That was an excellent one.

Sick Product of a Sick System

Excellent but underrated film

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

"Massacre at Central High" is perhaps misleading in its title, which evokes a gore-filled splatterfest, which this film is not. The premise surrounds David, a teenager who transfers to a new high school where the students run wild, and a group of male bullies torment their peers without consequence. The unhinged David begins to murder each of the bullies, but his plan to cleanse the school backfires when those on the bottom of the social ladder take on the same traits as their former dead oppressors.A weird but memorable entry in the horror genre, "Massacre at Central" high feels like it occurs in a dreamscape or an alternate world. This is largely due to the fact that the film features no "adult" figures to speak of; the bullies torment the students to extreme lengths, and even attempted gang rapes are left unreported and largely up to the students themselves to sort out. "Lord of the Flies" comes to mind, as well as some elements of "Carrie," minus the supernatural edge. This off-kilter universe in which the film orbits lends it a unique and memorable feel.It's not what I'd classify as a conventionally "scary" film by any stretch of the imagination. It is a horror film, but only in the sense that there are savage murders occurring throughout and that the subject matter is generally dark. The film itself is aesthetically quite bright, boasting a distinctive Los Angeles atmosphere that is laid on thick. Malibu's beaches set the stage for several scenes, and the film feels every bit a "California" production.Performances from Robert Carradine and Kimberly Beck (who would later become a genre favorite for her role in "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter") are some notable highlights, while Derrel Maury plays the outsider/deranged avenger with an appropriate distance. None of the performances are particularly provoking and are by and large rather bland, but serviceable given the material.All in all, "Massacre at Central High" is a unique and thoroughly strange film that toes the line between exploitation slasher and thoughtful allegory. It is not a great film and at times feels extremely choppy, but it's a certain oddity and a respectable example of a filmmaker attempting something different. The fact that it predates the slasher by a significant amount of time also makes it an intriguing film on the historical timeline that is worth examining. 7/10.

Between working for Mr. Russ Meyer and directing Mr. Sid Vicious's "My Way" video, Mr. Rene Daalder contrived one of the classic drive-in films of the 70s. In gorgeous technicolor, masterfully cast from the familiar faces (and boobs!) to the utter unknowns, smothered in Marxist/nihilist commentary too vulgar to describe as 'subtext', this would have been the birth of punk rock if not for all those flutes. The new kid in town takes on the high school power elite, first with words then with highly inventive murder, only to see the underclass - peasant farmer, intellectual librarian, nerds, dyke-esques, fat kid, the gamut - form their own snooty hierarchy. What else can you do at that point but blow up the school? Very Sid Vicious, even if commerce prevented them from following things to their logical conclusion. WOW is it ever fun - the perfect mix of head and cheese.

School's out forever for a brutish and reprehensible gang of snobby stuck-up preppie bullies who maim rebellious iconoclastic new kid Derrel Maury (who gives a superbly intense and subdued performance). Maury bumps off the vile troublemakers in assorted clever ways only to see the other previously oppressed adolescents rise up and take their place. The vicious cycle never seems to stop.Writer/director Rene Daalder offers a provocative social allegory on the failure of revolution, the abuse of power, and how violence basically begets more violence with no real end or change in sight. Furthermore, Daalder ingeniously shows how easily victims can become victimizers if given the opportunity to do so. The high school setting in this sublimely sharp, smart and subversive winner is nothing less than an insightful microcosm of society at large with its rigid caste system and power plays and exploitation of one group by another group being brutally played out by teenagers sans adult supervision (the grown-ups are conspicuous by their glaring absence throughout most of the picture, thereby suggesting how unimportant they are to kids trying to figure out what they are going to do with the rest of their lives after high school ends). This downbeat and shocking 70's exploitation masterpiece further benefits from its stand-out B-movie cast: the ubiquitous Andrew Stevens, the star and producer of countless cheesy 80's and 90's direct-to-video trash features, Robert Carradine, the ever-lovely and charming angelic blonde goddess Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, future daytime soap opera star Steve Bond, "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" heroine Kimberly Beck, and "Eight Is Enough" sitcom regular Lani O'Grady. The late 80's cult black comedy "Heathers" ripped this movie off a lot, right down to the main story and literally explosive ending. Still, the original remains untouched and unequaled to this very day. And the incredibly mawkish theme song really must be heard to be believed!

Without having seen this movie, a righteous first impression would be that this is a vile and ordinary 80's slasher...only made in the mid-70's. Well, you'll be pleased to learn that this assumption is wrong! Even though the vicious-sounding title and the short summary on the back of the VHS imply the opposite, "Massacre at Central High" actually is an intelligent and subversive portrait about a youthful generation and the giant gaps between them. Yes, in many aspects this really is an ahead-of-its-time slasher in which numbnut school kids get slaughtered in the most inventive ways, but the basic premise leans closer to the typically 70's revenge flicks and – and this is really special – the wholesome it forms is something entirely new and unique: an ambitious and moralistic exploitation flick. Set in a Californian high school, seemly without teachers or other staff, the new kid in town David becomes the target of a trio of bullies. These three already besiege and terrorize the rest of the school population, but with David they go so far that they eventually cripple his legs in a cowardly attack. Driven by revenge, David literally pulverizes the bullies but – just when he thinks to have brought peace inside the school's walls – the former nerds become the new bullies and they all wish to be in control of the schoolyard...I sincerely doubt whether writer/director Rene Daalder fully intended it to be like this, but his film gained a solid cult reputation because it features so many effective political metaphors! Especially since there are absolutely no adults in sight (no parents, police men or teachers), "Massacre at Central High" is like the perfect allegory on society, with its corruption and typical hypocrisy. Still, this is not a great film...and that's largely due to the total lack of budget and craftsmanship. The dialogues are poorly written and the acting is far below average. Although Daalder often succeeds in creating a suspenseful atmosphere, still too many parts of the movie are tedious and lead nowhere. Most of the actual killing sequences are imaginative, but they're too bloodless and the special effects are ludicrously fake (the rock rolling off the cliff and crushing a tent!). If you purchase this film because it looks so much like fun splatter flicks like "Prom Night" or "Graduation Day", you'll feel very cheated, that's for sure. But, either way you look at it, it's a curious gem.