Monday 1 February 2016

#290: SPLATTER UNIVERSITY

1984
Directed by Richard W Haines
Horror, Slasher.



I feel like I have now reached the point in time where I have seen so many low budget 80s Slasher flicks that I can't even tell them apart! I put the 88Films Blu-Ray disc in and 5 minutes in I was convinced I had already seen this film, yet I hadn't. Which goes to show how generic it is. Although it was released by the mighty Troma team, this one doesn't quite share the same blueprints as say Toxic Avenger. That is to say it isn't as wildly imaginative or as funny or crazy. It has your typical stock synthesiser score and 25 year olds playing 16 year olds who can't act or speak a word of dialogue to save their lives. I think the reason I found this so familiar is that Troma already released a very similar Slasher film called Graduation Day (also on the 88Films label).

Splatter University (though its set in a college) begins in a brutal fashion with two stabbings that lead to buckets of fake blood. In fact in the second kill the poor woman has her tit cut in half! But after an exhilarating start, the film swiftly goes downhill from there by being too lopsided. The killer isn't seen frequently enough, and inbetween his kills you have to tolerate badly written and acted teen drama, focusing too strongly on a teacher who cannot control her students, and a student who has fallen pregnant and doesn't know how to tell her boyfriend. It gets a bit too Saved By the Bell or Beverly Hills 90210 for a Horror film! I wish this one had more of Troma's crazy sense of humour and disgusting over the top effects. At 78 minutes, this film is tolerable, but not especially worth seeking out in the first place. 5/10.

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