Jane (Montse Hernandez) wants to be close to her childhood friend Merritt (Cheyenne Haynes). Merritt’s click involving Nadia (Harley Quinn Smith), Ellis (Anthony Keyvan), and Eric (Austin Zajur) are sort of troublemakers, whereas Jane is quieter and keeps to herself. It isn’t clear as to how things changed between Jane and Merritt, but Jane doesn’t want to lose her friend and does what she can to keep her close – even if that closeness gets under the skin of one Mr. Aunspach (Christian Camargo). After the teacher oversteps his boundaries with Jane and the group break into the school after hours, a string of bloody events is set into motion, and everyone’s friendship will be tested.
Written and directed by Lee Ann Kurr, Student Body sets up a lot of intrigue within its first act. While its premise is relatively straightforward, the dynamic among the group is interesting enough to get viewers hooked in and anticipating potential issues. Thanks to some brief photos in Jane’s locker, the viewer is offered a glance into how close her and Merritt used to be. Questions regarding their relationship and how each individual feels may begin to arise within the viewer, further stirring intrigue as to how things between them may become more emotional when a killer begins stalking the group. Ultimately though, much of the appeal established early on fades away overtime, the film struggling to find solid ground in expressing anything of emotional depth.
There is a fun “Who is the killer?” approach to the masked mad person (especially since there are several people who are not a fan of the central cast). The action-suspense component of the film is serviceable, offering some thrills there and then. On a thematic level though, Student Body is a bit messy in what it is striving to cover. There are a couple times where the dynamic between teachers and students is brought up; how students know so little about their teachers, and how those teachers have power over students. To the film’s credit, this is explored, though not to any extent that offers much to mull over. Another issue is a recurring conversation Mr. Aunspach has with Jane regarding her friendship with the group and her natural intellect; it sounds like he’s trying to say something of significance, but it’s all nonsensical talk that conveys little meaning.
The friends give off a genuine closeness; as they share inside jokes among one another and shoot the shit, they provide a relative relatability as high school kids. What makes the group more interesting though is how some of them engage with Jane. Given that Jane’s relationship to Merritt is the core focus among the friends, it’s weird how the film opts to explore their history, because not much is explicitly covered. To be fair, there are enough clues to piece one’s own idea together (given how Merritt acts in situations), but the writing between these two doesn’t come across as fleshed out as it could, especially given the importance of their history.
As the conclusion of Student Body approaches, it feels like there are a lot of neat ideas present, but little gets the full treatment to be explored on a more meaningful level. The silent conflict between Jane and Merritt has its moments of intrigue that audiences will certainly want to learn more about, but the writing doesn’t dig deep enough into their past and eroded bond. All these flaws come together for a film that, while it has some neat characters and interesting enough suspense, ends up coming across muddy in what it is striving to express and show.
Student Body comes to VOD outlets on February 8, 2022.
The post ‘Student Body’ Review – This Teen Slasher Offers Some Thrills But Very Little Depth appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.