Class of Nuke 'Em High

I think every fan of tromas work should see this, it's one of the early films that made troma what it was. After their 4 sex comedies and buying Bloodsucking Freaks, Toxic Avenger was the first truly Tromatic film and this is the follow up where they do MORE. I love this film to death it's amazing with cheey eighties special effects, comic book plot, good music and good jokes. A lot of fun, you'll enjoy it if you like Troma's other stuff...Not recommended as a starting point.

Class of Nuke 'Em High is one of Troma's best loved and most seen films. This film helped to define the Troma formula that crap addicts the world over would grow to love - gory violence, gratuitous nudity and black humour, all mixed with a large dose of irony and an incredible lack of taste.

Class of Nuke 'Em High was released just after "The Toxic Avenger" and it shares a similar nuclear theme. In this case, a nuclear waste facility is leaking toxic goo into the local high school with some rather unfortunate consequences for the student body. Unlike the poor nerd in the film's brilliant opening sequence, our heroes are not directly exposed to the toxic waste. Rather, Warren and Chrissy smoke marijuana grown on the grounds of the nuclear power plant. This ultra-potent pot not only makes Chrissy incredibly horny, but mutates her unborn child and imbues Warren with super-human strength.

The film then focuses on Warren's rivalry with the Cretins (former honours students who have turned into freaks after smoking one too many toxic joints) and Chrissy's rampaging miscarried foetus (which lives in the toilet and hides out in a vat of toxic waste). These situations provide the filmmakers with plenty of opportunities for hilarious sight gags, gory violence and camp action - and they deliver.

As with much of Troma's early output, this film has been crafted with considerable care and attention to detail, despite budgetary restrictions. The plot has its own ludicrous sense of logic and the direction is captivating - Kaufman, Herz and Richard W. Haines all share a directorial credit but the action sequences reek of Kaufman's mercurial style. I love the scene where Warren literally punches one of the cretins through the mouth, down into his chest. The special effects also deserve a mention. The creature effects used for Chrissy's mutant foetus are hilarious.

The Class of Nuke 'Em High does not quite match "The Toxic Avenger" for originality or style, but it is a great example of what Troma does better than any other studio and why they are still around 20 years later.

Students pick leaves from a radioactive marijuana plant located in the yard of the nuclear plant.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs n found the creature to b a cheap copy of Alien.

Was never a fan of Troma movies in the late 80s cos they were more gross than gory.

Revisited it recently.

Their earlier effort Toxic Avenger is far superior to this one.

Funny: The comedy is wittier than you'd expect. Along with the obvious gross gags, there are some deadpan character reactions that made me laugh, like when some of the men checking the plant for radioactivity were dropping like flies and their colleagues, who were standing right beside them, didn't seem to notice or care. Also, you learn a useful lesson here: when you find a barrel full of green slime that smells bad and makes weird noises, DON'T stick your hand into it!

Sexy: The heroine is cute, but the two (or were there three?) bad girls are from another planet!

Gory: Considering the budget they probably had to work with, the gore effects are ingenious. The mutations, mutilations and monsters all look good.

I've not seen enough Troma films to compare this with, but it's fun for at least one viewing. (**1/2)

If only my highschool was like this...eerily predicting a violent chaotic state of highschools in the future loaded with biker gangs and mutants. I first saw this movie on USA's "Up All Night" back in the early 90's when I was about 8 years old and it became one of my favorite late night viewings especially since I was very heavy into the Toxic Crusaders. Movies like this and the Toxic Avenger played a big part in my childhood and thanks to Lloyd Kaufman's influence I am the sick demented horror fan I am today...as if it's a bad thing. 10/10