{"id":50227,"date":"2025-10-21T00:17:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T04:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=50227"},"modified":"2025-10-21T00:17:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T04:17:16","slug":"school-in-the-crosshairs-nerawareta-gakuen-1981-cult-epics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/21\/school-in-the-crosshairs-nerawareta-gakuen-1981-cult-epics\/","title":{"rendered":"School in the Crosshairs (Nerawareta\u00a0gakuen) (1981) [Cult Epics]\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A\u00a0schoolgirl\u00a0discovers she has powers and soon finds herself involved in things she never could have imagined.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Based on a novel by Taku\u00a0Mayumura\u00a0and directed by Nobuhiko\u00a0\u00d4bayashi, School in the Crosshairs is an oddity that is quite entertaining with a story that is a bit all over the place but\u00a0works\u00a0nonetheless. There is a ton going\u00a0on in\u00a0here\u00a0and a lot of it will be completely forgotten 5 minutes after the movie ends and then even more a day later.\u00a0This being said, it\u2019s\u00a0entertaining and the writing and direction are a big part of it. Of course, there is a bit of chaos,\u00a0ok\u00a0a lot of chaos,\u00a0and that is where the film\u2019s charm lays, a bit like the recently reviewed The Cat.\u00a0This is one of those movies where the story is important, but\u00a0the nonsense\u00a0is\u00a0importanter\u00a0(yes, I know).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cast for this mess of a fun film is solid in\u00a0that;\u00a0the performances are\u00a0just right\u00a0for the material they are working with.\u00a0It’s\u00a0not exactly award season caliber\u00a0here,\u00a0but an effort is put\u00a0in\u00a0and the cast does look like they want to do their best.\u00a0Hiroko\u00a0Yakushimaru, Masami Hasegawa, and\u00a0Ry\u00f4ichi\u00a0Takayanagi are the leads here and do what they can to sell the story with\u00a0all of\u00a0its science fiction and fantasy elements.\u00a0Are\u00a0their performances\u00a0top\u00a0notch? No. But are they entertaining?\u00a0Absolutely. The cast\u00a0is what this film\u00a0needs\u00a0and fits the whole thing\u00a0just right.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, something that is spectacular here, yes\u00a0yes, spectacular, are the special effects because they will make any viewer go \u201coh, wow\u201d.\u00a0Yeah, this may be in a few different tones and intonations, but the effects sure are something here.\u00a0It’s\u00a0a bit nuts to look at all those effects and then the year the film was made, so they are to be given credit for at least trying. Much like a few other elements in the film, the effort is\u00a0there;\u00a0the results are dated and clearly not up to current standards, but full of charm.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

School in the Crosshairs is one of those films that is aging with an odd charm and a boatload of fun.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0plenty entertaining and a worthy pick up for fans of crazy films that present their nonsense in the most\u00a0serious way\u00a0possible. This is a fun film and one that\u00a0cannot not\u00a0entertain.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This new release here looks good on Blu-ray disc with a 2k restoration with sound that has a few issues here and there but nothing too terrible. The extras are a bit thin with\u00a0the audio commentary by Max Robinson and the visual essay by Phillip Jeffries being the top options\u00a0on\u00a0this new release. The other extras are a bit generic with a poster gallery, trailers, and a slipcase with new art (which is interesting).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0schoolgirl\u00a0discovers she has powers and soon finds herself involved in things she never could have imagined.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[349,824,1458,906],"class_list":["post-50227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","tag-fantasy","tag-re-release","tag-sci-fi","tag-science-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50228,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50227\/revisions\/50228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}