Slaughter High DVD Review
Slaughter High DVD Review
Uncut and uncircumcised.
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There's been a great trend lately for restoring and adding "missing" footage to some vintage, little-known slasher flicks and re-releasing them on DVD. My Bloody Valentine is a prime example of the cream of the crop. While the film itself is not nearly as entertaining as the aforementioned, Slaughter High is still a rocking good time in front of your TV-set. This version is being released through Lionsgate's "Lost Classics" series of "Movies you totally forgot about." (More reviews of those to follow, here at Horror.com.)
In the "nerd gets revenge" spirit of April Fool's Day, Cutting Class, and Return to Horror High, Slaughter High begins with a hapless geek (bespectacled Marty, played by Simon Scuddamore) getting punked by the sexy popular girl (jiggly Carol, played by Caroline Munroe) and a bunch of dumb jocks in the locker room — totally nekkid (full frontal alert!) and completely humiliated, his ordeal is videotaped presumably to be seen later by everyone in school. But there's more: Marty is dunked headfirst into a dirty toilet, then when another prank backfires, he's permanently scarred… and out for revenge. But he's willing to wait.
Five years later, Marty stages a fake high school reunion. The student body clique who publically shamed him are invited back to the campus on the night before April Fool's day. Nobody else is there, but that doesn't stop the still-dumb jocks from partying it up, whooping, drinking, and ravishing their dates in the darkened, otherwise empty classrooms. Needless to say, they have some company they weren't expecting and one by one, they are picked off in the most gruesome, grisly, and goofy ways.
Low-budget, badly filmed and poorly acted, Slaughter High still manages to sparkle here and there with glimmers of team spirit. There is a great little cameo from producer Dick Miller (with a Pieces poster posted pegged on the wall behind him), and Caroline Munroe runs and screams with gusto.
The full-frame transfer on the DVD isn't the greatest quality, but it kind of adds to the creaky feel of this old cheapie. As for the additional release material, there is a rather confounding pop-up "trivia track" which does not seem to feature anything germane to the movie… but rather to classroom style pop quizzes. It wasn't funny and it was very sporadic, so I don't really get the point of it. It would have been nice to have a retrospective documentary, with at least a Munroe interview.
Still, if you have a penchant for cheesy 80s slashers and you can find it in the bargain bin, this uncut version of Slaughter High is definitely worth a look.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson