DIANE FRANKLIN & ALLY SHEEDY GET 'DEADLY LESSONS'

year: 1983 cast: Diane Franklin, Ally Sheedy, Bill Paxton  rating: ***

There’s a hint of cinematic exploitation in this made for TV movie about a boarding school full of pretty rich girls stalked by a phantom killer: Enter Diane Franklin as the new girl, taking everything in with a naïve, vulnerable expression and meeting each character along with the audience...

There’s Ally Sheedy as a rich girl and a host of others, including Bart Simpson’s voice Nancy Cartwright, most getting picked off by a mysterious killer within the Southern plantation style campus. The mystery aspect works good – it’s hard to tell who the culprit might be. Perhaps Bill Paxton as a seemingly kindhearted horse-trainer or the classy French teacher. Our only hope in stopping the killings, which occur mostly off screen (if you don’t jot down each victim’s names you’ll forget who dies or lives), is Larry Wilcox as a local plainclothes investigator with a chip on his shoulder and a particular dislike for pompous school owner Donna Reed. An intriguing "body count" premise where the spoiled beauties, like in any horror flick, go through the ringer. And the “who done it” finale turns out somewhat creative.

Diane Franklin in DEADLY LESSONS Diane Franklin Deadly Lessons

ROXANNE actor Rick Rossovich as a cop in Deadly Lessons

 Renée Jones as Cally in Deadly Lessons

Nancy Cartwright and Ally Sheedy in Deadly Lessons Ally Sheedy Deadly Lessons Nancy Cartwright

Google Cult Film Freak podcast, it's out there

CHiPs actor Larry Wilcox tries solving the case

The lovely and talented Diane Franklin as new girl Stefanie Aggiston

Bill Paxton as Diane's love interest, sort of