Class of Nuke Em High (Sp) [VHS]

At various times good, bad, enjoyable and irritating, Class of Nuke 'Em High is a grade C film that was intentionally made to be a grade C film. The plot concerns a nuclear power plant that's run by a whole team of Homer Simpsons. Not only are they having periodic mini-disasters, but one of the employees has been growing marijuana in a restricted outside area and selling it to kids at the local high school, which is only a quarter mile down the road. The high school kids are exposed to nuclear waste both through the marijuana and through a water supply contamination, and it turns some of them into pulsating radioactive superheroes, disintegrates others, and for the former honor society, it turned them into an overacting group of Mad Max rejects. There is one scene in the movie which is especially bad where supposed actor, Brett Weston, playing a corpse gets gang raped by a bunch of covermounters and can distinctively be seen smiling as he recieves wave after wave of punishment.

A lot of Nuke 'Em High is supposed to be funny, and much of it is. Some of the stuff that's supposed to be funny is simply irritating-this goes for the Mad Max rejects most of the time. Movies like this tend to work better when it's not so obvious that they are trying to spoof genres. When they are trying, it has to be extremely funny in order to work. When they aren't trying-when the filmmakers are trying to make a decent film given their budget, and it still comes out bad, the little unintentionally funny bits are enjoyable. It's the difference of laughing at a faux pas as opposed to watching a bad comedian tell a cheesy joke.

The nuclear plant setting, with a wonderfully fake looking matte painting for exterior shots, is unfortunately underused-the plant employee characters were enjoyable, funny and there was a lot more potential for them. Several other auxiliary characters should have been used more, also, but the two goody-two-shoe protagonists are well cast and do an admirable job.

Classified as horror, Nuke 'Em High doesn't even approach that genre for a large chunk of the first half. That's too bad because it works best when it's violent. The scene with the old lady carrying groceries, the alleyway brawl, the coup d'etat in the principles office, the bathroom fight scene, etc. are all among this films best.

Recommendation: Overall, Nuke 'Em High is a mixed bag, and my evaluation while I was watching it continually vacillated between "bad bad" and "good bad." Troma films fans are bound to enjoy this to some extent, although most fans are more than likely already familiar with this Troma staple. Other than Troma fans, approach this film only if you enjoy cheesy B and C movies. It's not the best "turkey," but it is tasty enough for Thanksgiving.


Every bit as good as The Toxic Avenger   April 20, 2000
TRASH (THE BRONX)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I have seen this film many times and never get tired of it. I would mention the plot,but who cares about the plot in a film like this? For some reason,this isn't as respected as The Toxic Avenger,and I wonder why. The laughs in this film are nonstop and any comedy fan should check this film out.


The film with the three R's Reading, Writing and Radiation   November 27, 1998
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Tromaville High is a regular American highschool with one exception. It's 1/4 of a mile from a nuke planet. At the high school strage things are begining to happen. The honor society has turned from a group of clean cut preppys into a gang of violent creatins. The movie gets really good when the two main characters Warren and Krissy smoke some radio active pot. If your looking for an 80's cult classic with nothing but sex, drugs and rock'n roll get this movie It kicks so much mother ass!


buy this movie...i'm serious   June 30, 1999
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

You can't go wrong with Troma, ever. But as with most films, some are better than others...this is a better one! How can you go wrong with Fellini references, bathroom brawls, and mutated punks...you can't. This is the breakfast club on acid! Buy it, rent it, steal it...just watch it!


AT LEAST WATCH IT TO SEE THE "CRETINS"   October 27, 1999
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This movie is great. The best part about it is this crazy gang called the "Cretins." One of them is a cross dresser and one of them has like 5 crazy nose rings and hits people with a bone. The bone hitting factor alone is enough to make this a classic.