User Reviews

This was a movie that I feel like I saw the cover at the one of the local video stores, but for whatever reason I never checked out. It really took podcasts to hear about it. I will admit though, it wasn't one that really stuck with me though as I came in pretty blind. It was on my list of films to see and decided to check it out as part of Side Quest Podcast. The synopsis is eight people are invited to their old high school for their ten-year reunion where a fellow former student, disfigured from a prank gone wrong, is out to seek revenge.

We start by seeing the outside of a high school. There's a track meet that is about to start and we cut inside. Marty (Simon Scuddamore) is a nerd who believes that he's going to hook up with the gorgeous Carol (Caroline Munro). She takes him to the girl's locker room and he's leery about going in for fear of getting in trouble. She does convince him though. After he strips naked, he learns that it is a prank. It seems to be led by Skip (Carmine Iannaccone), but helping out is Stella (Donna Yeager), Joe (Gary Martin), Frank (Billy Hartman), Ted (Michael Safran), Carl (John Segal), Nancy (Kelly Baker) and Susan (Sally Cross). They're interrupted though by a coach, Marc Smith, who punishes them with detention.

They're quite upset about this, but aren't done yet. A joint is given to Marty to make up for what happened. It seems like there's seeds in it. I've never experienced what he is, but I'm assuming that is what is happening. It pops and causes him to go into a coughing fit. He leaves the room and Skip sneaks away. Marty is doing a chemistry experiment where Skip puts some drops of something into a mixture he's made. It ends in disaster as an explosion happens with Marty being burned by fire as well as by nitric acid.

We then shift 10 years into the future. Carol is now an actress and her agent wants her to be in a horror movie. She declines and states she would rather go to her high school reunion. She isn't the only one that is coming back for it. The whole gang gets back together and goes to the school like the invitation states. The problem is that the school looks condemned. It doesn't stop them from breaking in though.

Things seem quite weird though when they find a room is set up for the crew to party. No one else from the class showed up though. They do find their old lockers have been moved into the room and inside, items of theirs that have gone missing. They also notice that Marty's locker is there as well. As they decide to just party the night out, it takes a dark turn when they start to be killed off. It then becomes a night of terror as they try to figure out what is happening and who is doing this? Is Marty back for revenge?

That's where I want to leave off my recap of this movie and I will say, this is a pretty fun slasher film if I'm going to be honest. It has an interesting concept that Marty was pranked on April Fools' Day. I didn't realize until reading trivia about this movie, it was all filmed in the United Kingdom, but pretending to be the United States. Over there, they stop celebrating at noon which explains a plot point here that I didn't know as we celebrate the holiday all day.

Much like other slasher films, it is a bit slow to start off. We get to see what happens to Marty which I felt horrible for him, to the point where I kind of side with him if he decided to get his revenge. I like though that Skip claims that he's been in a hospital, raving about getting his revenge since it happened. It makes me wonder if Marty is back or is it someone else doing this. We get a reveal at the end that at first I was like okay, but they try to do a twist with it. That I wasn't the biggest fan of as it really just kind of cheapens the movie if I'm going to be honest. It feels like a troupe that was used in something like Nightmare City.

Something that I did like was the back-story, to an extent, of our characters. Carol, who is the lovely Caroline Munro, went on to be an actress. I do like that her agent wants her to be in a horror movie and she rejects it. The reason I find that funny, she is in a horror movie, but did a bunch of them throughout her career. There is an interesting little meta aspect here. None of the characters have amounted to much aside from her and Carl, who is in law school. It really seems like they were cool then, but that was their peak.

This movie though is really back-loaded with the action. It is interesting that a group chat I'm in, someone brought up how slashers aren't that different from slow-burns. We get the initial event, but then really nothing until around the one hour mark. From there it is action packed until it ends. It is also kind of difficult to differentiate who the different characters are as well which is a bit problematic for me when it comes to slashers. They don't do the greatest at making them distinct in my eyes. It really makes it hard when you want to write something like this as they're going off the idea that in slashers, we want to see the kills. The greatest job isn't done in fleshing out and making us connect with the characters, except for me where I'm rooting for the killer if he is Marty.

That's not to say I hated the acting. Even though she was a bit old to be playing a high school student or even the age of the character, I can let it slide with Munro. This is a problem across the board is that everyone looks the same age during the high school scenes to the 'present day'. Anyways, Scuddamore does well at playing his role of the nerd and what we see later in the movie. Iannaccone is solid as well as that jerk character who is just bullying Marty to do it. It might be interesting to flesh him out as maybe give him a reason. I understand why we don't, as to not connect with him or the rest of the characters. They're all fine in their own way, but it is just hard to differentiate. I really didn't have any issues with the acting in general.

That will take me to the best part of the movie, the effects. I think they really did a solid job at putting the time and effort into what was used. They were practical and it feels like they built the movie around what they knew they could do. There's an acid bath scene that was solid, but doesn't make sense as to the set up. An electrocution scene which is really good and it is funny in its build up as well as some stabbings to name a few. I was surprised how well they looked to be honest. Aside from that, the cinematography was solid as well.

The last thing to go over would be the soundtrack. I was shocked to see Harry Manfredini's name. As the movie was going on, I realized that so many of the songs are taken straight from Friday the 13th and that includes musical cues. He did seem to do an original song as the theme here. I like what was used in the movie, but I can't give too much credit since it was just rehashed from the other movie.

Now with that said, this isn't a great slasher film, but I did have fun with it. I like incorporating a holiday into this with April Fools' Day and that would have been the title if not for April Fool's Day getting the rights to the name first. This has a bit of unrealistic concept, but I can let that slide. It doesn't do the greatest job in fleshing out the characters. The acting though was fine. The real bright spot would be the effects though. I did like they had Manfredini, but I'm bummed he really just reused music from a past movie here. I don't think this will appear as one of my tops in the genre, but still a lesser known one that doesn't get talked about a lot in my opinion. My rating here would be just over average.

Stephen Minasian and Dick Randall, who also helped to bring us the original "Friday the 13th" and the notorious "Pieces", strike again with more ridiculous 80s slasher cheese. Cruel high school students play a prank on pathetic Marty (Simon Scuddamore), after which he becomes permanently disfigured. 10 years later, these same jerks attend their high school reunion, despite the fact that they're the only ones who show up, and the school looks like it's been shut for years. It seems that Marty, who now wears a joker / jester costume, is out for some sweet revenge, and fortunately for him, his victims tend to be *idiots*!

Minasian and Randall sure know how to give the audience what they want. Randall (who also appears on screen, as Caroline Munros' agent) deliver to us nudity, gore, creative kills - a spiked beer, electrocution, an acid bath - and some genuine atmosphere in this fairly enjoyable flick. The good thing is that the three credited writers / directors (George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, and Peter Mackenzie Litten), know full well that their film is blatantly cheesy, that their script is not so hot, and that the majority of their actors are not overflowing with talent. Perhaps the oddest touch is seeing veteran British sex symbol Caroline Munro play one of the worlds' oldest high school students. As usual, she's a joy to look at, and she must do most of the running around (and screaming) while the demented Marty stays close on her tail.

Dugdale, Ezra, and Litten waste little time, getting to the humiliation of Marty quickly, and rarely offering a let-up until the end. Overall, this is an amiable slasher that is never taken really seriously, and it creates good vibes for its entire 91 minute run time.

Young Scuddamore is memorable as the antagonist, although he sadly committed suicide in real life after the picture was released, so he was never able to see this picture become a sort-of cult favourite over the last three decades.

Seven out of 10.

Producers Steve Minasian and Dick Randall certainly had an extreme flirtation with the slasher genre when it was finding its fortune in the peak years. Their credits include perhaps two of the most bizarre and blood-soaked movies of the early eighties, Pieces and Don't open ‘til Christmas. This was their last joint venture into the kingdom of stalk and slash and it was probably their finest hour. Carolin Munro (that name always makes me giggle, I'm not trying to be Marilyn Monroe sir, Honest!) returns to what she does best… well, gets most work from! Yes, she was the buxom beauty queen stalked by Joe Spinnell in both Maniac and Fanatic and she also made a somewhat brief appearance in the aforementioned Christmas-set hacker. Having discovered a themed-calendar date that had not yet been knifed/slashed/pickaxed, the movie was initially going to be called April Fools Day. But Frank Manucuso Jnr, the producer most famous for his work with the later Friday the 13ths, must've just beat them to the copyright for his flick of the same title. On the cover this claims that it too was from the makers of the Voorhees series, only I'm not quite sure how much truth can be found in that statement. If Minasian did have any involvement at all, it wasn't credited ANYWHERE, which hardly makes him worthy to call himself the ‘maker'.

The premise is even more archetypal than the category it so lovingly frequents. Marty Rantzen is the school nerd that suffers a constant barrage of bullying from a troupe of (middle-aged!) students, which includes the beautiful Carol (Munro) and the joker of the pack Skip (Carmine Lannacconne). He emphasis the fact by wearing a Jester's mask that we know from the off will reappear later for more sinister reasons! As if you hadn't already guessed, one April fools day they go too far and Marty ends up horrendously disfigured and transferred to a loony bin for lifelong imprisonment. You wanted by the book plotting? Well check this out: Five years later, the culprits are all invited to a reunion on their now abandoned campus, but no one knows who planned it (take a guess!). Almost as soon as they enter, the caretaker is nailed to the door by a nut-nut in the Jester's mask and soon they each find curious reasons to wander off and suffer gory deaths at the hands of the masked maniac…

Most of these ‘actors' are as English as the Tower of London, but try to convince us that they're American, which would explain their humorous accents switching between UK and US more times in 85 minutes than British airways do in a year. Cars are given foreign number plates, but there's no disguising the location's obvious English heritage. Ex-Bond babe Munro hasn't improved her characterization since the last time she was stalked by a maniac killer and by 1985, she was looking a little too ‘mature' to be a Hi-school teen. I'd love to know how she managed to wake up early in the morning with perfect hair and make-up too, but hey, I guess we're not supposed to ask questions like that and she did bring some much-needed beauty to the movie. Most of her support were outright first-timers, flat as a punctured tyre with no thread of speech pattern. But Simon Scuddamore and Carmine Lannaccone kept up the camp spirit - if little else. The really obscure thing about Slaughter High was undoubtedly Dick Randall's brief cameo appearance. Surrounded by posters from his previous ‘hits' (hey, there's Pieces!), he proves that his flair for dramatics was even worse than his taste for production.

There's fun to be had in the inventive murders that involve disembowelment by a tractor engine, exploding intestines and death by drowning in a bog of mud! (?) Perhaps the dumbest of the bunch was when one girl decides to take a bath after the blood from her friend's bursting guts sprays all over her face (Well, isn't that exactly what you'd do?) She climbs in the tub and turns on the taps and suddenly the water rushes in to boiling acid. Does she simply step out of the basin to save herself from scalding or does she stay seated until she completely melts into a bloodied skeleton? Yep, you guessed it… Perhaps on this occasion the killer actually did her a favour! Director George Dugdale shows very little potential in his directorial debut. His biggest mistake was relinquishing the usually redeeming stalking set pieces for rushed murders that lack any suspense or tension. His efforts at jump-scares were too slowly framed and he lacks the skill shown in the early additions to the series that he so desperately emulates. The ghost-like apparitions that pop-up as the runtime draws to a close were indeed silly and pointless, but if you keep watching they at least give us an explanation for their needless appearance. Harry Manfredini hasn't so much mimicked his score from Friday the 13th as simply cut and pasted it, which is no real mean feat, but at times it felt as if we were watching a (less competent) sequel instead of a completely different movie.

The most macabre thing about Slaughter High, is the fact that actor Simon Scuddamore tragically took his own life soon after it was released. It's a real shame, because he was probably the most talented guy in the picture. The reason(s) for his suicide are unknown, but watching him play the role with his tongue stuck firmly in cheek and clearly disguising the problems that he may/may not have been suffering at the time, makes his performance look far more credible. It also gives the film a somewhat morbid air of mystery as to why he chose to end his life at a time when he should've been celebrating. What is questionable, is why no tribute was added to the closing credits in memory of the deceased star? Perhaps the reason being that it had already been transferred to video when news of his suicide was announced.

Although it lacks the polish of the flicks it obviously wants to be classed alongside, this is still a great deal of fun. The unrated versions give some visually amusing splatter, even if it's nowhere near as gory as the producer's previous bloodstained offerings. The overall campiness spoils any chance of fear and it's a little too under-written even for a slasher flick, but it does manage to keep interests raised without ever becoming boring and it doesn't take itself too seriously. The net result is a movie that succeeds in doing exactly what it set out to. Have some fun and kill a few deserving victims along the way! It's as routine as brushing your teeth, but it gains credibility for accepting with warm embrace the knowledge that it's nothing more than that.

"Slaughter High" has been given an official DVD release but, going by the quality, you'd never know that. If it wasn't for the Lionsgate branding, trailers, and cheap trivia track "special feature," you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a bootleg. The full-screen video is ripped off the same VHS copy all the YouTube video pirates use. The image is almost indecipherably dark at times. The picture is grainy, scratchy, washed out, and full of tracking errors. The audio is tinny and frequently distorted. They even maintained the Vestron Video logo at the end! You could criticize Lionsgate for the shoddy release. Actually, you should do that. Yet, when I pressed play at the menu, a rush of nostalgia washed over me. I remember this world of scratchy VHS-rips and barely watchable uploads. (By the way, if you want a decent disc of the film, import Arrow's Region 0 release from the UK.) Anyway, the actual movie. "Slaughter High" begins in a high school. Duh. Thirty-six year old Caroline Munro plays a high school student, part of a group of the school's "cool" kids playing a prank on resident nerd Marty Ratzen. Marty is seduced, stripped naked, strapped into a bizarre condom, photograph in the nude, sprayed with cold water, and has his head dunked in a toilet. Afterwards, the gym teacher yells at Marty for being in the girl's bathroom. His humiliation isn't over yet, as another one of the bullies hand him an exploding joint. This goes horribly wrong and the nerd is splashed with acid, deforming his face. A decade later, the same group of bullies are invited back to the now-abandoned hospital for an April Fool's Day party. Predictably, a lunatic in a jester mask begins murdering them in gruesome, contrived ways. Gee, who saw that one coming? The film was produced by Dick Randall, the same man behind "Pieces" and countless other low-budget trash offerings. While "Slaughter High" is neither as sleazy nor hilarious as "Pieces," it comes awfully close at times. Aside from the thirty year olds cast as teenagers, the film is full of ridiculous slasher nonsense. Somebody just drank and acidic soda, their stomach literally splitting open. What is Nancy's first course of action after that? To take a bath in one of the dilapidated building's tubs. Surprise, the tub is full of acid! Her face melts via stop-motion animation. Despite their friends dying left and right, two of the invitees decide now is the best time to have sex. The woman implores the man to talk dirty, leading to him grunting out "T**s!" and "F**k!" The killer drops an activated lawn mower on a victim. The guy never thinks to roll out from under the vehicle. Characters play practical jokes, a rat leaps out at someone, and the creepy old janitor dies first. If you want clichés, "Slaughter High" delivers swiftly with its own demented sense of humor.

The film's hilarious oddness is exacerbated by an unexpected mean-spirited streak. None of the characters are likable. Yes, Caroline Munro's Carol expresses some guilt over the accident, but just a little. Marty, at first, might be a victim. Yet his cluelessness, awkwardness, and overwhelming dorkiness make him hard to root for. The other victims show such astonishing stupidity that they endear no sympathy. "Slaughter High" quickly dissolves into awful people doing awful things to each other.

But a devoted stalk-and-slash fan can find something worth-while in any thing. Honestly, when it comes to grimy, Z-grade slashers, "Slaughter High" is a better example. It's certainly better then, say, "Blood Cult" or "Honeymoon Horror." The empty hallways of the high school provide some decent atmosphere. Directing trio George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, and Peter Litten throw in one or two inventive shot, like a close-up of Marty's hands bursting through a picture of himself or a POV of someone falling from a robe. The kills are ridiculous but quite creative. I mean, any maniac can stab someone, and Marty does, but it takes a real creative mind to melt someone in an acid bath. The final chase sequence goes on for way too long but admittedly hits the horror fan sweet spot for me. The jester mask and letter man jacket combo is actually a pretty cool get-up. When many slasher films were content to stick their killer in a ski mask, that one sticks out. Henry Manfredini's score is pretty terrible but his fans will probably enjoy it.

Ultimately contributing to "Slaughter High's" atmosphere of nastiness is that Simon Scuddamore, the actor playing Marty, committed suicide from a drug overdose not long after filming wrapped. Apparently, he suffered from depression. It's easy to imagine that his character's torment added to his real life depression. The film's thrown together, nonsensical ending features slow-motion murder, self-mutilation, and character's forever stuck in mental anguish. Dude, what a bummer. So "Slaughter High" is not a good movie in any traditional sense. Yet those with a stomach for the stupid, senseless and cheap will find it has an indelible atmosphere all its own.

"Slaughter High" is, perhaps, the most underrated slasher flick of the 1980s. It is one of the few films in the genre that is enthralling throughout. That being said, it also relies heavily on the standard slasher formula: A group of young men and women get killed one by one gruesomely until the final showdown.

The reason why "Slaughter High" stands above most movies in its genre is that it goes more over-the-top. Marty, the killer, has good reason to hold a grudge against his former classmates. They electrocuted him as he stood naked in a girl's locker room shower, jabbed at his crotch with a javelin, and, to top it off, rigged his science lab experiment so it could disfigure him.

So, the victims in this movie are about as unlikeable as you get. When they reunite years later -- at a high school reunion put on by Marty himself -- you realize they haven't matured all that much. They're a bunch of sociopaths.

It is mind-boggling why they would not wonder why they were the only ones to show up to the reunion, which, by the way, is held at a school that has since fell into disrepair. And who would think it's a good idea to drink beer and liquor found in the abandoned building in a room that happens to have their old lockers -- as well as Marty's -- on display? There are many leaps of faith the viewer needs to take to enjoy this film. The ending makes little or no sense. And the screenwriters have a strange understanding of how April Fool's Day works: The movie claims that pranks are no longer allowed after noon.

In all, the movie is one of the best examples of the slasher genre, despite all of its flaws. It is hard to understand why it hasn't yet found its way to DVD, when so many other run-of-the-mill slasher flicks are graced with special editions.

A group of people are invitied to there high school reunion, but after they arrive they discover it to be a scam by an old classmate they played an almost fatal prank on. Now, he seeks to get revenge on all those that hurt him by sealing all the exits and cutting off all telephone lines.

Dark salsher film with an unexceptional premise. Bringing it up a notch are a few good performances, some rather creative death scenes, plenty of excitement & scares, some humor and an original ending. Unrated; Extreme Violence, Graphic Nudity, Sexual Situations, Profanity, and Drug Use.

Okay, sorry, but I loved this movie. I just love the whole 80's genre of these kind of movies, because you don't see many like this one anymore! I want to ask all of you people who say this movie is just a rip-off, or a cheesy imitation, what is it imitating? I've never seen another movie like this one, well, not horror anyway.

Basically its about the popular group in school, who like to make everyones lives living hell, so they decided to pick on this nerdy boy named Marty. It turns fatal when he really gets hurt from one of their little pranks.

So, its like 10 years later, and the group of friends who hurt Marty start getting High School reunion letters. But...they are the only ones receiving them! So they return back to the old school, and one by one get knocked off by.......Yeah you probably know what happens!

The only part that disappointed me was the very end. It could have been left off, or thought out better.

I think you should give it a try, and try not to be to critical!

~*~CupidGrl~*~

Eight American high school graduates return to their now-defunct school for a 5-year reunion celebration. Unfortunately for them the nerd they picked on and inadvertently ruined is also there with fatal revenge in mind.

The dilapidated school building that "Slaughter High" (1986) is mostly set recalls "Death Tunnel" (2005), but "Slaughter High" is subpar by comparison; it lacks the professionalism and aesthetics of that later film. Whether you like "Death Tunnel" or not is a different story, but it IS professionally made with awesome visuals, state-of-the-art editing, a superlative female cast and excellent score/soundtrack.

So "Slaughter High" is a decidedly Grade B 80's slasher in production values; and arguably Grade C. It's marred by a dated score and a little camp, particularly the nerd, but is otherwise decent for what it is. Everyone involved knew it wasn't a top-of-the-line production, but gave it their best to entertain the audience. The ending features an original twist that is done much better a year later in "Slumber Party Massacre II."

The beautiful Caroline Munro was a little long in the tooth at 36 (during shooting) to play a high school senior and early 20's B-movie actress by the second act, but her attractive vibrancy pulls it off. Nevertheless, her heyday was the 70s and her star was falling at this point, which didn't seem to bother her a bit. Kelly Baker is worth mentioning as Nancy while Carmine Iannaccone is charismatic as Skip.

Simon Scudamore, the actor who plays the nerd unfortunately committed suicide after the completion of the movie on November 21, 1984, an apparently intentional drug overdose.

The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes; it was shot in England as follows: St. Marylebone Grammar School, London (interiors of school); Holloway Sanatorium, Surrey (exteriors of school); London (interior and exterior of apartment); and Wentworth Golf Club, Surrey (the road where the car breaks down).

GRADE: C

Slaughter High is about a boy named Marty. He was harassed, and picked on in high school. A group of kids played several pranks on him, and these pranks were REALLY bad. The last prank ended tragically.

cue to 5 years later. The gang of kids meet up again for a reunion. One of them set it up at the old high school. The school is now abandoned, and they have to break in. For some reason, the Janitor is still there, but he tells them to go ahead and have fun because they give him a beer.

They start partying ,and looking at their old lockers, and they see something of Marty's. One girl feels sorry for Marty but another guy calms her down.

Once the kills begin, it is great. Every kills is creative and gory. We see a figure in a jester mask, hunting them one by one throughout the school. It appears Marty is back to exact revenge. After the first person is killed, they find out they are locked in the school. They begin looking for a way out.

Now, there are a number of illogical things in this movie. First of all, I don't know anyone who has a 5 year reunion. Second of all, after the first kid dies, a girl gets blood all over her. They all run away in a panic, yet she runs to the bathroom, and finds a bathtub. Hrr friend has just been killed, and she decides to take a bath!? More importantly, why is there a bathtub in a school bathroom. Anyways, the bathtub doesn't seem to really work....and she dies a horrible death this is an 80s movie. it is a horror slasher. WHO CARES if it has some illogical parts. I for one don't. This movie has really great deaths. The ending.... there is a twist. Having recently seen Haute Tension, I can compare the two. The only way they are similar is that there is a twist, which kind of left me disappointed.....THEN right after the twist, comes a great, if not the best kill, in the movie.

After the last kill, the killer looks at the screen and also does something crazy, and it was the perfect way to end the movie. It has me going "wow..."

Slaughter High is one of the better 80s Slasher Movies Starring the nice looking Caroline Munro (known from another 80s Horrormovie Maniac) There are similar Revenge Slasher Movies from the 80s like The Burning or Terror Train. Slaughter High has some witty kill scenes and a decent Soundtrack, and a creepy setting however the ending was a bit weird. Overall a entertaining Slasher. Recommended for Slasher and 80s Horror Fans.

YES, the plot is hardly plausible and very thin. YES, the acting does range from average to laughable. YES, it has been done so many times before. However what we are dealing with is a film that does not shy away from these facts and pretends to be nothing more than it is. There are indeed some original death scenes and the tension does increase throughout the movie. In addition you are never more than a few minutes away from a gory killing. I urge everyone to watch this film with an unprejudiced eye and see it for what it set out to be; a scary, funny slasher flick with a theme tune second to none.

An old gang of highschool bullies- responsible for a humiliating series of pranks-gone-wrong that saw the school nerd get horribly disfigured in a fire- are invited back to town for their ten year highschool reunion.

However, it seems like they are the ones getting pranked this time...because when they show up, the whole place is locked down, and there is no one to be seen.

They manage to break in, but can't break their way back out...and now they're dropping one by one...

What starts off like a low budget Breakfast Club ripoff...quickly takes a twisted turn in the direction of American Horror Story: Cult.

There are some great kills in this! While they are lacking in the gore and special effects departments, they make up for it with sheer cleverness and imagination.

The whole thing seems to be a bit of an homage to Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse...as there is an identical kill. Not to mention, they are confined to a house- laden with boobytraps- from which they cannot escape...as they are picked off one by one...more or less the same concept.

However, this film has a triple twist at the end- which switches things up a bit, and sets itself up for a sequel (that never came to fruition).

Originally, it was supposed to be called April Fool's Day- but Fred Walton's film beat them to the punch, so they were forced to rename it.

however, this cult gem- from first time filmmakers George Dugdale, Mark Ezra & Peter Litten- is wonderfully twisted! Despite the (at times sketchy) American accents...this is a British feature...that feels a lot like a Frank Hennenlotter flick.

6 out of 10.

Wow, praise IMDb and Google, for I have been trying to remember the name of this f'ing awesome movie for over 15 years now. Slaughter High, man! Hells yeah!

I'm not going to bore you with a plot summary, and actors, and yadda yadda yadda, 'cause you all know what's up. That's why you're here anyway. What I will do, however, is explain the fond memory I have of this quintessential 80's D-Movie slasher joint.

In 1987, when I was around the age of 7, my father used to rent all these horror movies. Would he care that his kids were watching them with him? No. So, at that young age i saw Slaughter High. What I saw in that movie stuck with me big time. I haven't seen it since, but I remember to this day most of the ridiculous kills in the movie. For example, the post-sex scene (why is there a metal bed in a school?) gets electrocuted. Or, the guy being drowned in a cess pool. Come on! My personal favorite, though...the exploding stomach from the tainted beer. Amazing! How can you honestly hate on a movie where one of the characters finds a beer in an abandoned school, like, 10 or 15 years later and thinks it would be a good idea to drink it? Then his stomach explodes? What!? And that great line: Let's take my car...it always starts. Classic crap all the way.

I mean, I look back now, almost 20 years later, and laugh at it. But when I was 7, I was scared sh!tless. That jester hat (or was it a mask?) that the killer rocks throughout freaked me the f*ck out!

All in all, yes, a crappy movie. But for nostalgia purposes and for humor factor this movie gets a 9 out of 10 from me. Either stay up every night real late and hope to catch this on same Late Late Late Movie show, or hunt down a VHS copy and dust off your VCR.

One of the best 80s slashers out there. It's silly and low budget, but very entertaining and with really elaborate and gory killings (of a group of hateable bullies) and the presence of Caroline Munro. It also has a very iconic jester's mask killer (appearing in the beautiful international poster) and holds up very well (I have seen it at least three times and always enjoy it). Unfortunately, there's also a very sad backstage story: the main character (the kid who is bullied in the film) committed suicide just months after finishing principal photography for the film.

After attending their high-school reunion, a group of friends learn the entire evening was planned as a ruse by a former classmate to seek revenge on them for a prank gone wrong and must find a way to stop the deadly rampage.

This here turned out to be quite the enjoyable and fun cheesy slasher effort. One of the best aspects of this one is the fact that there's just such an endearing and watchable charm to this one that transcends the obvious low-budget nature of the proceedings, from the rather exceptional use of adults playing off as teenagers, the continued desire to prank one of their own despite the situation clearly working against them as they continue to do so for no reason and the rather impressive amount of time here with the gang who are clearly trying to have fun and joke around with each other when they should be considering a way out of their environment which makes this a lot more light-hearted and goofy than it really portrays itself to be. This is pretty well endowed through the sound-effects and constant jokes flown throughout the film as well, making this quite too much like a spoof in the first half which is fun at times and overblown the next as the constant tone-shifts make for some uneven work in here. Still, there's still plenty of worthwhile elements throughout this with their being a lot of rather impressive horror sequences including the initial motivation for the rampage being a disastrous experiment gone wrong complete with the exploding school equipment and scarring acid that provides the motivations for one of the greatest ever masks in the genre with the old-man/jester-hat combo that works deliciously well in evoking the type of atmosphere warranted for the film and help highlight the finale wonderfully as the madly-ringing jester bells and held-aloft javelin through the school's hallways rival the best chase scenes in any classic slasher. Of course, the gore is also highly impressive here with the multitude of kills requiring a large amount of ingenuity and thrills which are quite memorable and downright graphic which has a lot of impressive moments about it. Still, there's a few problems here from the fact that there's the abrupt tone shifts throughout the first half as the cheese and silliness aren't exactly all that appealing for all involved which tends to distort their effectiveness. Likewise, this one really tends to highlight the inherent stupidity of the group more than any logical series of friends would ever be by their inability to recognize the set-up here is just for them, their willingness to sleep and screw around with each other after being provided plenty of opportunities to realize a killer's after them and the constant notion of staying in trouble by ignoring or even repeating mistakes made in the past by their friends continues to make them seem way too stupid for real-life. It's not a bad mark on the film, but it is noticeable and knocks it down slightly.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Full Male and Female Nudity, several sexual situations and drug use.

If you're a fan of low-budget 80's slashers, Slaughter High is the movie for you. It's overflowing with so-bad-it's-good dialogue and acting, a classic slasher villain revenge story, a memorable and eerie setting, a striking score by the great Harry Manfredini, a uniquely masked killer played memorably by Simon Scuddamore (rest in peace), and brutal death scene after brutal death scene with fantastic gory low budget practical effects.

Of course, there are a few of the typical slasher cons to be found here - most notably some pacing issues, with a typical third act cat-and-mouse sequence that drags on for far, far too long... but overall, Slaughter High is a solid slasher flick that deserves to be remembered.

The school nerd Marty (Simon Scuddamore) is sexually humiliated by a bunch of classmates and then is in a lab explosion (set by them also) where his face is scarred by acid. Years later all the jerks get invited back to the high school (since closed) for a reunion. What they didn't know is that Marty is inviting them back to kill them. Then a storm starts, they're locked in the school and Marty starts to take revenge.

Pretty silly. The murders are inventive and gory and there are some creepy atmospheric shots of the deserted school--but that's about it. The humiliations inflicted on Scuddamore are more than cruel (he's stripped, has his head dunked in a toilet AND gets burnt) and are just uncomfortable to watch. Considering Scuddamore committed suicide shortly after this was released make them almost impossible to view. Also this movie goes out of its way to have nudity. There is full frontal of Scuddamore (surprising for any movie) but one girl decides to take a bath alone...AFTER they know a killer is wandering around after them! And then there's the couple that has to have sex. This is the type of film where the killer seems to know where everybody is going to be and can teleport himself to them. It ends with a twist which had me groaning and rolling my eyes then ANOTHER twist which had me wanting to throw something heavy at the TV! The acting is bearable--not good, but bearable. Caroline Munro is in this too. She's a very beautiful woman but not much of an actress.

This gets a 3 for some effectively gory murders and atmosphere. Otherwise it's run of the mill and forgettable. Scuddamore's tragic suicide has given this film more attention than it deserves.

If ever a horror film succeeded on it's atmosphere alone, "Slaughter High" is it! Overall, it's not a great film, with it's cheesey effects and questionable acting. But low and behold, it is one of the most memorable and creepy films of the 80's. The plot has been laid out before--a nerd who was picked on in high school and seriously injured by his classmates seeks revenge 10 years later at the high school reunion. From the opening scene, the movie has several qualities that might make you want to shut it off: the "teens" look like they are in their 40's and the script is horrid are some examples. This continues throughout the movie and some scenes are downright ridiculous. Why does the girl decide to take a bath for christ sake?! How does the one victim die just from falling back into the 5 foot deep well? Why do couples decide to have sex while there friends are being slaughtered? Why do the characters think that April Fools Day ends at noon?? Nevertheless, when the final credits rolled, I was very pleased with my experience and had to watch it again. Why? Atmosphere!! The "school" that is used is downright freaky and the jester's mask that Marty wears gave me the chills. The final scene where the heroine is on stage behind the curtains and Marty is trying to stab her with the pole is very intense. To put it simply, something about this film is damn scary. I don't think it is one specific thing, but a clever combination of small things that work very well. In the end, these things well make up for the bad things about the film, and what we get is one of the most creepy, creative, and atmospheric horror films to come out of the 80's. A must see for true horror fans. 8 out 10

This one is just okay, the setting of the abandoned high school is cool and a lot of the death scenes are creative. But in the other hand, the acting sucks and the characters are two dimensional while also making the stupidest decisions known to man kind. After one of their friends dies they all decide to go to sleep! Who would do that!? I would actually give this a lower rating but the ending gives it some points. Overall it's an entertaining mess of a movie and I kinda like it.

This film is the epitome of bad 80's slasher films: a decent idea that comes out really bad and rips off good slasher films in the process.

Marty, the stereotypical high-school nerd, is horribly disfigured in an accident caused by a prank gone too far. Years later, Marty invites the pranksters back to their old high school for a reunion. One by one, Marty stalks and murders them.

Sounds pretty good but given the bad script, bad acting, bad special effects and no trace of suspense, the film is nothing but a cheesy gore-fest littered with numerous plot holes. The illogical behavior of the characters is bad enough, but the dialogue is just plain painful to witness. Even if you like bad B-movies, this one is still awful.

I paid $1 for this movie in one of those dollar stores and would really like my money back.

When high school prank goes too far, the resident nerd gets a face full of acid. Now, years later, the pranksters are gathering for a high school reunion where it seems that bloody revenge is about to go down.

Slaughter High, as you can tell from its title, isn't a horror film that's meant to be taken seriously. It's a firmly tongue-in-cheek movie, something of a cross between being a dark comedy and a slasher revenge flick. The movie is definitely a low-budgeter, as the movie takes place almost entirely in one run-down school building and the performances of the cast leave much to be desired! Still, the cheesiness of this movie only makes it more fun as we are given a hand full of crazy over-the-top murders and a band of foolish characters complete with ultra-hammy dialog. Some good chase scenes and moments of action (along with nudity and gore) also help make this all the more a guilty pleasure. The twisted conclusion only makes it more fun.

Definitely one for the slasher fans, but not to be taken seriously by any means.

** 1/2 out of ****

The middle was kind of boring, but beginning and end were pretty good. Nice twist in the end! What yoy can expect from 80s slasher I suppose.

To begin with, How would you like acid being splashed on one's face, a javelin poked near crotch, someone being strangulated and then nailed to the door, a beer that explodes innards out and a beautiful body dissolving slowly in acid. Well if you are into punk depiction of death 'Slaughter High' is for you. Indigenous attributes set this one apart from many contemporary slasher flicks, and it's fun watching the English apply American accents to sound Americans. Unlike most of the slasher flicks that fail to hold you tight during the entire course, 'Slaughter High' promises relentless fun and violence. The Jester mask, though not very horrid, is creepy enough.

Marty (Scuddamore) is a plain fool. He is such a loser that no girl would like to spend her time with. Marty soon becomes a victim of college prank, when a popular college girl Carol (Caroline Munro) cajoles him to make love under the shower, while intentionally letting the pranksters shoot Marty nude on the camera, of course without Marty's knowledge. Marty is insulted, beaten and also has his head drowned into the commode. His troubles end when the college coach (Smith) saves him and condemns the wrongdoers to hard labor in the gymnasium. The ring leader Skip (Inannaccone) wants to settle scores with Marty and rigs his chemistry practical apparatus to explode on Marty's face. The trick works and Marty collapses on floor. To make this worse, an acid jar turns down splashing a liter of hazardous liquid on his face, thus horribly disfiguring him. Most of the wrongdoers show remorse at Marty's burns and it appears that Marty is taken to a hospital for treatment. Several years later, these students get an invitation to show up for reunion at the same old college building. They find the building in serious disrepair awaiting demolition. They somehow get adjusted to it but a crazy 3-horned jester is stalking and finishing them in brutal and bizarre ways.

So what all does it take to make a nice shock movie? Well, watch 'Slaughter High' and you'll know. The movie is cheesy to the core with all the English actors pretending to be Americans. The setup is great and so is the atmosphere. It looks strange to see a crowded college building go deserted with time. The dim lit corridors remind me of Nazi concentration camp shown in 'Wold3D' game. It's the sheer sense of isolation, that rules the mind whenever any such set up comes before in real life. For example, I really fear walking on long and silent corridors at night. This movie needs to be enjoyed instead of being reviewed. So folks, enjoy the hip hop ride with lots of stylistic murders and gore.