The brainchild of one time Troma editor Richard W. Haines, Class Of Nuke 'Em High was originally going to be directed by him as well, though when the fledgling filmmaker found himself in too deep, head honcho Lloyd Kaufman came on board to help out. As such, the film has Kaufman's stamp all over it, meaning that those who appreciate the sense of humor and style of filmmaking that made The Toxic Avenger the classic that it is should find much to love about this film.

Set, like most of Kaufman's films, in Tromaville the film begins when a leak from the nearby nuclear power plant infects the water supply of Tromaville High School. As the waste infects the area, strange things start to happen, beginning with the transformation of a previously meek, nerdy student into a slathering maniac who eventually jumps out the window of his classroom to his death. The local gang of toughs, The Cretins, manage to get their hands on some weed grown on the contaminated land and sell it to some of the students, most notably a wholesome couple named Chrissy and Warren, who smoke some of the dope at a party. Once they're high, the previously prudish pair get naked and go at it like rabbits but the next day start to feel the after effects of the contaminated dope.

Warren finds himself growing angrier and basically 'hulking out' when he loses his temper while Chrissy gives birth to some sort of mutant monster bug that works its way into the school's plumbing and grows larger and larger in the basement. As the Cretins try to take control of the school, Chrissy and Warren figure something is obviously amiss, but who'll be able to stop the Cretins?

As crass and ridiculous as you'd expect from Troma, Class Of Nuke 'Em High is firmly entrenched in the decade in which it was made and absolutely reeks of the eighties but is still a pretty damn entertaining film. Kaufman's penchant for gore and excess is on full speed here with some fairly impressive special effects sequences holding up rather well even by today's standards (the first face melting being a prime example). While not every set piece works perfectly - the monster effects are obviously pretty low budget - even the ones that aren't completely successful are at least creative and interesting to look at. Troma's love of gratuitous sex and violence adds to the film's screwy vibe, as do the big eighties hairstyles and fashions not to mention the skewed version of the Cretins' 'punk' look and style.

The film was fairly topical for its day, playing off of the nuclear paranoia that was fairly prominent in the eighties and off of toxic waste fears thanks to incidents that the one that took place in the 'Love Canal' neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York in the late seventies. While it may seem reactionary now, events like the current BP oil spill serve to remind us that having a fear of the chemical industry or the nuclear industry maybe isn't all that unhealthy after all. Of course, Kaufman and his crew play it for laughs rather than trying to make any sort of serious social commentary with the film, but the satire is definitely there and sometimes it's used fairly cleverly.

But let's not read too much into this - Class Of Nuke 'Em High isn't a film to be taken too seriously, but rather enjoyed for what it is and that's a crass, gory, trashy fun-filled eighty five minutes of Troma style high jinks. It plays off of different clichés and stereotypes really well and provides plenty of low-brow laughs and splattery set pieces.

Video:

Troma's 1080p AVC encoded 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen high definition transfer of Class Of Nuke 'Em High is surprisingly impressive. While the image quality here won't wow you the way something like Avatar might, for an older, low budget production it looks quite good, particularly when compared to the muddy looking fullframe DVD that was released years back. Colors are massively improved over that prior release and look much more natural and vibrant - you'll notice this right away when that sickly green slime oozes out of a character's body. There's a fair bit of grain and some minor print damage is noticeable but it doesn't really take away from the experience much, and let's face it, you wouldn't want to see a movie like this DVNR'd to death anyway. There aren't any compression artifacts worth noting and the disc is quite well authored. The source material obviously wasn't in perfect condition but there's a significant increase in clarity, quality and detail from previous versions of the film and this transfer is strong enough that fans will want to consider upgrading for this reason alone.