A product of its time, THE STUDENT BODY has a rather absurd premise that was standard for the exploitation genre of the Seventies. Three female inmates, all young and sexy, agree to participate in an experiment at the local university on aggression. The girls are released from jail, but are monitored and have to live with the brainchild of the study, Dr. Blalock (Warren Stevens) and his cash cow wife played by Judith Roberts. This being exploitation cinema, the Blalocks have a strapping college-aged son (Peter Hooten) who takes a shine to the blond, Carrie (Jillian Kesner), while our daft professor assigns three of his horniest male students to monitor each girl individually. The stage is set for plenty sex, but the film, unlike others of this genre, actually veers toward the story rather than the nubile bodies.
STORY ($$): The script is trite, with a few messages tossed in about control and rebellion, but the focus is more on the changes in the three girls as they ingest Dr. Blalock's experimental pills. The pills have a different effect on each girl, making Carrie more confrontational, as she seems to develop a need to argue. Mitzi (June Fairchild) becomes overly emotional, almost regressing to a childlike state, while Chicago (Janice Heiden) becomes uncontrollably concupiscent. Early in the film there was relatively equal treatment between the three female leads, but as the movie progressed, Chicago became the forgotten character.
ACTING ($$$): Nobody really stands out in this film, either by giving a great performance or a terrible one. The three female leads are all fine in their roles. At times it seems that June Fairchild is overacting when Mitzi has one of her flighty fits, but I'd argue that it works for the character.
SEX/NUDITY ($$$): This starts out with all the makings of a grindhouse skin-flick, with June Fairchild skinny-dipping, a group of jealous coeds bathing topless, and Peter Hooten admiring Jillian Kesner's torso, but the movie slowing edges away from the flesh exhibition and focuses on the change in the girls' behavior.
STORY ($$): The script is trite, with a few messages tossed in about control and rebellion, but the focus is more on the changes in the three girls as they ingest Dr. Blalock's experimental pills. The pills have a different effect on each girl, making Carrie more confrontational, as she seems to develop a need to argue. Mitzi (June Fairchild) becomes overly emotional, almost regressing to a childlike state, while Chicago (Janice Heiden) becomes uncontrollably concupiscent. Early in the film there was relatively equal treatment between the three female leads, but as the movie progressed, Chicago became the forgotten character.
ACTING ($$$): Nobody really stands out in this film, either by giving a great performance or a terrible one. The three female leads are all fine in their roles. At times it seems that June Fairchild is overacting when Mitzi has one of her flighty fits, but I'd argue that it works for the character.
SEX/NUDITY ($$$): This starts out with all the makings of a grindhouse skin-flick, with June Fairchild skinny-dipping, a group of jealous coeds bathing topless, and Peter Hooten admiring Jillian Kesner's torso, but the movie slowing edges away from the flesh exhibition and focuses on the change in the girls' behavior.