"Slaughter High", a Good Time for All!

The other night, my roommates and I were scanning through the On Demand movies on Comcast. There are an array of frightful films you can watch, including The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre starring none other than Academy award winning actress Renee Zellweger and hunky Matthew McConaughey. The movie came out in 1994, so at least they made it when neither of them were established yet. I will be viewing this film eventually.

Through our browsing, we came across a great little gem entitled Slaughter High. Under the FearNet category, there are numerous Halloween-esque films that make any Sunday night a time to get together with your apartment mates and scream and laugh over a literal “gut-busting” scene.

Of course, we read the description for the film, which described it as “Revenge of the Nerds” but for the nerd to get even, he kills all of the popular jocks. This was obviously a must see.

The film, made in 1986, chronicles Marty Rantzen, a nerd among nerds at an undisclosed high school. Fully equipped with thick glasses, an affinity for chemistry class and a thick geek accent, Marty follows the class hottie, Carol who brings him into the locker room where he thinks they are going to get it on in the shower.

It is April Fools day and the popular gang is playing a prank on poor Marty. They strip him down, start filming him, dunk his head in the toilet. It was actually very excruciating to watch. The horrible acting did not make it much better, but it was very painful to see these kids treat another human in this respect. The filmmakers did a good job of not making this funny at all.

They end up getting caught by the school gym teacher, who makes the popular kids work out for their punishment. To get Marty back, since of course it was his fault they got into trouble, they spike his chemistry project with different chemicals, which ultimately causes an explosion at the school. Marty leaves on a stretcher, with burns covering his entire body.

Fast forward five years later; the gang comes back into their quiet hometown for their supposed high school reunion, obviously held exactly five years later on the fateful April Fools Day! Cue the scary music...

The high school is their meeting point and it is suspiciously closed. The idiots they are, the break in to party hard like they used to. Little do they know what is waiting for them inside…

This movie was hilarious. I definitely jumped a few times and had to turn my head away, but an 80s low budget horror movie about a nerd getting revenge on his high school classmates had to be funny!

The acting was so bad, but it was bearable due to the hilarious death scenes. Marty always seemed to know where his victims were going to be in the school, taking them down one by one is strange and awkward ways. One of my favorite scenes was when one of the girls gets blood on her face after her friend drinks a beer and his stomach explodes. Instead of running way with the rest of the crew, she takes a bath! My roommates and I could not get over this. Obviously it was for the inevitable nudity that would come with the bath, but she meets her demise in there. Marty filters in acid, so her entire body disintegrates. It was special effects at its best.

Another part where we yelled at the TV because the characters are so stupid (although if they were smart, this wonderful film would not have been made) was when the character, Frank decides he needs to fix a lawnmower in order to get them out of the building. Sure…but the rest of the guys leave him alone to do so! Idiots! Of course, Frank gets chopped up by the device with Marty comes in and turns it on when he is under it.

Another part that I absolutely adored was when the group thought they would all be okay and Marty would stop chasing them the next day at noon. Their defense? Because when noon hit, April Fools day would be over. I'm sorry, but I thought days ended at midnight, not noon? Duhhhh!!!

The most creepy aspect about this film, according to IMDB, is that Simon Scuddamore, the young actor who portrayed Marty, committed suicide shortly after this film was released. That is very eerie.

All in all, this movie kept my roommates and I very entertained. I highly recommend it if you are into yelling at dumb people on your television, and enjoy fake blood and really bad acting. It is a fun Halloween movie for a night in.