Class of Nuke 'Em High (1986)

Plot Outline: The pupils at a school situated right next to Tromaville Nuclear Power Plant begin to act and look strange when there is a toxic spill and the waste manages to get into the school's water system. The power plant denies any knowledge but when the brainiest kids at school turn themselves into a crazed biker gang and there is a slimy monster growing in the school's basement, someone is going to have sort the problem out.

The Review: Anyone familiar with the Troma output will know exactly what they're getting themselves in for with arguably their second most famous film, behind The Toxic Avenger. It's one totally off-beat ride with everything-but-the-kitchen sink thrown in for good measure. It's completely juvenile and throwaway and no one is going to watch it for a serious night in. I'm not a big fan of Troma films so I may be a bit bias against their type of filmmaking but there is just something pointless about watching their films. Maybe it's the incoherent plots, the silly approach of the acting or the fact that everyone involved in the film seems to be smoking weed. The casts in their films are awful and, intentional or not, sometimes I just can't sit through people acting silly when the entire cast does it. Maybe one or two would be bearable but not everyone. There is no real plot to speak of either, just a messy sequence of events which culminate in the creation of the mutant in the basement. Perhaps it's because there's no one real central character to base the film around, just a series of smaller characters who mill around for a bit. The cast aren't worth mentioning as I've already said - this bunch of actors obviously know they're in a Troma flick and they're not going to get any higher on the ladder of success (come to think of it, I don't think they could get any lower either). However the special effects are the saving grace of the film and here Troma pull out all of the stops. The mutations that various students go through are quite convincing but the mutant that stalks the school towards the end of the film is a terrifying creation, worthy of being in a far superior film.

Final Verdict: Troma films usually go for the kick-in-the-groin routine with bad taste and shock tactics but unfortunately most of their efforts here are wasted with the sheer stupidity and daftness that everything in the film reeks of. Class of Nuke 'Em High is for die-hard Troma fans only.

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