Massacre at Central High

This movie might have been somewhat decent, if it hadn't been for the terrible filming, lighting and sound recording. Half the time you couldn't recognise the characters or understand their conversations. You had to guess who they were and what they were saying (which, I have to admit, was pretty fun!).I also noticed that all the actors were at least in their thirties while their characters were high school kids. They kept on talking about "old friends" (how old could they be, if they were not older than 18???) and their time in jail!! This seems pretty impossible for someone attending grade 12. The story itself was not even too bad, but all the efforts were in vain due to the amateurish way in which the film was shot.

This is a VERY under-rated film that seems to have disappeared from the video shelves & will never see the likes of a DVD release...what a shame! As you may have read from previous reviews, this movie really has a hard time fitting into one category...but at the same time, the story draws you in & you find yourself identifying with many of the characters...I, myself, have never seen a copy of the unrated version (The version I have is from a WPIX New York broadcast from around 1985) but this doesn't deter from the impact this movie has on the viewer...Some type of strange social commentary? A semi-slasher-revenge plot? Actually - who knows & who cares...almost 30 years after it's release the movie is very entertaining, accomplishes what it set out to do, and is a wonderful exercise in 70's exploitation...only a few rungs higher when it comes to plot & acting...I give this flick a 5 star "groovy" ~ Let yourself go & enjoy the ride... PS: The only thing to watch out for & skip at all costs is the lame...did I say LAME theme song from the opening & ending credits...If you already don't - this will make you want to wish that the 70's never happened (But it did...It DID...!) "You're at the crossroads of your life...the crossroads of your life and you are..." AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!

Massacre at Central High is one of the earlier exploitation/slasher films to feature a school full of thirty-something's getting bumped off, but that's not to say it's a cut above the rest of the genre. The film stands apart from others like it because it features a social commentary to go along with the bloodshed, but it's largely ill-conceived, and doesn't work the way it was obviously intended to. That's not to say that the social commentary isn't a good idea; these sorts of themes have worked well in many more professionally made films, but the inane dialogues and poor production values of this film make it too difficult to really take seriously, which doesn't do the social commentary any favours. The plot focuses on David; a new student at a high school in America. David was once friends with Mark, who is in a clique with the school bullies. They rule the school with an iron fist, but they get more than they bargained for when they decide to cowardly injure David under a car. Now crippled, he decides to take his revenge on the gang that did it. Aside from the none too successful social commentary, this film also suffers because it's never all that interesting. The seventies style is there, but other than that, the film can be a bit dry. The murder scenes are more inventive than your common slasher fare, but they're not very gory and are mostly extremely unlikely. None of the performers succeed at convincing the audience that they're young enough to even go to school, and it's all rather wooden as well. This isn't always a problem with trashy low budget cinema, but there's little distraction with this film. The fact that the film was shot on a low budget is evident throughout, as the locations are often very bare, the cinematography is bland; and as mentioned, they couldn't afford any capable actors. One thing that writer-director Rene Daalder does succeed at, however, is putting the focus squarely on the society at the centre of the film at all times, and this is done by only showing the school "kids", and no adults. Overall, this might appeal more to the kind of people that enjoy slashers and the like; but I found this film very lacklustre.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. This is not ur regular slasher movie inspite of the kills happening around a high skool involving teens. The swimming pool kill terrified me then. The film has lots of kills, lil nudity but the best part is the script n the characters. The theme where the oppressed students take on the role of their bully oppressors really impressed me aft revisiting it now.

As has been pointed out by other users, this is clearly not a horror film. Perhaps a highschool-exploitation-revenge flick but without splatter or gore and there are certainly no massacres. The DVD-cover (at least the one I own, Dark Vision - 2001, different from the German cover shown here) even shows a guy holding an Axe, who is not in the movie at all, as there are no axes in the film for that matter either! When I first heard about this film, I was fascinated, mainly because of the name of the director, Rene Daalder. I was a bit puzzled, because there's only a handful of Dutch directors active in the U.S, so who was this Daalder? Perhaps just a Dutch name, as there are many in the U.S., but apparently he did come from the Netherlands and came to America around 1970 after making several films in the Netherlands. One of them, DE BLANKE SLAVIN (The White Slave) (1969), made on a budget of 1,100,000 Guilders (at least $500,000), actually was the most expensive Dutch movie made at the time. Trivia note about this, he co-wrote the script with the now (world) famous architect Dutch Rem Koolhaas! I don't have the exact figures (not even available anymore) but something like 845 people went to see it and as a result he wisely decided to leave the country for a while and went to America. After first seeing the film some five months ago, I thought it was OK, but nothing special, but barely a month later, a documentary was shown on Dutch public television, titled HERE IS ALWAYS SOMEWHERE ELSE, made - to my knowledge - by the completely vanished (from Holland at least) Rene Daalder! It's a portrait of the late Bas Jan Ader, fellow Dutch artist in exile, living and working in Los Angeles in the '60s and early '70s. A interesting portrait of a forgotten artist but to my surprise most of the documentary was about Daalder's own work, part of it about the making of MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH. In this documentary Daalder pointed out, that every poor teenager losing it's life in this film, is killed by the forces of gravity. The first time I saw the film I didn't really notice this, but indeed, everybody is killed in this way (falling of a cliff, jumping in an empty pool, the crashing of a hang-glider etc.). Even more bizarre is the fact that Bas Jan Ader, whose work this particular documentary dealt with, also had gravity as the main theme in his work. There is some earlier, very strange, footage of him (shot in Holland), falling of a roof or driving his himself with his bicycle in the water, all of it perhaps even filmed by Renee Daalder himself. The resulting material on film itself was apparently considered the end-product, the actual work of "Art". Somehow Renee Daalder incorporated some of these concepts about gravity in MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, but besides this peculiar little fact, I can only mildly recommend the film itself. During the whole film, there is a strange, somewhat menacing, atmosphere. But somehow this movie continued to haunt me, not because it's such a good film. Daalder probably had a lot of good ideas and is obviously a better writer than a director, but most of the dialog is poor and with some exceptions, the acting is amateurish. Perhaps some messages about authority, social class and status, but I wouldn't take these to seriously. Perhaps this film turns out to be more a work of experimental art than a real movie, but it's cult status seems to be firmly established by now. 7/10 for pure strangeness and sheer curiosity value.

Massacre at Central high is perfect. It has the right mixture of violence, nudity, and storyline to make a great "slasher". All I have to say is that Skulnick from nerds, Robert Carradine is in it. It's about bullies, girls, adolescence, and everything great the high school years have to offer. I can't say more cause it will ruin it for you. WATCH IT!

A new student at a California high school begin to eliminate a gang of students terrozing it in a rather violent fashion. Not a horror film, but rather a thriller. It is smartly written and features good acting, direction and tight editing. Never lags for a moment. The idea is typical, but the film is given great treatment despite a low budget. I give this film my seal of excellence. My rating: 8 out of 10.

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.

A real find. I remember I first read about it in "The Phantom's Ultimate Movie Guide." The title alone caught my attention as well as the review found in the book. I finally got to see it a year ago and I found it to be very intelligent and suspenseful, not to mention thought provoking. I am still contemplating the message behind the movie and that is what I love best about it. It is not blunt about what it is saying, it leaves it up to you to decide. Though technically a slasher flick, the movie is anything but routine, with plenty of twists to keep your attention. It is basically a parable of political corruption in a high school setting. It presents a high school where there is no authority and I must say that is not too unrealistic, when I got picked on by bullies in high school there seemed to be no teachers around anywhere. It was only in class when I actually saw the teachers or any other adults. The kids who were strongest physically seemed to be in charge of the halls. There were times where I wanted to just try to make a change but I felt it was futile. "Massacre At Central High" deals with such issues, but it also offers an alternative solution and the consequences of it. One of the few slasher flicks to deal effectively with real issues as well the often harsh reality that high school was for some.

David, the new kid in school, prefers not to join the club that the only new friend he made ,Mark, runs in. Craig, the leader of said gang doesn't like that David isn't falling in line and when he saves some "bull dykes" from getting raped by the gang, he pays for his insolence. Now after a stint in the hospital, he plots revenge. Horrid acting hamper this 'message' horror movie. Homoerotic sub-text, lame killings, and bad dialog don't help either. And don't get me started on that theme song. Go rent "Class of 1984" instead. My Grade: D Eye Candy: Kimberly Beck & Cheyrl Smith show all; Lani O'Grady shows breasts