Slaughter High (1986) User Reviews

Fun Slasher that Isn't Talked About a Lot

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 6/10 · 12 August 2020]

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.

You'd have to search hard to find a horror film worse than this

[Glyde Stick · 5/10 · 23 February 2000]

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.

Slaughter High (1986)

[Bleeding_Edge · 4/10 · 11 September 2022]

A group of adults are summoned to their high school reunion, only to find out the invitation was a ruse and they're being stalked by a former classmate whom they wronged.

This movie reminds me of the Boris Karloff film The Man They Could Not Hang (1939), or any of the Agatha Christie 'And Then There Were None' film adaptations - except much, much crappier.

Slaughter High is about a nerdy high school student named Marty (Simon Scuddamore - who passed away shortly after production), who's humiliated on April Fool's Day after being tricked into getting naked by his classmates (this is a rare movie with full frontal male nudity). If that wasn't enough, Marty is pranked again, only this time he's horrible burned with acid as a result. 10 years later, Marty tricks his classmates into attending a fake class reunion at their now defunct high school, where he traps everyone inside and goes on a killing spree.

I honestly think the set up is good, but the execution is poor. The kills are a mixed bag, and the movie really struggles with its characters; both in terms of acting and writing. Slaughter High is a UK production with UK actors, but everyone tries to fake American accents and it comes off as awkward.

There's also a reliance on the idiot plot here. I don't know about you, but if I was trapped in my creepy old high school and people were dying around me, I don't think I'd get completely naked and take a bath, nor do I think I'd decide to get naked and have sex. I realize other horror movies have scenes like this - they're practically a slasher genre requirement - but it works in other films because those characters aren't aware of the danger yet. In Slaughter High, any tension that is built up goes away when characters continue to do things that defy logic.

The music in this movie was composed by Harry Manfredini, famous for his work in the Friday the 13th series. I mention this for two reasons. Firstly, the movie actually uses several music cues from the Friday the 13th series, which feel very out of place. Secondly, the new music is truly bizarre; it sounds like something you'd hear if someone slipped on a banana peel, followed by hair metal music. I hated it the first time I heard it in the movie, but I have to say it did grow on me by the end. It's so strange that it somehow works.

The movie does have one cool scene at the very end (major spoiler) - when Marty, having killed everyone, is haunted by visions of their ghosts. But mostly the movie is below average. I watched it on streaming, and the version available looked like a VHS copy, and was so dark in some instances that I couldn't see what was happening. Even so, I think I saw enough to be confident in my ranking. But they, the movie poster is cool!

Tongue in cheek slasher with a tragically macabre history...

[RareSlashersReviewed · 23 February 2004]

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.

An okay slasher flick

[lfdewolfe · 5/10 · 28 August 2020]

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.

Where the 90's band Acid Bath got their name

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 30 July 2019]

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 Review

[steadysam · 4/10 · 18 April 2011]

This is a largely unknown slasher film but if you are a true slasher geek you probably would've heard of this one. The plot is that Marty Rantzen, a high school nerd, gets picked on by a group of jocks and girls. One of their pranks go wrong resulting with nitric acid burning Marty's face. 5 years later all the bullies are invited to a school reunion at their old school. When they get inside the school the bullies are killed off one by one by Marty, who sent the invitations and is out for revenge. Now some of the acting is pretty bad and most of the actors in this film have had very little film roles (Except for Caroline Munro). The music is also a bit repetitive but enjoyable. However, Simon Scuddamore's role as Marty is great and he looked like he had a lot of fun with his role. Sadly, this was Simon's only film role as he committed suicide right after the film was made. But overall Slaughter High is a pretty good horror movie and it is worth watching.

Better-than-average slasher flick

[YellowTapedRobt · 7/10 · 4 July 2006]

"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.

It didn't deserve 1 star, but that was the lowest I could give it.

[ericose · 1/10 · 16 November 2005]

What a terrible movie. The acting was bad, the pacing was bad, the cinematography was bad, the directing was bad, the "special" effects were bad. You expect a certain degree of badness in a slasher, but even the killings were bad.

First of all, the past event that set up the motive for the slaughter went on for 15 or 20 minutes. I thought it would never end. They could have removed 80% of it and explained what happened well enough.

Then, the victims were invited to the "reunion" in an abandoned school which still had all the utilities turned on. One of the victims thought this was a little odd, but they dismissed it and decided to break in anyway.

Finally, the killings were so fake as to be virtually unwatchable.

There is no reason to watch this movie, unless you want to see some breasts, and not very good breasts at that. This movie makes Showgirls virtually indistinguishable from Citizen Kane.

Hilariously Odd, Unexpectedly Mean-Spirited

[LanceBrave · 7/10 · 3 November 2013]

"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.

Horrible high-school revenge flick!

[Ziggy5446 · 2/10 · 13 May 2007]

Slaughter High is intrinsically your emblematic 80s slasher flick. A prank goes out of hand leaving a geeky guy horribly burnt. A few years later the geeky guy returns and starts killing the people who hurt him. Now the story might sound intriguing and very entertaining, but what makes this horrible film so different from the rest of the 80s slasher flicks is that it has some humorless flaws and continuation errors.

The acting is horrendous, however, actually not as bad as one would suspect. Though it doesn't help that every character in the film are so grody and unlikable. The lead, Carol Manning (Caroline Munro) is the easily the biggest tormentor of them all and she's the one that we are ostensibly supposed to share compassion and root for. Not to mention, the geeky guy is almost too geeky and I think that even stereotypical geeks themselves would be rudely maddened and just downright antagonized by how geeky he his, so when he gets mauled, does anyone really care?

There is much unintentional laughter potential. Munro's lack of acting talent is quite apparent, which puts her down at the same level as the rest of the awful cast. However, the most amusement is easily when the film poorly attempts to pose Munro, who is in her mid 30s at the time, as a teenager amongst a cast of teenagers. And then when it comes to later life and Munro is playing around her real age, the rest of the cast do not pass as adults. This all goes well with a theme song that is a hilariously pose of heavy metal thrash accompanied by maniacal laughter and a voice shrieking "I'll get you." With that being said, Slaughter High really isn't a very good slasher flick, but it does have a bad cheesy entertainment value to it. Perhaps an essential for hardcore slasher fans, but don't expect dilemma, suspense, or any credibility from it. Horrible!!!

great gory revenge movie

[The_Pat_Bateman · 8/10 · 2 December 2005]

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..."

Amusing 80s slasher flick.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 2 April 2019]

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.

Another crappy 80s horror film

[preppy-3 · 3/10 · 6 October 2007]

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.

* * out of 4.

[brandonsites1981 · 30 May 2002]

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.

I worked harder on this comment than they did making this movie.

[PJKeening · 3/10 · 13 March 2008]

The movie opens with a flashback to Doddsville County High School on April Fool's Day. A group of students play a prank on class nerd Marty. When they are punished for playing said prank, they follow up with a bigger prank which (par for the course in slasher films involving pranks on class nerds) goes ridiculously awry leaving Marty simultaneously burned by fire and disfigured by acid for the sake of being thorough. Fast forward five years, where we find members of the student body gathering at the now abandoned high school for their five year class reunion. We find out that it is no coincidence that everyone at the reunion belonged to the clique of pranksters from the flashback scene, as all of the attendees are being stalked and killed by a mysterious, jester mask-clad murderer in increasingly complicated and mind-numbingly ludicrous fashions. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery of the killer's identity, as it is revealed to be none other than a scarred Marty who has seemingly been using his nerd rage and high intellect to bend the laws of physics and engineering in order to rig the school for his revenge scenario. The film takes a turn for the bizarre as Marty finishes exacting his revenge on his former tormentors, only to be haunted by their ghosts. Marty is finally pushed fully over the edge and takes his own life. Finally, the film explodes in a crescendo of disjointed weirdness as the whole revenge scenario is revealed to be a dream in the first place as Marty wakes up in a hospital bed, breaks free of his restraints, stabs a nurse, and finally disfigures his own face.

The script is tired and suffers from a terminal case of horror movie logic. The only originality comes from the mind-numbingly convoluted ways that the victims are dispatched. The absurd it-was-all-a-dream ending feels tacked on. It's almost as if someone pointed out the disjointed nature of the film and the writer decided then and there that it was a dream.

Technically speaking, the film is atrocious. Some scenes were filmed so dark that I had to pause the film and play with the color on my television. The acting is sub-par, even for slasher films. I can't help but think that casting was a part of the problem as all of the actors look at least five years older than the characters they portray, which makes the flashback scene even more unintentionally laughable. Their lack of commitment to the movie is made obvious as half of them can't bother to keep their accents straight through the movie.

All of this being said, if you like bad horror movies, you might like this one, too. It isn't the worst film of the genre, but it's far from the best.

they're unknown British actors, so you can't complain...

[grkamerican1984 · 2/10 · 20 October 2007]

...but i expected better from Caroline Munro. She's done some good films, and i was hoping this would be just as good. as a matter of fact, she and this other blonde girl character (the girl who got electrocuted i think) were the only two out of the 8-11 actors who could act. this film has the worst acting i've ever seen. almost as bad as 'Psycho' (1998). the really dumb part was when the woman was in the shower and marty rigged it to pour battery acid in there. she starts screaming, and her scream is probably the most annoying sound in the whole world. she attempts to get out, but "accidentally" falls back in. i will admit, the violence and story is good, along with harry manfredini's music, but the acting could've been a LOT better. there were two other characters, frank and joe. i don't know about you, but they bare a strange resemblance to dan akyroyd. also, when they find that woman's fried corpse in the bathtub, you would think they'd be screaming and barfing. No. Caroline Munro and the blonde woman are the only ones who react. Frank and Joe barely show any signs of fear or disgust. i don't know about you, but i know that if i saw a fried skeleton of one of my best friends, i'd puke. also, when joe starts saying stuff like "what happened to marty was an accident, it wasn't our fault." he says it like his nervous or scared but barely shows any facial expressions. then the blonde girl starts crying and says "i'm scared frank!". and she grabs joe. i guess the actress really didn't know which guy was which. the film's ending is the most confusing thing i ever saw. more confusing than the climax of "jaws: the revenge". all the eight friends end up dead, marty kills them all, but then, you see something that looks like him being chased by their rotted corpses, and then it just cuts to marty still in the hospital from the accident, and then when the film ends, marty dresses up as a nurse trying to sedate him, but then we see that marty has gotten into her clothes or somethin like that kills a doctor, and the film ends with marty peeling skin off his face. which leads me to this next question. WHAT WAS THE WRITER ON WHEN HE CAME UP WITH THAT?!?!?!?! did he actually expect people to understand just what the hell happened?? the ending left me so confused. were the characters still alive? is marty still holding a grudge? did the events we just see not happen yet or not at all? i don't know. overall, this movie was pretty dumb. the acting sucked, the music was okay, the story was pretty decent (except for the ending). basically, this is just one of your average 80s teen slasher flicks. see it only for harry manfredini and caroline munro. 2/10

P.S. - Simon Scuddamore (Marty) committed suicide shortly after the film's release from intentional drug abuse. i guess he was the only person who knew this film was what it really was. A PILE OF SH**

Run of the mill stalk and slasher, which heralded the close of the Minasian/Randall partnership....

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 5/10 · 28 December 2007]

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.

Fun 80s Slasher

[BloodyPredator2 · 7/10 · 2 August 2021]

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.

Not good, even by 80's slasher standards.

[coldwaterpdh · 2/10 · 24 August 2009]

Well, on the endless quest for horror, we will come across this film, apparently re-released on DVD recently for some ungodly reason. The transfer is awful and the quality just sucks. I don't think this is due to a bad remaster or anything, I just think the film is poorly done.

Obviously filmed at an abandoned school with a budget that was no doubt wasted on cheap beer and no talent hacks, "Slaughter High" starts out slow and doesn't pick up pace until about an hour in. First, we get to see a 'nerd' as he is picked on by a group of...I actually don't even know what they were supposed to be...jocks? The ringleader, with his ultra hooknose is so ugly he should have definitely been cast as the nerd. Then, there is a 'big guy' and a couple of dumb losers and chicks who are supposed to be 'hot' but aren't. It's a mystery why this group of rejects is picking on one of their own, but I guess the viewer is to assume these are 'cool kids' picking on a dweeb. The casting choices are horrendous as most of the high schoolers are played by thirty-somethings. As other reviewers on here have pointed out, the actors (if you can call them that,) are a bunch of Brits whose accents slip out numerous times throughout this piece of crap. We are left to assume that this group of 'children' were the only students at this school, as their 'reunion' is only them at the school, which is now shown to be abandoned, is just them.

The kills are lame, the gore is not great and the script is like Scooby Doo with real people; lines like: 'This place gives me the creeps...' and 'Someone gimme a beer' are highlights...It's just not good. Skip this one unless you are getting wasted with some friends and wanna laugh at a real lame attempt at a slasher. If you wanna see good, get Bava's "Bay Of Blood," done 14 years earlier and a heck of a lot better. If you wanna see a good BAD slasher, see "Just Before Dawn" or "The Burning." 2 out of 10, kids.

A solid low-budget 80's slasher!

[lewissaddington · 7/10 · 26 August 2021]

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.

ugh.

[dagonseve · 1/10 · 4 June 2010]

Here's a real gem. The results of this film haven't even come forth yet and I'm already writing this review - something I don't do often but Slaughter High is so unbearably retarded I couldn't help myself. This movie is a prime example of why people roll their eyes when they hear the word "Slasher" in regards to a horror movie. Let's discuss what I mean a bit more in depth.

Slaughter High was directed by a man by the name of George Dugdale. Oh, you aren't familiar huh? Well...neither is the rest of America. I'm sure someone my age, maybe even a little bit older, has tribute videos uploaded to Youtube marking Dugdale's cinematic excellence - maybe even laughing at me in a mocking tone from the seat of their expensive arm chair. Slaughter High marked the beginning of George's directing/writing debut; Living Doll, released in 1990, would be his last. Clearly someone's resume matters very little to me but in this case it's apparent why he ceased his efforts in pursuing a career in the movie business. As much as I hate to admit it, I plan on watching and reviewing Dugdale's other film sometime in the future.

The premise involves a group of highschool students who prey upon their "nerdy" classmate, Marty. As with most pranks things quickly turn sour; Marty is horribly disfigured. Ten years have passed and the graduates of Doddsville County Highschool attend a class reunion; the invitation sent by someone unknown. What follows next are unimaginative deaths, poor acting, and ridiculous gimmicks. Make no mistake, this was not intended to be a comedy. The production in general is on par with 1983's Sleepaway Camp...it lacks the same type of charm, unfortunately, and I wouldn't sit up watching this on a continuous loop from 10 pm to 6 am (like I have with Sleepaway Camp).

So what does Slaughter High have to offer? I'll break it down for you:

1.) The most stock-sounding soundtrack you could ever imagine. The person responsible for "arranging" the "musical" score must've been held at knifepoint with his/her family stashed away and held hostage in a warehouse someplace. I feel foolish for using a sophisticated term like "score." I'm going to stop now.

2.) I've already set the bar for what could be the worst acting I've ever seen (The Howling VII), but I'd categorize this in the top ten list of awfulness. There is nothing, and I mean nothing even remotely reminiscent of talent displayed here; it's uninspiring. I'm left feeling as if I should stop all of my current activities and stare at a blank wall for 5 hours.

3.) Silly looking effects so abundant you'll be shaking your head. Are they special? No, they suck...even by 80's standards. The death sequences barely make sense if you consider the laws of physics. Do disfigured human beings all of the sudden possess an uncanny amount of strength when they seek vengeance? Dumb.

4.) Way too many false suspense moments. It's no surprise that this is a standard cliché in Slashers. A character is startled by an innocent sound or another character playing a joke...yes, we've seen it way too many times. Unfortunately, Slaughter High does it so much, it cheapens any attempt at a real scare. There's no buildup to make you feel foolish for being startled...it just happens with no effect whatsoever. Great job.

4.) The ending is the only somewhat-satisfactory moment. It's one of those endings that could only exist in this genre...and consequently, only in the 80's....

Movies throughout the 1980's desperately tried to replicate the success of classic titles - Bob Clark's (Deathdream and Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things respectively) 1974 release, Black Christmas...John Carpenter's Halloween from 1978, and Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th in 1980. I consider these The Big Three. Fans of the genre discuss the origins of the Slasher sub-division dating all the way back to 1960, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho...everything has a starting point. Slaughter High, unfortunately, is just another low-budget pile of garbage with sub-standard acting. It should barely be mentioned in anyone's list.

Laughs Scares and English accents

[the colster · 10/10 · 17 December 2001]

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.

Ups and downs but all around decent slasher

[tylersierrakayla · 7/10 · 21 April 2020]

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.

NERD GET'S PICKED ON, NERD GETS REVENGE!!

[psycho_153 · 5/10 · 22 December 1999]

Let's see, another one of those nerd gets picked on by girls and jocks and decides to get revenge by killing them one by one. One prank goes awfully wrong and disfigures Marty's face. Five years later Marty Fakes a reunion and only sends invitations to the pranksters, they all arrive at an abandonded mansion and decide to stay. one by one they begin to die. A very strange ending, with the final scene leaving my puzzled. Some average killings and the killer dressed as a joker was fun. Take a look at this one!