The “Class Of Nuke ‘Em High” franchise is somewhat of a legend over at Troma. It never caught on quite as well as “The Toxic Avenger” but for Troma the “Class” trilogy is an impressively high watermark. This 3 DVD box set is a celebration of one of Troma’s greatest achievements. As always though, “achievement” is a subjective word when it comes to Troma.
In part one Tromaville High is located directly next to a nuclear power plant, and after some students start smoking toxic marijuana things begin to take off in true Troma fashion. One student after another melts down into a pool of green goo and another vomits some weird turd-looking creature. The creature then retreats to the basement via the plumbing and begins to grow into a fairly impressive Alien-type thing. The school is more or less run by a motorcycle gang calling themselves The Cretins and in the end it is these miscreants who valiantly attempt to stop the radiating alien, and they do. However, the school goes up in a nuclear explosion, and much to the glee of the student body, Tromaville High is indefinitely closed.
In part two Tromaville High is rebuilt directly next to a nuclear power plant (Nukamama) and some strange experiments are going on at Tromaville Institute of Technology (T.I.T.). Gene splicing is apparently the going thing and a new subservient subhumanoid race is born from these experiments. These creatures look and act just like Tromaville High students, except they are prone to meltdowns and have an extra set of lips where their navels would normally reside. Why an army of subhumanoids? World domination, that’s why. Ahem. Anyhow, in the end part two unwittingly trades the anarchistic, belligerent, amphetamine driven Punk humor of part one for sophomoric Zucker Brothers (“Airplane,” “Kentucky Fried Movie”) type buffoonery. Furthermore, this sequel unloaded a gigantic, ridiculous looking squirrel (lovingly known as “Tromie”) that has been contaminated by ingesting some toxic waste. This mutated squirrel summarily stomps Tromaville High to bits and yet again summer vacation starts early.
Part three picks up exactly where two left off and Tromaville is rebuilt yet again and is soon in grave danger. After a barrage of recaps more Troma goodness finally begins to flow from all applicable orifices. This time around, Power Elite is in the business of attempting to turn Tromaville into a nuclear waste dump and it’s up to the good citizens of Tromaville to see that this dastardly deed does not happen. In this installment the subhumanoid meltdown quotient is jacked way up and “Tromie” is mercifully gone, though we do get to see his demise by an acorn shaped nuclear bomb. Nice. Nowadays in Tromaville the normal citizens are attempting to live with and amongst the subhumanoids and for the most part everything is a go. They eat together, work together, f**k together and so on. Of course nothing quite normal could come from a human/subhumanoid fusion and here we have our paper thin plot line that involves a separated-at-birth set of twins born of that very fusion: one a rousing all American boy and the other a conniving, evil fighting machine. More world domination stuff ensues, but this time the silliness of the script and most of the gags work, thankfully. Still amidst all of this goofiness Troma gets in their usual quota of social and political jabs, but you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled as they are buried primarily under a mountain of silicone mammaries, teased-to-the-point-of-no-return-hair, fat guys and dumb-a*s fart jokes. All in all this trilogy has the best damned humanoid meltdowns to grace the screen since the Troma-like 1987 film “Street Trash.”
Troma loaded this sucker up with everything but the kitchen sink, and if you root around long enough you might just find that as well. Interviews, trailers, promos, videos and tons of extra goodies are all over this thing.
