Massacre at Central High (1976)

Don't you just love poster artwork… as I was expecting something along the lines of "Class of 1984" with strikingly vile and vicious punks, but the considerably low-budgeted school-based revenge thriller "Massacre at Central High" was a little more thoughtful and dissident in its groundwork than playing it as straight-forward, brutal trash. These are not punks, but snobby preppies. Well it starts off very routine, but about midway through it puts a spin on its revenge angle / actions in what is a refreshing twist. It centres on control and hierarchy. Quite violent, but where it makes up for its lack of blood is the creativity of its deaths. Sure it might be rough around the edges and the scratchy script can feel quite forced, but it's unsparingly conniving and really does weigh up the consequences in changing behaviours in what is a well-devised and curiously sincere story. Rene Daalder's direction is brisk, if clumpy in its varied visions/methods as it contains a certain cold pitch, where some tension is squeezed out. While the makeshift music score is rather wonky with its arrangement, where at times doesn't seem to fit. The acting falls on the raw side with some familiar faces cropping up in the likes of Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine and Kimberly Beck. Derrel Maury gives a suitably deranged, but in a quietly brooding sense performance as the kid who finally decides to rid the school of its power-hungry (and hateful) bullies… but in the end it does come at a cost where maybe he isn't much different to those he despise in his plans to change things for the better. Entertaining 70s exploitation with a biting message.

As a fan these kind of films I sat down to give it view. The premise reminded of the 80's movie Heathers. 4 popular kids, popular only by name who set the tone of the school but for the most part are not well liked. Well this is 4 guys, Heathers is 4 girls. New kid shows up and is befriended into this click, Winnona Ryder has the same thing happen. Both movies, they new kid in school isn't real fond of the so called popular kids are how they treat people. Anyways, Heathers splits the killer up into two characters where Massacre roles them into one. Some of the acting kinda lame and some really average writing. I did like this movie but Heathers should be smacked for ripping this movie off almost to the every end. The killer dies blowing himself up outside the high school. Massacre at Central High should come out on DVD I would buy it. Enjoyed the movie but at the same time it now has me looking at Heathers in a less than original light.

Massacre At Central High is a weird little teen revenge flick - there are many things in it that totally spotlight the low budget - endless shots of the boom mike in frame, in the reflections of some of the shinier cars you can see some of the camera crew, etc. The acting is all over the place - from understated to terrible over the top. And whether it is a conscious choice or not - there are NO adults anywhere to be found in the hallways of this "high school" - now whether that is symbolism for "when you are new in a high school, you are truly alone - there might as well NOT be any teachers or adults around to save you" OR the budget was so small they just cut out any parts for adult actors knowing they could pay these eager teen actors peanuts. Yes, Robert Carradine and Andrew Stevens went on to bigger and better things - but lots of this movie is just an absolute mess - from the opening soft ballad to jump editing to some awful acting BUT...there is something very real, very sincere in the revenge taking that definitely works, that definitely makes your skin crawl - so the movie is effective in many ways and the other powerful thing about it is it is no slasher film - there isn't some evil janitor or demented shop teacher going around and knocking off students - this is pure revenge and then after the revenge, pure, unadulterated human greed for power. Lots of stuff will stay with you. An interesting mid-seventies teen revenge flick to seek out - we saw it on a DVD but it was region-coded - so it came from another country outside the U.S.

(There are Spoilers) Arriving at Central High to begin classes David, Darrel Maury,is confronted with this gang of bullies, The Young Gestapo,lead by Bruce, Ray Underwood, who terrorize the students at the school. Mark, Andrew Stevens, a good friend of David's, from a previous high school, and member of "The Young Gestapo" wants him to join them and stuck his neck out to assure Bruce & Co. that he will but David is unmoved and unimpressed and tends to stays by himself. Keeping a safe distance between himself and the school bullies David for the most part is left alone with his friend Mark being more or less a buffer zone between them. It's when David see's Bruce and his gang grab Jane & Mary (Lani O'Grady & Cheryl Smith) and after dragging the girls into a deserted school room he jumps into action and makes short work of the bullies having them flee with their tails between their legs. Humiliated by the beating that David gave them and feeling that their control of the student body is slipping away the school bullies plan to get even with him but only after they offer David the "privilege" to join their gang and become one of them. Driving out one evening to the beach Bruce has Mark go out and talk to David about joining but he sees David and his girlfriend Theresa, Kimberly Black, skinny-dipping in the ocean. This has an upset and bitter Mark come back to Bruce and his fellow bullies Craig & Paul, Steve Bond & Damon Douglas, telling them that David refused to take them up on their offer. Finding David the next day fixing a car Bruce has the lift lowered on David's leg crushing it and leaving him a cripple. Mark who was mad at David for being with Theresa later found out from her that all they did was swim and nothing more, David refused to hurt his friend Mark by sleeping or having sex with Theresa, making Mark feel guilty for what happened to David. It's then when the movie takes a political and ultra-violent turn with David back in school, after recovering from his leg injury, and slowly and methodically putting away Bruce Craig & Paul. David does this by causing them to fall to their deaths from high places, like the heights of power that they were on. In the end David unknowingly creates a power vacuum that's filled by the very students that the "Young Gestapos" victimized and they turned out to be even worse, and more vicious, then the bullies that they replaced. Not your average teenager movie or a rip-off of "Rebel Without a Cause" "Massacre at Central High" shows what the saying "Power Corrupts" really means and uses the setting of students in a high school, not dictators or leader of nations, as the metaphor. David sees that he personally created a monster by ridding the school of Bruce's gang of bullies and thus slowly and quietly goes insane because of it. The only way David can make things right again is to the destroy the very system that he created, the new students bullies, and goes about it with even more determination and ferocity that he did against Bruce's "Young Gestapo". You know right away in the movie that this is not about teenagers in high school or another "Happy Days" like sitcom when you notice almost at once there's no teachers and adults in the cast except for the Alumni Ball at the end of the film. David's plans to blow Central High up with everyone there including Theresa, who he's in love with, who's the only person in the world who can stop David from doing it. Can in this situation Love overcome the hatred that David has for the new order that he created? Or has David's hatred of the monster he spawned by now gotten so far out of hand that even Theresa's death isn't enough to make David change his evil sick and destructive plan!