Overview: Released months before lead Hiroko Yakushimaru’s breakthrough hit Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s first groundbreaking teenage idol picture is a dazzling mix of special effects and blue-screen artifice - a stylistic flair perfected in Obayashi’s debut House, now utilized for the onset of an alien invasion.

Ordinary schoolgirl Yuka’s (Yakushimaru) new term comes to an odd start when she inexplicably stops an accident by using latent psychic powers. Troubled by her newfound abilities, Yuka also senses a strange force start to take hold of the school, with students turning into mind-controlled fascists, patrolling school halls, stifling dissent and mandating the re-education of freethinkers.

A psychotronic fantasy forged into a young girl’s destiny to defend the planet, School in the Crosshairs is a cosmic overload of extraterrestrial tyrants, preternatural powers and Obayashi’s uniquely adroit filmmaking abilities, underlaid with an existential cry for free will.

Blu-ray Verdict: Yuka is a normal happy schoolgirl who happens to have psychic powers. When another girl possessed by an interdimensional being arrives at school and tries to impose a military style discipline, Yuka finds herself in the moral obligation to defend humanity against the oppressive desires of the interdimensional being who happens to be the universe itself! (He also comes from Venus!).

The whole thing is an open allegory of fascism, complete with lockdowns and uniformed guard patrols, but it’s the director’s style that makes it so cool. The wacky direction and low-fi effects work an absolute treat, and I admit to finding the whole thing a blast.

The film is funny, weird and cute at the same time. Maybe it lacked some character development and coherence specially through the second half but maybe it was just the bad translation which made it a bit off-kilter from time to time. Still a cute movie which will please fans of school-themed amines and weird Japanese stories. [G.P.]

Bonus Features:
2K Transfer & Restoration
Audio Commentary by film critic Max Robinson
Sailor Suits and Sound - Visual essay by Phillip Jeffries
Obayashi Film Poster Gallery
Theatrical Trailers
New improved English subtitles
New Slipcase art design by Sam Smith
Reversible sleeve with original Japanese poster art
First Pressing includes repro 24-page Japanese booklet (pamphlet)

SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS HD Trailer | Cult Epics

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