Class of Nuke 'Em High: Director's Cut (Stomp Visual) (1986) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-Lloyd Kaufman (Co-Director) Deleted Scenes Gallery-Photo-Nuke 'Em High Fear Book TV Spots-PSA's Featurette-Nuke 'Em High School Sweethearts Additional Footage-Extra Curricular Activities Featurette-Tour Of Troma Studios Trailer-Troma Releases Featurette-Scenes From The Tromaville Cafe Credits Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	1986
Running Time	?
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Richard W. Haines Michael Herz Lloyd Kaufman
Studio Distributor	Troma Studios Stomp Visual	Starring	Janelle Brady Gil Brenton Robert Prichard Pat Ryan James Nugent Vernon Brad Dunker Gary Schneider Théo Cohan Gary Rosenblatt Mary Taylor Rick Howard Heather McMahan Chris McNamee
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	David Barreto David Behennah Biohazard

Welcome to Tromaville High, where the students are getting brighter - literally!

     When the local nuclear plant springs a leak, everybody "radiates" a new personality. The honour society has mutated into "The Cretins" motorcycle gang, and a humungous monster foetus is growing in the fallout shelter. Who will survive, and what will be left of them?

     Class of Nuke 'Em High is neither the best nor worst of the Troma oeuvre, a surprisingly unpredictable movie always heading off in different directions but which isn't always interesting to watch. The standard over-the-top violence, gore and nudity meets some slow plotting as the main characters are introduced and the scene is set for a spectacular ending, and that's what the film delivers: there's a surprising amount of filmmaking skill in the last 20 minutes that was unfortunately previously unseen, in particular an impressive prop monster attacking the main characters as they fight for their lives in the remains of the high school. This doesn't quite forgive the faults of the previous hour, unfortunately, but makes this the ideal film to watch with friends and alcohol.

     Director Richard W. Haines and Lloyd Kaufman deliver a decisively average entry into the Troma catalogue with Class of Nuke' Em High, a film I can't quite recommend but can't write off as easily as some of the worst Troma efforts. That it has spawned a cult following as well as several sequels speaks well of it, but it definitely isn't up to the standards of The Toxic Avenger or Tromeo and Juliet.

Video

     The video is presented in pan and scan 1.33:1 aspect ratio, not its original 1.85:1. The video transfer has a lot of problems, falling into the "average" category in the Troma quality spectrum. As a direct NTSC conversion, there's lots of bad interlacing and aliasing, which is particularly noticeable when there's text on the screen, and there's a surprising amount of film artefacts present across the film. It's a major slight that the film has been pan and scanned from its original aspect ratio, but this fits alongside the majority of these Troma DVDs that only have 1.33:1 aspects. On the other hand, this is a consistently bright and detailed transfer, with a lot of sharpness and lovely bright colours flourishing onscreen. Shadow detail is not very good, however very little of the film is dark, with the majority of it looking lovely and cartoonish as the screen explodes in extreme violence. A mixed bag, then, it's definitely not on par with the Toxic Avenger 21st Anniversary Special Edition, but it's not nearly as awful as Rabid Grannies.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
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Audio

     The audio is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0 (Mono). For a low budget film, this audio track is very effective. Although simplistic, lacking any surround and using minimal subwoofer, it's very clear and very audible, doing the different effects and music justice. Sound effects range from the typical horrific violent sounds to effects you'd usually find in cartoons, which ham up the onscreen action accordingly.

     The score by Michael Latlanzi is fairly effective in recreating the B-grade horror music this film seeks to play up, and the title track by Ethan Hurt sounds great.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Scenes We Thought We Lost in the Chernobyl Disaster

     A set of deleted scenes are restored here, over 15 minutes in total, most of which are not notable except for one excellent scene involving an oversized rat puppet mutation attacking a cat. These are in the same 1.33:1 as the movie, which works fine, but I wish there was a Play All option. As a further example of the awful menus on Troma DVDs like this, there's no "Back" button to get back to the main menu.

Commentary by co-director Lloyd Kaufman

     For some reason this enjoyable commentary track is not listed on the DVD packaging and is inaccessible from the menus, an annoying oversight as its much more enjoyable to watch the movie with. Lloyd Kaufman. He is wonderful to listen to, as always - I really enjoy hearing about the Troma process (such as how they, as a low budget company, nearly always shoot in sequence to ensure that if main actors drop out, the script can be altered to have them killed) and how he put his wife and daughter in danger during an 'important' shot so the actual actors were not at risk. Lloyd is lively and interesting across the entire running time, though the most fascinating thing to me is that Troma was the first western studio to distribute the Miyazaki classic My Neighbor Totoro outside of Japan, which is completely insane. Think about that for a moment, seriously.

Nuke 'Em High Fear Book

     A low-resolution gallery of photos from the shoot and promotional stills - nothing to see here.

Radiation March (0:53)

     An extremely strange, surreal dance clip that’s really a public service announcement against pollution. I have no idea what this is doing on this DVD, aside from being very clearly in the vein of Troma, it’s a bizarre though enjoyable addition to the package.

Nuke 'Em High School Sweethearts (5:26)

     An interview with two stars of this film (and many other Troma hits), who went on to date and get married. Kind of sweet, hearing how they got together after being in a scene where they had to murder children. Also includes some behind-the-scenes information and discussion on masturbation scenes. In 1.33:1.

The Man Who Made The Nuclear Power Plant (0:39)

     A very short interview with one of the crew members, responsible for one of the most important special effects in the film, the nuclear power plant. In 1.33:1.

All I Learnt About Filmmaking I Learnt From The Toxic Avenger (1:15)

     A short trailer for Lloyd’s book, featuring Michael Herz, Sgt Kabukiman, and a random scantily dressed girl.

Scenes from the Tromaville Cafe TV Show (5:32)

     An except from the 'classic' Tromaville Cafe TV Show, in which various Troma figureheads are interviewed about their own high school days - includes a VERY YOUNG Lloyd Kaufman getting his head forced into a toilet bowl. It's kind of amusing but hardly essential. In 1.33:1.

Aroma Du Troma (2:00)

     An extremely violent two minute montage of Troma clips advertising their most infamous films, with all the nudity and gore you can poke a stick at. It ends with a car flying through the air into a boat and exploding.

Public Service Announcement (3:36)

     An excerpt from Troma’s Edge TV offering 90 seconds of uncut gratuitous nudity as a solution to those trapped in a hotel room unable to afford the cost of in-house pornography.

Interactive Tour of Troma Studios

     The same interactive tour as seen on many of the Troma DVDs, this is great fun for fans with several sections to explore. Features extreme violence and gratuitous sexual content!

     The Region 1 and Region 4 are identical except for the same omissions plaguing other Aus Troma releases - the Troma Intelligence Test and Trailers are missing - I'd recommend whichever is cheapest, unless you HAVE to own the two extras.

     Class of Nuke 'Em High is an average entry into the Troma oeuvre, neither terrible nor particularly great, though with a stand out final 20 minutes.

     The video and audio are both B-grade average. The extras are plentiful and plenty entertaining for Troma fans, although many of them you'll have already seen on other Troma DVDs.

    A comparison review of the recently released Class of Nuke ‘Em High – Unrated Director’s Cut from Gryphon can be found here

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Extras
Plot
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