Massacre at Central High (1976)

Director:

Rene Daalder

Writer:

Rene Daalder (written by)

Release Date:

September 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

One brutal act began the terror!

Plot:

A high school transfer student, pushed to the edge by a trio of brutal bullies, resorts to murder to reclaim the school from oppression, and later turns against the students wanting to fill the vacuum of their oppressors.

Plot Keywords:

Bully | Revenge | Murder | High School | Threesome

Cast

Derrel Maury	...	David
Andrew Stevens	...	Mark
Robert Carradine	...	Spoony
Kimberly Beck	...	Theresa
Ray Underwood	...	Bruce
Steve Bond	...	Craig
Rex Steven Sikes	...	Rodney (as Steve Sikes)
Lani O'Grady	...	Jane
Damon Douglas	...	Paul
Dennis Kort	...	Arthur
Cheryl Smith	...	Mary (as Rainbeaux Smith)
Jeffrey Winner	...	Oscar
Tom Logan	...	Harvey (as Thomas Logan)

Directed by
Rene Daalder		(as Renee Daalder)

Writing credits
Rene Daalder		(written by) (as Renee Daalder)

Produced by
Jerome Bauman	....	executive producer
Harold Sobel	....	producer

Original Music by
Tommy Leonetti

Cinematography by
Bertram van Munster		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Harry Keramidas

Art Direction by
Russell Tune

Makeup Department
Peter R.J. Deyell	....	makeup artist (as Peter Deyell)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David Kahler	....	first assistant director
Eugene Mazzola	....	assistant director

Art Department
Keith Michl	....	property master

Sound Department
Derrell Craig	....	sound mixer
Gerald B. Wolfe	....	boom operator (as Jerry Wolfe)
Marc Cerutti	....	sound editor (uncredited)
Cameron Hamza	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Roger George	....	special effects
Ken Speed	....	special effects technician (uncredited)

Stunts
Patty Elder	....	stunt woman (as Pattie Elder)
Alan Gibbs	....	stunts
Tommy J. Huff	....	stunts (as Thomas Huff)
Danny Rogers	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Jim Dunn	....	key grip (as Jim Dunne)
Bruce Kaye	....	second assistant camera
Leslie Otis	....	first assistant camera
Hal Trussell	....	best boy (as Hal Trussel)
Gerald B. Wolfe	....	still photographer (as Jerry Wolfe)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Adrianne Levesque	....	wardrobe (as Adrianna Levesque)

Editorial Department
J. Larry Carroll	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Tommy Leonetti	....	conductor
Tommy Leonetti	....	music arranger
Nicholas C. Washington	....	music editor (as Nick Washington)

Other crew
Foster K. Denker	....	technical advisor (as Foster Denker)
J. Daniel Dusek	....	production assistant (as Dan Dusek)
Ron Joy	....	production consultant
Alberta Kennedy	....	production secretary
Leslie Libman	....	production assistant
Ana Maria Quintana	....	script supervisor
Jack David Walker	....	production assistant (as Jack Walker)

Production Companies

• Evan

Distributors

• Brian Distributing Corporation (1976) (USA) (theatrical)
• Trolley Car Records and Filmworks (1980) (USA) (VHS)
• Electric Video (EVI) (1981) (USA) (VHS)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• International Film Distributors (Canada)
• MPI Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Marceau-Cocinor (France)

Other Companies

• Production Systems Inc.  location equipment by (as PSI)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | France:-18 | Norway:18 (video rating) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Evan

Trivia:

Andrew Stevens accidentally broke Rex Steven Sikes' nose when he accidentally elbowed him in the face during the scene where the students find Craig's body in the empty swimming pool. Sikes ended up having to complete the rest of the film with the injury to his nose clearly visible.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When the van is parked atop the hill, above the beach, a huge boom mic is clearly visible above

Quotes:

Paul:What are YOU gonna do, sit there and die?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010) (V)

Soundtrack:

Crossroads

Surprisingly thought provoking!

After falling foul of a group of bullies at his new high school, promising young athlete David (Derrel Maury) is attacked and severely injured. His near-crippling leg injury leaves him angry, deranged and thirsty for revenge on those who would bully others.

This entertaining and thought-out horror movie is an interesting addition to the horror genre. Unlike many other similar films, ‘Massacre at Central High' spends a relatively large amount of time building up the plot and developing the central characters. It is through this intelligent characterisation that the viewer is positively encouraged to feel contempt for the gang of bullies. In some ways the actual acts of bullying and violence towards other students committed by the central gang are reminiscent of ‘Carrie' (1976), albeit on a much larger scale. Rather than have the torment revolving around one character, the entire school is subjected to often horrific acts and thus they live in fear of the gang that runs the school. While one could easily question the situations that the students continually find themselves in (such as where are the teachers?), the movie raises some questions about how far a group of people will go before someone steps in to halt their actions. In fact, the gang is convincingly portrayed as taking their violence and brutality further each time and even revelling in the new `experiences' that they create for themselves. Although the film is fairly entertaining even when taken at face value, there does seem to be underlying storylines throughout and while the film does indeed suffer somewhat from implausible situations, there is still a lot of enjoyment and thought provoking material that can be found within it.

Unfortunately, there are two main problems with the film. First of all the acting is of a generally low standard. While the performances are by and large tolerable for this type of movie, the limited talents of most of the performers can be somewhat sidetracking, and when an important point is to be made it maybe does not have the impact that it could have were a more talented actor have been involved. However, considering the obvious low-budget of this movie and the apparent effort that was put in by the entire cast, these lapses are forgivable. The second problem with the movie is that it seems to get sidetracked somewhat around two thirds of the way through and the storyline seems to branch off a little too far. While the second part of the story does have merit and tries to be as thought provoking as the earlier story, the movie fails to mesh together all that well. The slow pacing of the second part of the film becomes something of a distraction rather than being an advantage as it was in the first part. Also, the second part of the film turns the character of David into an almost typical slasher villain whereas in the earlier scenes of the film one felt compassion for him and supported his actions, just as one may support the actions of Doc. Collingwood in ‘Last House on the Left' (1972). Although the reason for David's later actions are explained (albeit completely obvious) there is a lack of further character development where an insight into David's deranged mind would have been something of a refinement.

Nonetheless, ‘Massacre at Central High' is still a generally well thought out movie and certainly an enjoyable enough watch. The grainy picture is, in some ways, a perfect addition to the movie although probably accidental. Fans of other revenge-style horror movies should probably enjoy this and it is recommended for those who like a nice, often subtle subtext to their films rather than just straight-forward and rather unimaginative horror. There are flaws with the film but most of those can be overlooked, even when the story seems to be bordering on the completely ridiculous or senseless. Entertaining, thought provoking and with well developed characters – recommended! My rating for ‘Massacre at Central High' – 7/10.