Horror Movie Review: Class of Nuke ‘Em High 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown (1991)

Class of Nuke ‘Em High from the infamous Troma Movies is something of a cult classic, combining cheap effects with gory visuals & a wacky story. So it’s no surprise that a few years later we get an even crazier sequel.

The opening narration of what took place in the first movie sets the mood; this is a horror comedy with its tongue well planted in its sub-humanoid cheek.

To make up for the events that happened in the first movie (the Tromaville nuclear reactor meltdown & subsequent infection of the local school) the Nukamama Corporation has rebuilt the Tromaville nuclear reactor but incorporated a college into its design…and what a college it is.

Filled with all manner of strange people, the women walk around wearing next to nothing (the excuse given is that locker space is limited) & a gang known as the Squirrels cause chaos beating up everyone in sight. Among them is ace reporter, Roger Smith who wants just one thing, to have sex.

Roger is twist on the muscly, good-looking jock cliché you often see in horror. Here though he can’t even get a girl to look at him, he works for the college newspaper & considers it his duty to reveal the truth…he’s an all round nice guy who rips on Twin Peaks (he records his life/findings into a recorder for the newspaper typist who is called Diane).

He’s the star but struggles in the lead role. His straight talking attempts at humour fall flat & his acting is pretty wooden but he is likable even if he should probably take a shower (far too many jokes are made about his smell).

Roger, desperate to get laid enters a school experimentation that promises sex. This is being run by Professor Holt & her insane hair as part of perfecting a race of sub-humanoids.

Living beings that show no emotion, created & programmed to do basic tasks such as cleaning. The only thing that makes them different to humans is their inability to feel pain (seen in graphic detail later when one is forced to eat a glass bottle) & the extra mouth they have on their stomach.

Roger meets the sub-humanoid, Victoria in the sex experiment & has a night of passion with her (“it feels like you’ve got another mouth down there”). He falls madly in love with her but unfortunately the sub-humanoids have a short life-span resulting in them going into meltdown.

While Roger desperately searches for the cure to her predicament, corners are cut at the reactor. A local squirrel gets its hands on some nuclear waste & transforms into a giant mutant called Tromie. Hungry, confused & a bit pissed off it goes rampaging through the town of Tromaville putting thousands of lives at risk.

Well, more like toy soldiers & small model houses. The film doesn’t even try to hide the effects, it’s supposed to be silly even if it borders on dumb at times.

This isn’t a movie to take seriously but the constant high pitched chattering of the reactor workers as they try & hit on women gets really annoying after a while. The biggest problem with Nuke ‘Em High 2 is that it just isn’t that funny no matter how hard it tries, it’s got that Troma feel but is far less smarter then the original. It if wasn’t for the melting effects & flashes of gore there wouldn’t be much to recommend.

That being said those moments are just so good that it’s well worth watching with one particular scene of a couple continuing to kiss passionately as they bodies begin to melt standing out.

The film also has some fun breaking the 4th wall as the Toxic Avenger gets confused about what film he is supposed to be part of.

Topless women, longing shots of female bottoms, one fat dude who really shouldn’t be running, terrible acting, fun visuals, fun effects, bodies melting into green goo & Tromie, the nuclear squirrel. There is plenty to enjoy in Class of Nuke ‘Em High 2 but its flaws become more apparent as it goes on.