DbcultAccessing Vault...
5.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. School Days remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a thing for early animation history or just really, really miss the days when cartoon characters didn't have bones. If you're looking for a plot that makes sense or a deep narrative arc, you're looking in the wrong place. But if you want to see a dog act like a literal accordion, you are in luck.
Flip just sort of exists in this world. He's walking to school, whistling, with his dog right there. It feels like a weird, jittery dream where physics is just a suggestion. The way the character moves—it's like he's made of warm taffy. Everything stretches. Everything snaps back. It's hypnotic in that slightly unsettling way 1930s animation often is.
The classroom scenes are where it gets kind of funny, though not always on purpose. There’s a moment where a student gets in trouble, and the punishment is so exaggerated it almost feels cruel. But then you remember it’s just a drawing. It reminded me a bit of the frantic, messy energy in Little Daddy, where you’re never quite sure if the characters are having a good time or just vibrating out of existence.
The whole thing is extremely short. It’s over before you can even get bored. Sometimes I think modern movies could learn something from that. Just get to the point, show the dog doing something impossible, and then cut to black. I didn't feel like I was watching a masterpiece. I just felt like I had peeked into a room where someone was really excited about the fact that they could make a drawing bounce.
It’s not as emotionally heavy as A Bit of Heaven, but it’s certainly less stuffy. It’s just pure, rubber-hose nonsense. Watch it if you’re bored on a Tuesday afternoon and want to see how far they could push a character’s face before it stopped looking like a face. 🐸