SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Michael_Elliott Malibu High (1979) ** (out of 4) Kim (Jill Lansing) seems like your ordinary high school girl until her boyfriend of two years breaks up with her. Soon her grades are failing and she's constantly fighting with her mother. Soon she decides that easy cash is the way to go so she hooks up with a pimp and starts selling herself. Soon a higher paying pimp comes along but he also wants Kim to work as an assassin.MALIBU HIGH was promoted as being some sort of trashy teenage film in the same vein as something like NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE. The poster featured a hot women showing off her body and it made the film seem like it was all smiles. Well, that's another example of a film being sold as something it isn't because MALIBU HIGH is actually a drama and in many ways it's like a throwback to the 1930s when films like THE ROAD TO RUIN tried to scare young people into doing good things or else they'd end up like the lead characters.This here plays out very much like those old exploitation movies as we're introduced to a good kid who gets off onto the wrong track and before you know it she's spinning out of control. What we get here are prostitution, cocaine and eventually she's an assassin. For the most part MALIBU HIGH is an entertaining film, although there are certainly some flaws here. The biggest flaw is the actual pacing of the film, which was a bit too slow for its own good. I wish director Irvin Berwick would have sped things up a little bit because the film is too slow for its own good.There's still plenty to enjoy here but the majority of the credit has to go to Jill Lansing. Sure, her performance isn't Oscar-worthy but it's at least fun and there's no question that she carries the movie. She's certainly cute during the various sex scenes but I also thought she was a lot of fun later in the film when she turns into the assassin. The ing players are decent for the most part but there's no question who this film belongs to. One wishes it was given a better soundtrack because what's here is quite bad and sounds like a bad video game.MALIBU HIGH has gained a cult following over the years and it's easy to see why. The drive-in era was full of exploitation movies like this here. This one here is a tad bit different because it's more drama than anything else but there's a sleazy subject line here to enjoy as well.
Coventry Aww, all my fellow reviewers around here go on and on about how deliciously sleazy and irresistibly tacky "Malibu High" is – which is totally correct – but they all seem to overlook that the basic story and morals of this film are actually deeply tragic and depressing. Here we have the emotionally moving story of a naive and relatively innocent teenage girl that wastes her youth and even her entire existence in barely a few weeks time because she makes a series of bad decisions. It's like the American dream in reverse, with drugs, prostitution, parents' suicide, jealousy, attempted rape and even homicide! Put this premise in the hands of a director like Martin Scorcese, with someone like Jodie Foster in the lead role, and you've got yourself a guaranteed Oscar-winning and immortally classic blockbuster! Director Irvin Berwick and his cast of nobodies opted for a completely different approach, however. The rudimentary story lines may perhaps be dramatic and serious, but they clearly don't want you bother about them or even think too far ahead. "Malibu High" is fast-paced, full of sexual escapades and foreseen with a light-headed atmosphere and inappropriately cheerful soundtrack, so that your impression of watching a sloppy and harmless drive-in exploitation feature continuously remains upheld. It's definitely a repulsive and utterly tasteless film, what with the glorification of everything that is not done in the life of teenager, but hey … that's exactly what this kind of rancid and exploitative film-making is all about, is it not? Poor 18-year-old beauty Kim Bentley is fed up with her dull life. She hates her dominant mother and blames her for daddy's suicide, her boyfriend Kevin dumped her for a rich girl, her grades continuously go downhill and she doesn't have any money to buy her own car. She decides to turn everything around overnight. She accepts the offer from a local pimp to become a hooker, whilst she simultaneously uses her lewd body to seduce teachers to improve her grades. Everything goes as planned and even her former boyfriend and his new love interest get envious of Kim's sudden success. But, inevitably, she wants more and quickly loses complete control over her life. She finds a new and seemingly far more stylish pimp, but in no time he transforms her into a relentless mafia-type executioner. "Malibu High" is a very strange film to watch even if you're a well-experienced and very tolerant fan of exploitation cinema. It feels as if the makers absolutely didn't have a clue regarding the seriousness of some of the topics featuring here! Kim brutally murders a stranger without even blinking her eyes, yet the next minute she makes childish gestures towards her ex' new girlfriend. It's so stupid but at the same time so marvelously entertaining and, as said, the fast pacing doesn't even leave you time to get upset about the inadequate plotting. It's rather unique for a low-budgeted 70's smut film to not feature any dreary moments. One hit wonder Jill Lansing delivers an acceptable performance as Kim, but she lets her often exposed breasts do most of the acting, anyway. Certain sequences qualify as pure and authentic 70's sleaze, for example Kim's encounter with her school principal at home, and the grainy production values constantly remind you of the Grindhouse way of movie making. The same "brilliant" team gave us the fantastically demented "Hitch Hike to Hell" two years earlier, so don't say you haven't been warned.
bensonmum2 She's lost her boyfriend, she's failing her classes at school, and she has no money. What's Kim Bentley to do? The answer is obvious – become a hooker. But sex for money is just the first step for this high school student. In no time at all, she's a contract killer.Writing about Malibu High is difficult. On the one hand, the movie is incredibly trashy and has no real redeeming characteristics whatsoever. It's all so sleazy. A high school student turned prostitute turned killer – it's almost repulsive. However, on the other hand, Malibu High is a blast. Some of what I found enjoyable may have been unintentional, but the movie is just too much fun. A high school student turned prostitute turned killer – how awesome is that? Malibu High is low-budget film-making at its best (or worst as the case may be). The production values are bottom of the barrel. Lighting, sound, sets, etc. are laughably bad. Much of the music is so inappropriate that it's often hysterical. My favorite had to be the theme from The People's Court playing during the film's climatic chase scene. The acting . . . what's the point? It's terrible too.Finally, one thing in Malibu High that cracked me up repeatedly was the reaction that almost every male character had to Kim Bentley. The guys in this movie must not get out much if they consider her a hottie. There's a scene with Kim going into school in all of her slump-shouldered, figure-less glory. The cat calls had me in stitches.
vampi1960 Malibu high is a trashy but interesting b-movie,with no big name stars. a calculating high school student(Jill Lansing)turns prostitute to get better grades,and afterwords for money.she turns out to be a sociopath and gets worse.i first seen this on the late late show on television where it was cut up,and later seen the uncut video.its a disturbing movie Jill Lansing's character is pretty and sexy but ugly inside,she does what she has to do to get what she wants,even murder.there was a so called sequel to this called the graduates of Malibu high also known as the young warriors in 1983.but i would call it a sequel in name only. a crown international release, them?they churned out classic b movies like the hearse,galaxina(starring the late Dorothy stratton)and blood of Dracula's castle(AL Adamson's classic)check out the disco dancing scene that will tell you its 1979. disco,customized vans,CB radios.ill give this little seen gem 8 out of 10.
