"Look mom, I'm 18 years old and I can do whatever I want!”
The Story:
High school senior Kim (Jill Lansing) is a total flunkie who is in danger of failing all of her classes and not graduating. She also just got dumped by her boyfriend for the town’s snobby little rich girl. These problems aren’t going to solve themselves, so she decides to improve her lot in life by seducing her teachers for better grades; before she knows it, she’s screwing her way to the top of her class. A naughty schoolgirl by day, she even starts taking customers on the side by becoming a working girl to make some money of her own!
The Review:
The Review:
Malibu High is either one of the most misshapen tonal mish-mashes ever, or it’s one of the nuttiest, sleaziest tales of corrupted innocence and growing up I’ve ever seen. Okay, that’s probably a bit of a misnomer--Kim is never quite innocent; haunted by dreams of her dead father who committed suicide “because he couldn’t get it up,” she’s rebellious, mouthy, and has cigarettes and eggs for breakfast. Her conflicts start out with some typical (while admittedly sleazy) high school conceits--her petty rivalry with the rich girl, her blasé attitude towards her studies, relationship drama, and her pursuit of weed. However, by the end of the film, she’s moved on to cocaine, BSDM play, and even murder. Unfolding at first with a sort of light hearted 70s sexploitation vibe, it quickly lands in the middle of a greasy grind house, as Kim almost becomes a femme fatale that’s been tainted by the seedy underbelly of criminal life. Somehow, the plot about her banging her teachers for better grades becomes the least appalling thing that happens to her.
She’s an interesting character to be sure. Certainly shrill, bitchy, and off-putting, Kim is a bit of a terror who clashes with her poor mother (and often gets slapped for her potty mouth). She’s also dripping with sexuality and knows it; consistently braless and baring skin that’d get her kicked out of most schools, she’s portrayed with reckless aplomb by Lansing. While she’s far from a great actress, Lansing is captivating enough to make a terrible character work; Kim isn’t just a “good girl gone bad” because she’s pretty horrible before she gets involved with sleazebags. The first one is Tony, a drug-dealing pimp who, like all real 70s men, sports a porn-’stache and drives a sweet-ass van. In true form, though, he eventually is tame in comparison to the true dirt bags Kim eventually gets mixed up with. By the end of it all, Kim is fighting for her life instead of her ticket to graduation, which really speaks to the crazy train Malibu High is. Rarely is it played for laughs (intentional ones, anyway--try to contain your giggles at some of the acting), as it’s more often concerned with plunging its main character down a sordid rabbit hole.
Despite this, it really isn’t all that genuinely disturbing, no doubt due to its rough and tumble 70s aesthetic. Rocking the usual Lite FM soundtrack and doused in feathered hair, bearskin rugs, bell-bottoms, and thick mustaches, Malibu High is pretty silly at times. It’s a tonal oddity seemingly at odds with itself--is it a carefree teenage flick or is it a Jack Hill style exploitation romp? I suppose it falls somewhere in between--imagine if one of the Switchblade Sisters enrolled in high school and you might have a good idea of what awaits. A low-rent production with low-rent thrills, it is a fairly entertaining if not bizarre movie due to its slipshod contrasts. Amazingly enough, the script does manage to tie together many of the disparate plot threads in the end; eventually, her feminine wiles and newfound bloodlust form a hellacious tag team that will help her walk the graduation stage…if she’s still alive to make it there in the first place! (Brett G.)
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