates her points by hurling an ashtray at the wall. The character "Chicago" (Maria Heiden), who was a nymphomaniac to begin with, actually tries to rape a guy and beats his girlfriend when she tries to intervene. Most hilarious though is the third girl "Mitzi" (June Fairchild) who is VERY obsessed with penguins as the result of having been molested by a priest. Obviously, this is highly implausible (since when do Catholic priests molest GIRLS?). Still, there's a great scene where the girls are spending a night on the town (taking in a showing of "Deep Throat"!) and "Mitzi" spots a VERY large stuffed penguin in a shop window. (Obviously, things don't end well for the window).The movie is presented in a pretty straight manner and the end seems completely earnest, but director Gus Trikonis HAD to have been in on the joke here. (It's a definitely an improvement over his previous film "Swinging Barmaids" in any event). There's not as much nudity as you might expect. Kessner, who will look vaguely familiar to anyone who watched American TV in the 70's or 80's, has a brief topless scene. Strangely, the nymphomaniac has no nude scenes though. Perhaps he best thing about this, however, is June Fairchild, who had played "Sonny Swingle", one of the many pretty maids in the wonderful 70's trashfest "Pretty Maids All in a Row". She doesn't go full-frontal here like she did in that one, but you do get to see her cute little butt during the skinny-dipping scene. Moreover though, she's just generally great (she DEFINITELY wasn't in enough movies). Recommended, especially for fans of 70's sexploitation.

Three nubile young prison inmates -- fiery Carrie (slinky blonde Jillian Kesner), sassy Chicago (lovely eyeful Janice Heiden), and fragile Mitzi (foxy brunette June Fairchild) -- are chosen for an unorthodox college study on human behavior that's being conducted by shrink Professor Blalock (a solid turn by Warren Stevens). Unbeknownst to the gals, they are really being used as guinea pigs for an experimental drug that causes all of them to become more exceedingly hostile and unstable: Mitzi steals a giant stuffed penguin from a toy store display window, Chicago becomes aggressively libidinous, and Carrie suddenly develops a moral conscience. Ably directed with flair to spare by underrated 70's B-movie master Gus ("Nashville Girl") Trikonis, with a pleasing plenitude of tasty distaff nudity, a smidgen of soft-core sex, several cool set pieces (highlights include a rough'n'tumble catfight in an all-girls juvenile penitentiary, a rowdy pool party, and a smoky back alley high stakes craps game), a tight'n'trim 75 minute running time, profane dialogue, a pertinent central message about the dangers of unethical unregulated drug testing, and a winningly raunchy sense of breezy'n'easy irreverent humor, this flick serves up loads of infectiously trashy grindhouse fun. The three lady leads are hot, sexy and attractive (Fairchild in particular is absolutely adorable), plus they all are pretty capable actresses. This movie further benefits from spirited acting by an enthusiastic supporting cast: Peter Hooten as Blalock's hunky nice guy son Carter, Judith Roberts as the shrewish Ms. Blalock, Vic Jolley as the girls' uptight guardian Vernon, David Ankrum as the nerdy Leroy, and Faith Barnhart as the snippy Sharon. The always reliable Gary Graver's typically proficient cinematography does the trick. The groovy 70's cop show-style disco score by Don Bagley and Steve Michaels likewise hits the funky spot. A hugely entertaining and unjustly overlooked exploitation blast.