3/5 SLAUGHTER HIGH gives a new meaning to "cutting class!"
  by Saint Thomas (Kent, Ohio)
Wow! What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said already!?! Let's go down a check list (in terms of 1980's Horror) and see if this movie has the "guts" to make it an enjoyable Cult film. Horrible acting? Check! Terrible set designs? Check! Late 20's actors posing as 18 year olds? Check! Buckets of cheap, bright red blood and gore? Check! Random acts of nudity? Check! Check! Double check! 'Yup! This movie has it all! From the down right ridiculous acting (maybe we can blame whoever wrote those awful lines in the screen play) to the out right moronic Horror movie cliches that riddle such a movie as SLAUGHTER HIGH.

Now, I know it seems like I'm really raking this film over the ashes but thats not the actual case. Actually, I found this movie to be quite enjoyable despite the obvious reasons most people hate a film like this. Sure it has bad acting and a lot of it just doesn't make too much sense but lets put those things to the side for a moment. SLAUGHTER HIGH is a movie that was made during a time where 1980's Slashers were "tops." It didn't matter if the movie was made well or logical. Movie studios were just concerned about pumping out a product that the teenagers would eat up. Films like SLAUGHTER HIGH, CHEERLEADER CAMP, MY BLOODY VALENTINE and APRIL FOOLS DAY were products of the time. Us Horror fans really shouldn't get down on them just because of that.

The actual movie SLAUGHTER HIGH isn't anywhere near award winning material but it isn't too horrible over all. The basic premise of the movie is about this Highschool nerd (who looks about in his late 20's) who happens to be the target of everyones pranks and jokes. One day, a bunch of "kids" pull a stunt on him that goes a bit too far. Basically, they set him on fire, splash acid in his face and blow things up (mainly glass bottles and beakers, he's in the schools Physics Lab at the time) just to really let him know who's "dork." You know, the usual stuff bullies do to nerds when they're picking on them. Yet, he doesn't die after all that! I don't know about you guys but I smell revenge.....

Eventually the years pass after the accident and everyone who was involved in the prank, gets an invitation to their High School reunion. Only the problem is, when everybody shows up, the school is abandoned and nobody knows who sent them their invitations. 'Yup, todays lesson is revenge alright!

SLAUGHTER HIGH does boast some amazing kill sequences. If you intend to add this film to your Slasher collection, make sure you buy the DVD version. It comes UNRATED, the way a Horror movie should be! I can safely tell all my faithful Gore Hounds to check this out! It's loaded with the red stuff! Stomach's explode, girls are boiled alive in tubs of scalding hot water and victims are stabbed with any blunt or sharp object to be found! It's a pretty fun little Slasher flick that doesn't hold back on the gore, if you get the UNRATED version on DVD.

Gore Hounds, check it out! Everybody else, unless you're in the mood for this type of thing, I say rent something else.

Over and out!

4/5 I'm glad to FINALLY have the official release... BUT...
  by John A. Sanchez (Pleasanton, TX USA)
"Slaughter High" was another 80s horror movie with so many elements that made it a cult classic: horrendous acting, the usual jocks and the chicks that love them, a goofy soundtrack... Finally, we have an official copy of this classic. My only beef is with the transfer, which still appears a bit dark in some areas, almost as if the master was an old VHS tape (which I also have). Still, I'm just glad to see the official copy on my shelf.

2/5 Stupid high.
  by Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH)
Slaughter High (George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, and Peter Mackenzie Litten, 1986)

Ah, the silliness. Slaughter High was originally a part of the wave of holiday-themed slasher flicks, but Danilo Bach and Fred Walton had the same idea the same year, and so April Fool's Day became Slaughter High. Which is probably a good thing, because Bach and Walton's movie does it ever so much better. This is a pile of junk, though it ended up being a surprisingly influential one.

Marty Rantzen (Simon Scuddamore in his only screen appearance; he overdoed fatally soon after the movie's release) is the school nerd, and as such an obvious target for the jocks. One April Fool's Day they're particularly nasty, and as a result, an accident in the chemistry lab almost kills him. Fast-forward to ten years later, and the eight kids who were involved are all coming back for their tenth high school reunion. When they get there, however, they find the school has been closed down for five years and is scheduled for demolition the last month--and that they are the only eight who were invited. No, that's not an obvious setup or anything, so they all decide to start drinking the provided alcohol, smoking grass, and being generally stupid when there's, you know, a slasher bent on revenge against the kids who destroyed his life years before.

It's entirely unexceptional, and if you're the kind of person who picks apart slasher movies, you're going to find a whole lot of stupid here to pick apart. The script is horrendous, the acting is worse (lead actresses Caroline Munro and Donna Yeager often sound confused they're not in a Shakespearean production, and lapse into that theatrical enunciation with fake British accents), the camerawork is dismal. And while it may not seem like it if you're seeing this for the first time almost twenty-five years after it was released, what really set this apart form the pack was the gore effects. Back in the eighties, gore was either done with smoke, mirrors, and suggestion (witness most American slasher flicks in the seventies and eighties) or was overplayed for camp, laughs, or to make the MPAA realize it wasn't meant to look realistic (think the original Dawn of the Dead or the films of Lucio Fulci). Slaughter High was, as far as I know, the first time gore effects were played straight, and with a few exceptions as realistic as possible given the budget on which the movie was obviously made. (I don't think there's any horror director in the world who can resist the temptation to go over the top once in a while.) So if you're a fan of horror movies, it is worth watching for that reason. Still, don't expect much. It really is awful. **


4/5 Fun cheesy 80's slasher flick!
  by John Lindsey (Socorro, New Mexico USA.)


Marty (Simon Scuddamore) was an unlikable geek at high school years ago and was harassed by some of the students, however a fatal accident which was suppose to be a prank backfires leaving him in the hospital for a few years. However years later, one of the high schoolers named Carol (Caroline Munroe of "Maniac" fame) and other friends have been invited to a high school reunion at their old school which apparently has been abanoned for years in which they enter as unknown to them there's a homicidal maniac with a joker mask is on the prowl to dismember them one by one.

Exciting and cheesy 80's UK/US made slasher flick with a score by Henry Manfredini of "House" and "Friday The 13th" fame is one of those so bad it's good type slasher movies. The acting is kind of bad and the story is a bit inane but there's some grotesque kills and gore such as the memorable acid melting skin in the tub sequence guaranteed to make you chilled and the ending is bizarre.

This DVD contains the extended unrated version with all the gore in it and the transfer is a bit weak including the sound with a few extras like trivia track and trailer.


4/5 Lost 80's slasher get's it's due
  by Ronald L. Ferrell Jr. (McDermott,Ohio)
I wanted to check this out since I've heard so much about and I liked it alot. The only flaw is thirtysomething year old actors playing teens. I like the kill scenes for some were really creative. And the ending is very reminiscent of Maniac. Out of some of the lost slasher films(Nightmare,The Mutilator) this pretty good.