The opening of Massacre at Central High has the credits play over shots of the films main character David (Derrel Maury) running along a road and across beach in Southern California to an awful song called 'crossroads'. It's David's first day at school after having recently moved to the area. His friend Mark (Andrew Stevens) belongs to a gang of bullies, Craig (Steve Bond), Paul (Damon Douglas) and Bruce (Ray Underwood). Mark tries to make things easy for David by getting him excepted into the gang. But after seeing how the bullies treat various other students David has none of it, and in fact tries to befriend and help the picked on students. He also becomes very friendly with Marks girlfriend Theresa (Kimberly Beck). One day Craig, Paul and Bruce try to rape two female students, Mary (Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith) and Jane (Lani O'Grady). Both Theresa and David see whats happening and stop it. The bullies go after David and in an 'accident' David's leg is crushed, crippling him. He sets out to take revenge on those responsible. However it soon becomes clear that with no one to keep the other students under control the school quickly becomes worse than before and it soon turns into a free for all as anarchy breaks loose, realising what he has done David must clean up the mess he has unwillingly created.
Written and directed by Rene Daalder I really didn't like this much at all, even though I know it gets a lot of good reviews. Maybe the problem was the exploitative title Massacre at Central High, it was also known as Blackboard Massacre here in the UK as well. I was expecting a gory slasher with loads of teens being hacked up, but what I ended up with was far from that, a rather tame drama with a bit of revenge thrown in to keep any potential viewers just about awake through the 85 odd minute running time. The script, I presume, tries to be thought provoking with its supposed social satire as the students run riot with their newly found freedom as they have no one to control them. The script is character development heavy and very light on action and exploitation elements. No adults are seen in the film until the last 10 or so minutes, I'm not sure where all the teachers and parents are or the police when the students start having 'accidents'. It's an interesting idea but the film itself is boring, dull and somewhat poorly made. You can clearly see the boom mike in scene. There's no blood, gore or violence in it, unless you count someone being murdered by their own hearing aid! Or some people in a tent being crushed by some fake looking boulders. Music, editing, and photography are all instantly forgettable. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood when I watched this as I could see why someone might like it, but for me it was a bit of a snooze fest. Disappointingly slow, dull and unexciting.
Written and directed by Rene Daalder I really didn't like this much at all, even though I know it gets a lot of good reviews. Maybe the problem was the exploitative title Massacre at Central High, it was also known as Blackboard Massacre here in the UK as well. I was expecting a gory slasher with loads of teens being hacked up, but what I ended up with was far from that, a rather tame drama with a bit of revenge thrown in to keep any potential viewers just about awake through the 85 odd minute running time. The script, I presume, tries to be thought provoking with its supposed social satire as the students run riot with their newly found freedom as they have no one to control them. The script is character development heavy and very light on action and exploitation elements. No adults are seen in the film until the last 10 or so minutes, I'm not sure where all the teachers and parents are or the police when the students start having 'accidents'. It's an interesting idea but the film itself is boring, dull and somewhat poorly made. You can clearly see the boom mike in scene. There's no blood, gore or violence in it, unless you count someone being murdered by their own hearing aid! Or some people in a tent being crushed by some fake looking boulders. Music, editing, and photography are all instantly forgettable. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood when I watched this as I could see why someone might like it, but for me it was a bit of a snooze fest. Disappointingly slow, dull and unexciting.