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Review by Richard Chestney for Massacre at Central High (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1980]
(4 / 5)
Rating:
After falling foul of a group of bullies at his new high school, promising young athlete David (Derrel Maury) is attacked and severely injured. His near-crippling leg injury leaves him angry, deranged and thirsty for revenge on those who would bully others.
This entertaining and thought-out horror movie is an interesting addition to the horror genre. Unlike many other similar films, `Massacre at Central High’ spends a relatively large amount of time building up the plot and developing the central characters. It is through this intelligent characterisation that the viewer is positively encouraged to feel contempt for the gang of bullies. In some ways the actual acts of bullying and violence towards other students committed by the central gang are reminiscent of “Carrie”, albeit on a much larger scale. Rather than have the torment revolving around one character, the entire school is subjected to often horrific acts and thus they live in fear of the gang that runs the school. While one could easily question the situations that the students continually find themselves in (such as where are the teachers?), the movie raises some questions about how far a group of people will go before someone steps in to halt their actions. In fact, the gang is convincingly portrayed as taking their violence and brutality further each time and even revelling in the new experiences that they create for themselves. Although the film is fairly entertaining even when taken at face value, there does seem to be underlying storylines throughout and while the film does indeed suffer somewhat from implausible situations, there is still a lot of enjoyment and thought provoking material that can be found within it.
Unfortunately, there are two main problems with the film. First of all the acting is of a generally low standard. While the performances are by and large tolerable for this type of movie, the limited talents of most of the performers can be somewhat sidetracking, and when an important point is to be made it maybe does not have the impact that it could have were a more talented actor have been involved. However, considering the obvious low-budget of this movie and the apparent effort that was put in by the entire cast, these lapses are forgivable. The second problem with the movie is that it seems to get sidetracked somewhat around two thirds of the way through and the storyline seems to branch off a little too far. While the second part of the story does have merit and tries to be as thought provoking as the earlier story, the movie fails to mesh together all that well. The slow pacing of the second part of the film becomes something of a distraction rather than being an advantage as it was in the first part. Also, the second part of the film turns the character of David into an almost typical slasher villain whereas in the earlier scenes of the film one felt compassion for him and supported his actions, just as one may support the actions of Doc. Collingwood in “Last House on the Left”. Although the reason for David’s later actions are explained (albeit completely obvious) there is a lack of further character development where an insight into David’s deranged mind would have been something of a refinement.
Nonetheless, “Massacre at Central High” is still a generally well thought out movie and certainly an enjoyable enough watch. The grainy picture is, in some ways, a perfect addition to the movie although probably accidental. Fans of other revenge-style horror movies should probably enjoy this and it is recommended for those who like a nice, often subtle subtext to their films rather than just straight-forward and rather unimaginative horror. There are flaws with the film but most of those can be overlooked, even when the story seems to be bordering on the completely ridiculous or senseless. Entertaining, thought provoking and with well developed characters – recommended!
Review by Mr. Jonathon T. Beckett for Massacre at Central High (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1980]
(4 / 5)
Rating:
David(Derrel Maury) moves to a new high school where he meets up with his old friend Mark(Andrew Stevens) who is part of a gang of bullies who rule the school by terrorizing the weaker students with a reign of terror.
However, David is disgusted by the gangs behaviour and sides with the underdogs, culminating in a rescue of two female students who are being raped. This angers the gang who take revenge on David by crushing his legs under a car. He is crippled for life. When David is released from Hospital, thre members of the gang start to die one by one, but as the balance of power shifts, the now unhinged David realises he has created a new monster, as those he saved from oppression become power mad themselves
I bought this as part of a ‘Shock Horror’ box set, and to be honest wasnt expecting that much. I was to be very pleasantly suprised, as its a brilliant little film that offers so much more than a simple gory revenge thriller. There is a sense of realism, as the bullies carry out there actions in the first half of the film. Theres not an adult, a teacher to be seen, as various students are tormented by the gang. Really, the social commentary the film provides on the human condition is quite depressing as what it is saying is that emancipation will lead to abuse of power in most cases. Its not a particularily gory film, instead focussing on the twisted social dynamics within the school. The performances are uniformally excellent, and really it is a film that needs more recognition as its a bit of a lost classic. 4 out of 5
Review by for Massacre at Central High (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1980]
(3 / 5)
Rating:
It starts out like many American afterschool specials from the late 1970’sand early 80’s. Midway through, it takes a left turn, and no one is safeanymore. Released the same year as Brian DePalma’s “Carrie,” this film issimilar in theme except all members of the high school social strata areridiculed in one way or another. Pay close attention the script! “Heathers” (1989), would later lift many ideas from this film.
Review by Daniel Jolley for Massacre at Central High (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1980]
(3 / 5)
Rating:
Massacre at Central High is an unusual revenge/exploitation film with somewhat confusing sociopolitical overtones. Some (but not me) would designate it as a cult classic – but that is largely due to the fact that it’s been rather hard to find for many years now. It is not a horror movie, so don’t go in looking for an axe-wielding masked killer chopping high school students up left and right. Rather, it’s sort of a combination between Revenge of the Nerds, Animal Farm, and any number of low-budget 70s exploitation movies. While there’s nothing particularly impressive about any aspect of the film, the story had promise – up to a point; about halfway through, it goes over the brink and comes awfully close to winding up in laughable territory.David (Derrel Maury) is the new kid at Central High. He has an old buddy there, though, who promises to make sure he fits in – it’s really important that he fit in because not fitting in means nothing but trouble. Good ole Mark (Andrew Stevens) just happens to be one of the in crowd. He, Bruce (Ray Underwood), Craig (Steve Bond), and Paul (Damon Douglas) are a little junta of four who basically terrorize everyone else in the entire school. They’re not just bullies, though – they’re arrogant, preppy bullies. They quite literally run the school – as you watch the film, you can’t help but notice there is not a single adult to be seen anywhere. No parents, no teachers, no cops. That’s why the gang can do things like vandalize vehicles, trash the library, beat up anyone they choose, and even attempt to rape two girls with no consequences whatsoever. But now, the times they are a’changin’, as David names himself Mr. Consequences and goes about seeking revenge for a friendly little accident that left him unable to vent his anger through those daily runs he loves so much. The preppy bullies start going down hard and fast, and the deaths are really rather impressive (but not very gory). Since there are no adults to be found (not until the very end of the film, anyway), life just goes on – no funerals, no psychological counseling, no investigations – just nada, zilch. Those who start to worry about their own pathetic little lives just go to the beach to forget their troubles. Pretty soon, the whole atmosphere at the school changes. The formerly oppressed are living it up, enjoying their newfound freedom from bullying. That lasts about one day. That’s when the oppressed start morphing into oppressors, the student body divides into several power-hungry cliques, and almost overnight a new batch of low-life bullies are bossing their way around the school. It’s really rather depressing, but – unfortunately – it’s also quite believable. Give someone his freedom, and the odds are about even that he’ll just turn around and try to deny some other poor sap of his freedom. It doesn’t say much for our society, does it? What’s a violent revolutionary to do but continue to attack the cancer growing amongst the body politic – even if it ultimately means killing the patient? In other words, the killings continue. What about David and Mark, though? Will their friendship keep them from killing each other? And what of Theresa (Kimberly Beck, who some might recognize from her role in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) – you just knew there had to be a lovers’ triangle in here somewhere, didn’t you?Massacre at Central High is just a little bit this and that. Revenge stands atop the list, but you’ve got your standard nudie exploitation scenes, and let’s not forget the ambiguous political overtones: fascism is bad – check; overthrowing the oppressors and standing up for the little guy is good – check; the socialist revolution is doomed to failure – yep, that’s a big affirmative on that one. Basically, all we learn is that people just aren’t any good – well, that and the fact that a town without any adult presence or authority (especially of the policing variety) is just not a good environment to grow up in.
Review by for Massacre at Central High (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1980]
(3 / 5)
Rating:
It plays out like many American afterschool specials from the late 1970’sand early 80’s. Midway through, it takes a left turn, and no one is safeanymore. Released the same year as Brian DePalma’s “Carrie,” this film issimilar in theme except all members of the high school social strata areridiculed in one way or another. Pay close attention the script! “Heathers” (1989), would later lift many ideas from this film.