The movie that the late 80s needed. It twists a lot of the tropes from the more commercial teen movies that came out around the same time, with the subversion often feeling more like a product of the 90s because of how dark and edgy it gets. I'm sure Todd Solondz had this movie on his mind when writing _Welcome to the Dollhouse_, but you can also see how it inspired campy movies like _Mean Girls_ or _Bottoms_. Really enjoyed the dreamy filmmaking style, campy acting and absurd dialogue; it's a movie that's willing to take risk after risk and most of it works out really well. The deconstruction always feels clever and pointed, though sometimes it requires digging to understand what it's trying to say. Maybe some of it was an accidental stroke of genius, as its director never made anything noteworthy after this. However, that doesn't change that I had a lot of fun with this.

8/10