Slaughter High

 



Director(s) - Mark Ezra (Savage Hearts, House Swap), Peter Litten (Living Doll, Heaven's a Drag), and George Dugdale (Living Doll)
Starring - Caroline Munro (Maniac, The Last Horror Film), Carmine Iannaccone (Moonlighting, Split Decisions), and Simon Scuddamore
Release Date - 1986
Tagline - "Marty majored in cutting classmates"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm tanking through my list of reviews that I have put on the back burner once my laptop crashed and my daughter was born.  I've worked through some very interesting horror, strange sci-fi, and oddball exploitation.  I wanted to go with something I think I would have enjoyed as a kid.  I wanted a zombie or vampire flick but the slasher Slaughter High caught my eye.  I had never seen this slasher but I decided to give it a go.  I absolutely adore slashers from the 80s and I really needed to get this one reviewed due to the fact that Vestron Video sent me this one months ago.  Thanks for letting me check out this classic slasher!
     The film begins with a group of popular high school students tricking science nerd Marty (Scuddamore) into thinking that the love of his life wants to have sex with him in the lady's locker room.  He is humiliated but the group responsible is caught and forced to serve out their punishment.  This only fuels their hatred for Marty and while he is working on a science experiment they prank him again and this results in the science lab catching fire and Marty is severely burned.  Several years pass and the group reunited for a class reunion at their now abandoned school.  A room has been decorated for the occasion and they find some items of their own there along with alcohol.  One dies while drinking the alcohol and they soon realize that a killer is stalking the old halls of the high school with his sights on them.
     Slashers come in many different colors and flavors.  Some are modeled after old made for television murder mysteries that play out more like a drama than a horror movie.  Others are teens in the woods getting stalked while at summer camp.  We have some centered around a sorority or fraternity being stalked by an unknown killer.  All of these slashers may take place in different surroundings but they all mostly include a masked killer who is stalking those that wronged them.  Slaughter High is no exception and I love that aspect of it.  The acting in this one is solid.  Nothing special from the cast but it does role like most slashers of the time.  We have clichéd characters that are not that well written.  The cast does the best with what they have to work with but in the end they only appear in slashers with the expectation that they will die.  The story for this one does follow the traditional slasher formula where someone is wronged and comes back to kill.  I liked how this one approached this traditional slasher formula.  There is very little down time and every scene only builds upon the story or backstory of the characters.  I enjoyed the writing even the few plot holes.  Finally, the film has several on screen kills.  Some of the kills are fun but require very little practical effects while a few others use more.  I really liked the practical effects in this one.  The burn scene is fantastic and the tainted beer scene is fucking perfect.  The effects in this one is very underrated.  Overall, Slaughter High does fall in with the other slashers of the time but that doesn't make it any less entertaining.  The film has a clichéd slasher story which is still effective and the effects are top notch.  Do yourself a favor and check this one out.