A series of grisly murders at an uppity High School has the students concerned that someone is planning on killing as many students as they can, especially those known to be bullies. The star of the swim team doesn't realize there's no water in the pool when he dies, and it's quite a splash when his body is discovered. Another kid is locked in a van speeding down a highway over looking a very long cliff, and booby-trapped earphones are another clever but deadly tool. Explosions take out other students within the school and on a drug-induced camping trip. The audience pretty much knows who's responsible, but it's how they are going to be stopped that has the student body and viewer wondering.

Gruesome but not gory, this teen horror film was definitely made as a warning to school bullies. A cast of familiar faces includes "Revenge of the Nerd's" Robert Carradine, Steve Bond, Kimberly Beck, Lani O'Grady and Andrew Stevens. I wouldn't call this a good film, but certainly one that is often jaw-dropping and frequently thrilling. There's even a pretty theme song to go along with it. But you do wonder after a while, where are all the adults? Infact, when they go into a very big school library, it's only a student behind the desk and no librarian there to shush the loud group. Films of this nature are never expected to be classics, so just enjoy it for what it is.

Transfer student David (Derrel Maury) starts a new school where he finds that an old friend, Mark (Andrew Stevens),has fallen in with a gang who use fear and intimidation to rule the roost. Being a friend of Mark's, David is given the opportunity to become a member of the group, but after seeing how they operate, decides that he would rather show the underdogs that it is possible to stand up to their persecutors.

Displeased with David's decision, head bully Bruce (Ray Underwood) and his cronies decide to teach the new guy a lesson by dropping a car on his legs. Crippled, and more than a little miffed, David responds by arranging fatal accidents for his enemies, freeing the other students from their life of oppression in the process. However, with Bruce and his pals gone, a new generation of bullies comes to the fore, and so David continues his murderous activities, ultimately deciding to blow up the entire school...

Bit of a strange one this: Massacre at Central High starts off with it's protagonist David as a hero, valiantly standing up for the weak, but then gradually sees him transform into a twisted murderous psycho and the real villain of the piece. For a while, this is all fairly entertaining stuff, made all the more enjoyable by the presence of gorgeous Kimberly Beck as Andrew's curvaceous babe of a girlfriend Theresa (who provides not one, but two nude scenes!); sadly, once David slips into revenge mode, matters get just a little too unbelievable, writer director Rene Daalder seeming more concerned with conveying his political message rather than telling a viable story: the accidental but suspicious deaths attract no interest from the police; the scenes involving the previously bullied pupils becoming the school's new bullies are clumsily handled and rather laughable; and the further blatant murders appear to alarm no-one in the slightest (they even go ahead and hold the school prom, despite several unexplained explosions!).

I'd heard some very nice things about this rarely-seen movie and I'm happy to say that they were proved correct. This film is a must-see; Roger Ebert was spot-on when he declared it one of the ten best films of the year. Sure, it's low budget, it's not particularly well made and the characters are stereotypical, but nonetheless the idea and execution of the film make this one of the best 'slasher' flicks (if you can call it that - it's difficult to classify) that I have ever seen. There are hardly any adults in the film, and also no police presence, which just adds to the fun. I'm sure everybody else sighs when the cops turn up to spoil the fun in these productions.

The main actor, Derrel Maury, is excellent as David, a seemingly quiet boy who from the start doesn't fit in with the high school gang, who bully and terrorise the other students. So he murders in ingenious ways so that the deaths look like accidents and nobody think he's to blame. I watched this, and I thought "Yeah, it's pretty good, nothing special though, just your standard revenge flick." But I was wrong. Because then the film got even better.

Once the gang is gone, the other students become bullies in their own right, and limping David decides to clean up the school once and for all. Cue lots of explosions. The best bit was probably where the overweight boy falls foul of a locker bomb, or the rock slide that wipes out blonde starlet Rainbeaux Smith. There are just so many wild deaths in this film that it really is amazing and it makes a refreshing change when compared to the usual 'knife through the head' slasher antics. In fact, MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH is much, much more than a standard slasher film: it becomes a political treaty on the nature of oppressors and the oppressed, and the balance of power. The old saying goes that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and that's definitely the maxim on display here. This political subtext is what makes this film so appealing and one I keep coming back to.

To add to the exploitation feel there's also some (well, quite a lot of) nudity. It also has that '70s feel with the bad fashions. There is some pretty good acting as well, especially Ray Underwood as Bruce, the lead bully, who manages to be really obnoxious as well as believable. There are two 'big name' actors: Andrew Stevens, probably most famous for THE FURY, who's made a career out of B-flicks; and Robert Carradine, part of the acting dynasty, as a hippie. Kimberly Beck is just as good in a token girlfriend role. All of these factors come together and make this one of my favourite slasher flicks. After I watched it, I even had to rewind and watch again the next day. Look out for the cheesy song which plays during the credits (one flaw of the film is that it gives away a lot of action by showing it at the beginning, a la HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES). MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH is an underrated gem and one of my all time favourites.