From Troy Escamilla, the director of Party Night and Mrs. Claus, comes a new slasher called Teacher Shortage. I’ve been curious about this one for a bit, as I can remember when this went into production, and full disclosure, I know a few people that worked on the film. But regardless of my loose ties to the project, I’m here to tell you like it is… or isn’t.
The film opens with a girl being bullied to the point that she locks herself in the bathroom and commits suicide. This scene is probably one of the best honestly, not only are there a ton of properly utilized extras in the classroom scene, but there’s a lot of variety too. Because of this, the environment really felt developed. That, along with another stellar performance from Joe Grisaffi, had me hooked right away.
Ten years go by, and it’s a new school year. We’re quickly introduced to a handful of characters, perhaps too many, but this is a horror film and we need people to die, right? We get a few tidbits here and there about everyone as they go through their daily routines, and I have to say, it was hard for me to give a shit about anyone really. Perhaps Troy wrote them this way so we wouldn’t care too much if our favorites died later, but they ALL seemed to grow more and more irredeemable as the scenes dragged on.
After a pretty cool death scene featuring scream queen, Brinke Stevens, we move to Steel’s place, where she hosts a gathering of colleagues every year. I don’t want to sound too harsh here, but these scenes were pretty hard to get through. While the acting is great, and the scenes are furnished fantastically, not much of the dialogue really led to anything. HOWEVER, there is one individual that kept me invested.
Just when things begin to drag, the womanizer, Brandt Carpenter, played by Michael Tula steps up to the plate and makes things interesting again. Something about this dude spoke to me, he reminded me of so many people I’ve met over the years, and his interactions between other characters really helped the human element shine. If it wasn’t for this guy and Michael’s portrayal I would have probably checked out, Brandt deserves ALL of the credit for keeping me invested.
A lot of the camera angles are extremely clever and thoughtful, so while Brandt wasn’t entertaining me, at least the camera work was. Considering the budget, the time, and the size of the crew, I think Teacher Shortage is worth your time. I felt pretty good about it when it was over, but I have one complaint that I can’t quite look past.
What’s the deal with the killer’s costume? Sure, I get the robe. Clever. I thought using the graduation cloak was a nice touch, but the demon mask was just a lazy choice and it ultimately comes off looking like a poor man’s Ghostface. There’s no real lore behind the disguise, and, to me, that’s a hefty problem. Outside of that though, there’s really nothing that jumps out as bad.
Teacher Shortage isn’t going to blow your hair back, but it has a lot more going for it than it doesn’t. The music is stylish, it really sets the tone right off the bat. The cast is solid, they all seem happy to be there and they definitely know what they’re doing. And who doesn’t love cameos from your favorite horror actresses? And Joe Grisaffi. You can’t not love Joe.
Jessie Hobson