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After being bullied too hard at high school, a student locks herself
into the girls' room and commits suicide - but that was 10 years ago, and
things have moved on since then. In fact, it's the start of a new school
year at the school above, and like every year, Sue Steel (Debra Lamb) has
invited all her colleagues from the English department over for a
get-together, something that's appreciated by some - like newbie teacher
Ryan (Chris Jehnert), young and self conscious Lauren (Kaylee Williams)
and busybody Alice (Samantha Marie) - but not all - like alcoholic veteran
teacher James (David E. McMahon) and womanizer Brandt (Michael Tula). So
if the evening was a success really depends on everyone's interpretation
of success - and that's before a killer has gained access to Sue's place
and starts slaughtering all those who stray from the main group without
the others noticing. And he carries with him the yearbook of the high
school from 10 years ago, when above girl killed herself ... Iconic
scream queen Brinke Stevens and horror veteran Tamara Glynn can be seen in
fun cameos in this one, too. Now Teacher Shortage isn't
the film to reinvent the slasher genre, and it probably hasn't set out to
be - but staying within genre confines, it does a really great job making
its story more interesting and relatable than your usual slasher,
enriching it with diverse and fleshed-out characters who are given enough
space to develop and thus make into more than just cannon fodder. And of
course, a strong cast that also includes several genre favourites doesn't
hurt one bit. Also, director Escamilla seems to take quite some
inspiration from Italian giallo cinema from the 1970s and early 80s
regarding his use of music and the rather stylish (yet pretty gruesome)
murder scenes, which is a quality too rarely seen in today's cinema and
certainly adds to this movie's charm. Well worth a look for sure!
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