Hell High (1986)

Hell High (1986)
W: Leo Evans & Douglas Grossman
D: Douglas Grossman


I bought this one a while ago when I was going through a horror phase…oh wait… I passed up the opportunity to watch something else every time I thought ‘this’ might be the time I watch this. I think it took a couple of years of overcoming the hilariously cheesy cover art that finally screamed shove this in the player, but man I was not disappointed!

This is a fine example of intelligent writing in the Eighties, where popularity of movies like Prom Night, Terror Train and Cutting Class were dying down, this one like Full Metal Jacket came late in a wave of horror films that nobody was seeing. Too Bad! This one is better than most. It has excellent camera work and actually the best part about it is, the acting!

In the beginning a little girl in the Greaser generation, witnesses a couple about the have sex in her hideout place. The guy gets frustrated and breaks a doll that is just carelessly laying around. The little girl exacts her revenge, by filling up a bucket of sludge and throwing it on them as they leave the area. This causes them to careen off the dirt road over a hill and onto some industrial pipes, killing them.

18 years later, we’re introduced to a bunch of Breakfast Club like teens, the ex-jock, the artsy jerk, the fat guy and rambunctious chick. After dealing with the stresses of school they decide they are going to celebrate by tormenting a teacher they deem annoying, a sweet kind hearted grown up Little Girl! Wa nana NAW!

This turns into a nightmare situation, they basically awaken the dark beast inside her and miss can’t do wrong turns into a violent psychotic killer. The best kind! Pencils go in ears, people get bludgeoned, and arms get sliced off. Its pretty damn awesome. Men scream for Christ sakes, how can it not be awesome!

The dialogue is pretty realistic and the actors are talented at conveying that River’s Edge type of boredom. What I liked most was the fantastic ending. You have to see it for yourself, the movie has a great pay off that you don’t see coming… I didn’t… and that’s what makes this an over looked genre classic, seek it out!

Also look out for John DeBello, director of classic Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, in a cameo role!