Hair High

Bill Plympton's 2004 American animation turns the fifties American high school film into a ghost story. Spud, the new student who disrupts the arrangement of the popular couple Rod and Cherri, is killed on the night of the prom; a year later the two corpses come back to the dance. Plympton's hand-drawn style dominates here too: bodies constantly changing shape, exaggerated faces and deliberate ugliness. While using teen film cliches as parody, the film shows its violence with the same exaggeration. The voice cast includes Sarah Silverman, Dermot Mulroney and David Carradine. The narrative is repetitive and the humour may be too crude for some. Who it's for: viewers who like independent animation and black comedy. Who it's not for: families looking for animation for children, or anyone put off by grotesque drawing and violence.