Slaughter High
After watching Slaughter High, I’ve learned three things: 1. Don’t be a bully, it doesn't end well (I knew that already, just reiterating that). 2. If you pull a prank, don’t mess with dangerous chemicals. Duh! And finally, 3. Be aware of your surroundings. If you go to a reunion and it’s a deserted building, and only your friends are there, leave immediately! That’s my TED Talk. Thanks for coming.
Photo Credit: Spectacular Trading International
Released: Nov 14, 1986
Runtime: 90 mins
Director: George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, Peter Mackenzie Litten
Writer: George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, Peter Mackenzie Litten
Actors: Caroline Munro, Simon Scuddamore, Carmine Iannaccone
PLOT
Ten years after a harmless prank goes horribly wrong, several friends have their ten year class reunion. Unfortunately, someone is hunting them down, one by one.
MY THOUGHTS
There are 13 deaths in Slaughter High. I’ll give the movie some props. There are some imaginative kills. A guy drinks a beer and his intestines burst out of his body. After that death, one woman decides to take a bath (like WTF? Who does that in an abandoned school with a killer on the loose?) and we get a good acid bath test. Though, the character was stupid. All she had to do was stand up and get out of the tub. There’s also get a couple having sex getting electrocuted and a girl drowning in sludge.
The acting is not that great. Unfortunately, in the beginning, we have the scene where the characters are in high school but the actors are obviously in their late twenties or thirties. Then we fast forward 10 years and they still look the same. Yes, it’s one of those kinds of movies. I would say Simon Scuddamore playing the poor bullied nerd Marty did the best job.
It needs to be mentioned that Simon Scuddamore, who plays Marty, committed suicide after filming was done. You wouldn’t have thought it with how he acted in the movie. He intentionally died of a drug overdose at the age of 28. Writers and directors George Dugdale and Peter Litten later said they were worried that working on Slaughter High may have contributed to his death, but at Scuddamore’s funeral his mother said he had been battling with depression his whole life. But that working on Slaughter High was a source of joy for him. So very sad.
At the start of the movie, nerdy Marty is invited to the girls locker room with the promise of sex by the popular girl. It all turns out to be a horrible practical joke (it’s April Fool’s day). The kids involved have to stay after and do gym as punishment. Two get upset and decide to play another prank that causes Marty to accidentally knock over a jar of acid on himself.
Ten years later is Reunion time and April Fool’s day as well. The friends gather to catch up and party only to find out it’s just them and it’s in the deserted high school. Soon they learn that Marty has come back to kill them while wearing a Jester's mask.
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Overall, it’s a typical 80’s slasher movie where a bullied kid gets revenge on his abusers. And of course, most of the abusers are characters that you will root for Marty to kill, and kill them in gruesome ways. Though, I didn’t like what happened to Carol, and they leave the end kind of ambiguous. Did he kill them all or is he just crazy? You make up your mind. If you like 80’s slashers, holiday horror, or just like to see bullies get what they deserve, then watch this. Just know the acting isn’t the greatest.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
Caroline Munro, who played a high school student in the opening scenes of the film, was 35 years old at the time of filming.
Caroline Munro (Carol) was dating director George Dugdale at the time the film was made. They kept their relationship a secret during filming and later married. They remained married until George's passing in 2020. The couple had two children.
Simon Scuddamore, who played bullied student turned murderer Marty, died of an intentional drug overdose. When additional footage of Marty as the jester mask wearing killer needed to be shot, the film's writer and director Mark Ezra, took over the role.
Although most of the cast was English and were affecting fake American accents, Donna Yeager, who played Stella, was American. She is from Texas, a graduate of Rice University, and was working in England with a repertory theater company at the time of filming. Viewers still mistook her for faking an American accent.
Carol's overlong chase scene toward the end was added during filming, when the directors realized their 90-page script would only come to about 75 minutes. The sequence was largely improvised on the spot.
The film was shot entirely in London, England with a predominantly British cast adopting American accents (to varying degrees of success) to give the impression that the film was set in the United States.
The interior of the high school was a condemned grammar school set to be demolished. Lockers had to be added since English schools rarely have lockers, but the filmmakers were permitted to set off explosives and set the building on fire since it was scheduled to be demolished anyway. The exterior of the high school was shot at an abandoned mental asylum which has since been renovated and turned into a luxury apartment building.
The location used for the exterior of the school was also featured in Adam Ant's music video for "Goody Two Shoes", in which Caroline Munro coincidentally makes an appearance.
Shooting was stopped one day by the American Secret Service. One of their pyrotechnics alarmed the Secret Service who were nearby on security detail for President Ronald Reagan who was visiting England at the time.
A significant portion of Manfredini's score in this film is from his previous work on the Friday The 13th film series.
A poster of Pieces (1982) is visible on the movie manager's office wall when he's talking with Carol over the phone.
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.
Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 3.5/5
Sex/Nudity: 3/5
Scare factor: 1.5/5
Enjoyment factor: 4/5
My Rank: 3/5
IMDB: 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 0/10 audience: 3.4/10
Letterboxd: 2.8/5