Notorious exploitation producer Steve Minasian certainly had an extreme flirtation with the slasher genre when it was finding fortune during the peak years. He was involved (albeit minutely) with the production of the original Friday the 13th feature before forming a partnership with exploitation king Dick Randall, which brought to the fore three bizarre genre entries. The Spanish/American produced Mil gretos tiene la noche (1982) became renowned for its copious amounts of graphic gore and brutality towards women. Its follow up, the problematic Don't Open 'til Christmas, was at best a mangled beast, which took no fewer three directors to complete. The third and final feature in their un-illustrious contribution to the stalk and slash cycle was this unenthusiastic Terror Train impersonation.
The premise is even more archetypal than the category it so lovingly frequents. Marty Rantzen is a school nerd that suffers a constant barrage of bullying from a troupe of (middle-aged) students, which includes Carol (Caroline Munro) and the joker of the pack Skip (Carmine Lannacconne). As if you hadn't already guessed, one April fool's day the pranks go too far and Marty ends up horrendously disfigured and transferred to an asylum for the rest of his life. Five years later, the culprits are all mysteriously invited to a school reunion on their now abandoned campus, but no one knows who sent the invitations. Almost as soon as they arrive, things take a turn for the sinister as the caretaker is nailed to the door by a psycho in a Jester's mask! Has Marty returned to seek revenge on those who taunted him? Or is someone else cooking up a reason for mass execution?
Unfortunately Slaughter High fails to outshine the rest of Minasian and Randall's slasher output and offers a good explanation as to why the team never conjured another splatter effort. Despite an intriguing opening, the film looses pace and rapidly descends into nonsensical clichés. It could be argued that the flick never set out to take itself seriously, but the hilarious gaps in continuity were certainly a line of dominos waiting to be pushed into a chain reaction of decline. One victim is killed by stepping into a bath tub and turning on the taps that had been pre-filled with sulphuric acid. Not only could she have saved herself from a gruesome fate by simply stepping out of the hazardous tub, but I couldn't help but wonder why there was a bathtub in a dilapidated school in the first place? Harry Manfredini's name on the crew list should have been music to the ears of horror enthusiasts that recognise the work of a talented orchestrator at the top of his game. However even he couldn't find the motivation to turn up for Slaughter High as the melody is just a rehash of his numerous scores for the Friday the 13th series.
Interestingly enough, Slaughter High was developed under the title April Fools Day, which would later become a vastly superior slasher effort from former Minasian colleague and lead Friday the 13th producer Frank Mancuso Jnr. It seems a copyright glitch forced the producers to opt for this secondary title, although Slaughter High can be found on Japanese shores under that alias.
If you're wondering why the cast members' accents travel across the Atlantic more times in 90 mins than British Airways do in a year, then you won't be shocked to learn that this is a UK production that's only simulating its American peers. Not content with giving this group of mostly first timers the horrendous task of sustaining a foreign accent throughout production, the unsophisticated script offered little chance of creative dramatisation. Scream queen Caroline Munro gives yet another explanation why she never managed to upstage her Bond Girl outing, whilst the rest of the cast seem content in the knowledge that movie obscurity was waiting behind the curtains invitingly.
Perhaps the most macabre thing about Slaughter High, is the fact that actor Simon Scuddamore tragically took his own life soon before the film hit the shelves for release. The information I gathered on Scuddamore is that he dedicated a huge majority of his time to helping deprived children, which perhaps makes his demise even sadder. It's a real shame, because he was by far the most talented performer on display. 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.
Slaughter High never becomes tedious and manages to keep the camp spirit running exquisitely. By 1986 the slasher genre had pretty much run dry of ideas, and therefore I wasn't expecting cinematic miracles and as by the book slashers go, it's certainly not the worst. If you are a stalk and slash enthusiast, then Dugdale's opus is almost a must-have addition to your collection; but for everyone else it's all been done and seen before. The chances of finding a copy of this long forgotten entry may prove a challenge as bizarrely it has not yet been pencilled for any kind of DVD re-release.
The premise is even more archetypal than the category it so lovingly frequents. Marty Rantzen is a school nerd that suffers a constant barrage of bullying from a troupe of (middle-aged) students, which includes Carol (Caroline Munro) and the joker of the pack Skip (Carmine Lannacconne). As if you hadn't already guessed, one April fool's day the pranks go too far and Marty ends up horrendously disfigured and transferred to an asylum for the rest of his life. Five years later, the culprits are all mysteriously invited to a school reunion on their now abandoned campus, but no one knows who sent the invitations. Almost as soon as they arrive, things take a turn for the sinister as the caretaker is nailed to the door by a psycho in a Jester's mask! Has Marty returned to seek revenge on those who taunted him? Or is someone else cooking up a reason for mass execution?
Unfortunately Slaughter High fails to outshine the rest of Minasian and Randall's slasher output and offers a good explanation as to why the team never conjured another splatter effort. Despite an intriguing opening, the film looses pace and rapidly descends into nonsensical clichés. It could be argued that the flick never set out to take itself seriously, but the hilarious gaps in continuity were certainly a line of dominos waiting to be pushed into a chain reaction of decline. One victim is killed by stepping into a bath tub and turning on the taps that had been pre-filled with sulphuric acid. Not only could she have saved herself from a gruesome fate by simply stepping out of the hazardous tub, but I couldn't help but wonder why there was a bathtub in a dilapidated school in the first place? Harry Manfredini's name on the crew list should have been music to the ears of horror enthusiasts that recognise the work of a talented orchestrator at the top of his game. However even he couldn't find the motivation to turn up for Slaughter High as the melody is just a rehash of his numerous scores for the Friday the 13th series.
Interestingly enough, Slaughter High was developed under the title April Fools Day, which would later become a vastly superior slasher effort from former Minasian colleague and lead Friday the 13th producer Frank Mancuso Jnr. It seems a copyright glitch forced the producers to opt for this secondary title, although Slaughter High can be found on Japanese shores under that alias.
If you're wondering why the cast members' accents travel across the Atlantic more times in 90 mins than British Airways do in a year, then you won't be shocked to learn that this is a UK production that's only simulating its American peers. Not content with giving this group of mostly first timers the horrendous task of sustaining a foreign accent throughout production, the unsophisticated script offered little chance of creative dramatisation. Scream queen Caroline Munro gives yet another explanation why she never managed to upstage her Bond Girl outing, whilst the rest of the cast seem content in the knowledge that movie obscurity was waiting behind the curtains invitingly.
Perhaps the most macabre thing about Slaughter High, is the fact that actor Simon Scuddamore tragically took his own life soon before the film hit the shelves for release. The information I gathered on Scuddamore is that he dedicated a huge majority of his time to helping deprived children, which perhaps makes his demise even sadder. It's a real shame, because he was by far the most talented performer on display. 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.
Slaughter High never becomes tedious and manages to keep the camp spirit running exquisitely. By 1986 the slasher genre had pretty much run dry of ideas, and therefore I wasn't expecting cinematic miracles and as by the book slashers go, it's certainly not the worst. If you are a stalk and slash enthusiast, then Dugdale's opus is almost a must-have addition to your collection; but for everyone else it's all been done and seen before. The chances of finding a copy of this long forgotten entry may prove a challenge as bizarrely it has not yet been pencilled for any kind of DVD re-release.