Massacre at Central High (1976)

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Siskoid
Despite the title and marketing, Massacre at Central High is more of a revenge thriller than a horror film. Set at a "country club high school" run by rich kid bullies, their actions are certainly horrible (including an attempted rape), but if the roving boys could have served as the "monster", the killer is after THEM, so it doesn't track. It's certainly interesting that once the bullies start to drop off, new ones fill the void and become targets. The absence of any adults until the last sequence at an alumni dance lends the movie a thematic relationship to Lord of the Flies in that sense, but it could just be accidental. The sappy music (which the director was apparently angry about) certainly doesn't help Massacre achieve horror status, even if there are lots of clever kills (I'm not saying they're all believable, however) and the kind of random nudity required of exploitation. Lots of vaguely recognizable faces at this school, but if several of the stars got more work later, it's not because of the acting in this one. It's a bit of a dog, but it almost made it. 6 months 2 weeks ago