Slaughter High
| Slaughter High | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by |
Mark Ezra Peter Litten George Dugdale |
| Produced by |
Dick Randall Stephen Minasian |
| Written by |
Mark Ezra Peter Litten George Dugdale |
| Starring |
Caroline Munro Simon Scuddamore |
| Music by | Harry Manfredini |
| Cinematography | Alan Pudney |
| Edited by | Jim Connock |
Production company |
Spectacular Trading International |
| Distributed by | Vestron Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country |
United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Unknown |
| Box office | Unknown |
Slaughter High is a 1986 American-British independent slasher horror film written and directed by George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten. The plot concerns a group of adults invited to a reunion at their defunct high school, where a disfigured masked killer awaits for revenge.
Plot
The day begins with popular student Carol Manning (Caroline Munro) jokingly asking school nerd Marty Rantzen (Simon Scuddamore) to have sex with her in the women's locker room. After he removes his clothes, Marty is surprisingly exposed to a group of students who tease him in several ways, including jabbing at his crotch with a javelin, giving him an electric shock, and dunking his head into a toilet bowl. This prank ends when the students's coach comes in to find out what is happening.
The students are forced to perform a vigorous workout in the gymnasium. Still, two students give Marty a marijuana joint laced with poison, which he smokes in the science lab where he is working on a chemistry project. The joint makes him so sick he runs to the men's room to vomit. While he is gone, Skip, one of the popular kids, rigs the experiment to explode in Marty's face. Upon Marty's return, the set up works, causing Marty to panic and a great fire to erupt in the lab after he knocks over a Bunsen burner. In the struggle, Marty accidentally bumps into a shelf where a precariously placed jug of acid sits, causing the jug to fall and break, splashing acid on Marty's face and leaving him horribly disfigured. The sound attracts the attention of the students, who stand by the door in shock.
Years later, those behind the prank are invited back to the school for a reunion. Upon arriving, they discover that the campus was closed years ago and the building is in disrepair and awaiting demolition. They begin to think that one of the former students was behind the invitations, but everyone denies it. They decide to break into the school to hang out and drink alcohol, then come across a room containing their old school lockers which, to their surprise, are filled with their old belongings. They notice Marty's old locker, and the alumni begin questioning what happened to him after the prank gone awry. Skip tells them that Marty is doing fine and probably forgot all about what happened, citing that he has supposedly been in a mental institution.
The first victim is the caretaker, who's head is impaled into a coat peg by a jester costume-wearing killer. Soon thereafter, the friends begin dying in gruesome ways: Ted's stomach is melted from acid; Carl is stabbed in the back; Shirley melts away in an acid bath; Susan shows up late and is attacked; Stella and Frank are electrocuted on a bed while having sex; Joe is slaughtered by tractor blades. After all the deaths, Carol, Nancy and Skip soon find that the bodies have disappeared. Skip is hanged in a noose but survives. Carol and Nancy investigate and find a room playing a video of Marty being bullied by them. Nancy runs off by herself and is chased by the Jester, but falls into a cesspit; the killer steps on her head when she tries to get out and drowns. Carol is left alone and discovers Susan's body before being chased by the Jester into the old school. Carol accidentally kills Skip from a hatchet. After a long run, Carol is impaled on a javelin pole, and the Jester is revealed to be the revenge-driven Marty himself. The dead former students then come back as ghosts and attack Marty.
He awakes, screaming, inside a mental hospital while restrained to a bed and wearing bandages on his face. While being checked on, Marty proceeds to strangle a nurse and dresses in her uniform before killing a doctor with a syringe to the eye. Vowing to find and kill those who caused his disfigurement, Marty turns to look into the camera, then begins to tear off half of his face, before escaping the hospital as the screen fades to black.
Cast
- Simon Scuddamore as Marty Rantzen
- Caroline Munro as Carol Manning
- Carmine Iannaconne as Skip Pollack
- Donna Yeager as Stella
- Gary Martin as Joe
- Billy Hartman as Frank
- Michael Saffran as Ted Harrison
- John Segal as Carl Putney
- Kelly Baker as Nancy
- Sally Cross as Susan
- Josephine Scandi as Shirley
- Marc Smith as Coach
- Dick Randall as Manny
- Jon Clark as Digby
Production
Producers initially intended to call the film April Fool's Day, but renamed it after learning of Paramount Pictures's slasher film of the same title scheduled for release the same year.[1]
The film was shot in England, and many of the actors use fake American accents.
Simon Scuddamore, who plays the film's killer, committed suicide shortly after production of the film.
The score was composed by Harry Manfredini, of Friday the 13th fame.
Release
The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by Vestron Pictures in November 1986.
Much of the gore was cut prior to release to obtain an R rating. For its video premiere, the distributor Vestron Video released both the censored theatrical version and an unrated version that contained the excised violence.
Home media
Slaughter High was released as April Fool's Day on VHS in Japan only by Vestron International. To date, Japan is the only country to have a home video release of the film under its original title.
Lionsgate released the film on DVD on 14 April 2009 in the USA as part of their 'Lost Collection'.[2] The DVD contains the unrated Vestron fullscreen VHS master print.
Lionsgate re-released the film to DVD on 4 January 2011 in a '4-Film Collection' set along with My Best Friend Is a Vampire, Repossessed and Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!.[3] Arrow Video released a 'Special Edition' DVD in the United Kingdom in July 2011.
Slaughter High was released a third time on DVD in 2012 by Lionsgate in an eight horror film DVD set which also includes Class of 1999, Waxwork, 976-Evil II, The Unholy, C.H.U.D. II, Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College and Chopping Mall.
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews from critics. AllMovie wrote, "Slaughter High gets a passing grade for the die-hard genre fans, but is worthless for most any other audience."[4]
References
- ↑ "Slaughter High (1986) - Trivia - IMDb". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ↑ "Slaughter High DVD @ DVD Empire". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ↑ "My Best Friend Is A Vampire / Repossessed / Slaughter High / Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (4-Film Collection) DVD @ DVD Empire". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ↑ Wheeler, Jeremy. "Slaughter High - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 25 July 2012.