SCHOOL DAZE

Revisiting the school of hard knocks in BULLY

- Matthew Elliott

The menu music for Bully, composed by Shawn Lee, is an obvious homage to the work of Goblin, the progressive rock band most famous for their work with Italian director Dario Argento. At first I thought this an odd choice. But, on reflection, referencing a horror about a new student joining a monstrously evil place of learning could not be more apt.

At the risk of sounding traumatised by the British education system, nothing provides a more stark reminder of feral barbarity of school quite like this. Initially, it seems quite benign: a world of nuggies, wedgies and cartoonishly fondled buttocks. But, before long, you’re chucking bricks at strangers and forcing weaklings to soil themselves. It’s essentially Oz with varsity jackets.