Teen Slasher Spoofs

Here are my 3 favorite teen slasher spoofs. And, in case you're wondering, I actually own their inferior successors, Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2, which have their moments, but in the immortal words of M.C. Hammer: 'Can't Touch This'.

• Pandemonium. © 1982
Synopsis: A serious of grisly cheerleader deaths leads to a race against time to track down a killer at a nearby co-ed cheerleading camp.
Comments: I love this movie. It has such a great before-they-were-stars cast: Carol Kane, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reubens, Kay Ballard, Tab Hunter, Phil Hartman, David L. Lander (AKA "Squiggy"), Eileen Brennan, Tom Smothers, Eve Arden and so many more familiar faces! Sure, I know some of these people were already stars, but it's still fun to see them in a wacky comedy like this one. And, if you have a keen eye and look closely during the diner scene, you'll see a very young Weird Al Yankovic. He's not listed in the credits, but I'd stake my reputation that it's him.

The movie has a great ongoing spoof of Carrie (Carol Kane's character has telekinesis), while referencing other horror films like Godzilla, Friday The 13th and an array of other popular teen slasher movies of the time.

I have so many favorite scenes, but my personal favorite is when Candy (played by Carol Kane), a sheltered girl with telekinesis and an overbearing zealot of a mother (played by Eileen Brennan), piles in the car with the rest of the kids from cheerleader camp, to go out to eat. While bouncing up and down excitedly exclaims:

Candy: I'm having so much fun!
Andy: Really enjoying the camp, huh?
Candy: No, I've never been in a car with three people before!

• Student Bodies. © 1981
Synopsis: A killer named The Breather is terrorizing the local high school class of 1981. The Breather seeks out students having sex and kills them. Can our heroine, Toby escape with her virginity intact?
Comments: Again (yes again!), I really do love this movie. This movie was (I think) the most successful of the three. I remember reading reviews for it in the newspaper and even remember seeing the advertisements in the movie section. I always thought it had SUCH great poster artwork.
First off, I love the characters in this movie: The stereotypical "creepy school caretaker", Malvert. The sinister shop teacher with a penchant for horse head bookends. The "I said NO!" button-wearing heroine, Toby. The Breather, who has a penchant for making prank phone calls while talking through a rubber chicken. They all come together to make a hilarious ensemble.
The movie references Halloween, Grease, Prom Night, Porky's, Friday The 13th and many more. I'm tempted to include Graduation Day, but it came out the same year.

• Wacko. © 1981
Synopsis: The infamous "Lawnmower Killer" has escaped the local asylum and must be stopped before he slices and dices his way through the senior class at Alfred Hitchcock High's annual Halloween Pumpkin Prom.
Comments: Okay, admittedly this is the least of my 3 favorites, simply because a lot of the laughs fall kinda flat. However, I can't resist a movie that spoofs Grease, Alien, Saturday Night Fever, The Omen, The Exorcist, Halloween, Prom Night and more. Plus, I love the fact that there are so many familiar faces in this one, not unlike Pandemonium. You've got Joe Don Baker (AKA "Mitchell"), Stella Stevens, George Kennedy, Julia Duffy, E.G. Daly (always LOVE her) and even Andrew Dice Clay!