We have an exclusive clip to unveil from the new horror film Student Body ahead of its digital release. On Feb. 8, the film can be purchased digitally, courtesy of 1091 Pictures. You can first catch a sneak peek at the characters portrayed by Harley Quinn Smith and Austin Zajur in the clip below, culminating with an awkward reference to a burrito followed up with a rejection. Of course, things are only going to get worse from there once a maniac traps the students inside the school building and starts picking them off.

In Student Body, high school student Jane Shipley is striving to mend her splintering relationship with her childhood best friend, Merritt, and fit in with Merritt’s rebellious group of friends. When Jane’s math teacher oversteps his bounds after class, an apathetic administration forces Jane and Merritt to take matters into their own hands. Merritt manipulates the situation against Jane’s wishes, driving their relationship into further turmoil.

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Still seeking her approval, Jane joins Merritt and her clique as they break into the school that Friday night to party and play a prank. The group soon discovers they’re not alone: someone has locked them inside and is hunting them down one by one. To survive the night, Jane must find the strength to escape the locked doors and toxic relationships trapping her within Allendale Preparatory High School.

Student Body is written and directed by Lee Ann Kurr. The film stars Christian Camargo, Montse Hernandez, Cheyenne Haynes, Harley Quinn Smith, Austin Zajur, and Anthony Keyvan.

Writer-Director Lee Ann Kurr Was Inspired By Nightmares

     1091 Films

In a statement describing the film’s inspiration, Kurr explains, “I have nightmares pretty often. In a process of masochistic mental alchemy, any unresolved stress from my day is likely transformed into weird, unsettling scenarios when I fall asleep. Nine times out of ten, these scenarios put me back in high school. Certain shadows followed me around at that age– social anxiety, perfectionism, low self-esteem– and are why those years have proven reliable fodder for my subconscious to chew upon. Those still-lingering shadows are also why I chose to make my first feature film about the nightmare of growing up.”

“In Student Body, similar shadows pursue sixteen-year-old Jane Shipley,” the writer-director adds. “But while I locked up my shadows in mental cellars, too ashamed to open up to others, the film uses genre elements to externalize Jane’s crisis for the audience. Voices of would-be friends and mentors speak worst fears, actual shadows follow and watch in hallways, school pride pageantry inflicts terror and violence. By telling Jane’s story as genre film, Student Body exhumes the psychological horrors of never feeling good enough, never knowing if anyone actually cares, never enjoying freedom and comfort in your own skin.”

Kurr notes, “These horrors, and the pain they inflict, are far more universal than my younger self could have believed. Jane’s crisis ultimately results in catharsis, but also in tragedy. I hope her story will release viewers, whether still in high school or not, to go down into their own cellars and shine a light on their own shadows. Perhaps they will see that their neighbors, too, have such cellars. And perhaps the film will instigate a second kind of mental alchemy, beyond the generation of nightmares: that of transforming shame into compassion. For compassion is the substance desperately needed to avoid horror and tragedy from striking Student Body’s Allendale High School. As in any high school. As in any place, really.”

Student Body is available to own on digital on Feb. 8, 2022.