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      Massacre at Central High

      R 1976 1h 27m Horror List
      80% 10 Reviews Tomatometer 52% 500+ Ratings Audience Score Maimed by bullies at a California high school, a new student (Derrel Maury) engineers acts of revenge. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Sep 12 Buy Now

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      Audience Reviews

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      Justin T This film is a copy of Heathers (1988) but before it. The story of the two films is really similar but this film differs by having much less production value and a far less witty script. The deaths are quite imaginative but the bits in between are really not very good. The acting is bad and the effects tacky. I really don't think that this film was worth watching but better than some really bad horror that I have seen recently. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 04/18/23 Full Review brad p ‘Massacre at Central High' Remains Top-Tier Exploitation Cinema Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A decently entertaining little lost slasher flick, but to be honest I barely even remember it already... Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/26/22 Full Review Audience Member Massacre at Central High is a downright strange little flick. Shot and scored like a contemporary made-for-TV movie of the mid 70s, Dutch writer/director Renee Daalder's first English language film definitely has the feel of an outsider's view of American culture. The characters all interact using a type of short, oddly formal syntax, and for nearly the entire picture, the only interactions are between the students. In fact, Daalder created a kind of science fictionalized world where only teenagers exist. Massacre blends slightly off-key, yet convincing portrayals of bullying, revenge, toxic masculinity, and human power dynamics with jarring violence and casually graphic nudity, to create a finished product that set the stage for countless (often lesser) films to follow. A real groundbreaker armed with unexpected insight. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member 1976: A new guy comes to a California high school. His friend is a part of a group who terrorize underlings in the school. The new guy doesn't like it, and the group (minus his friend) maims him. The new guy comes back to the school, and the group is murdered one by one. The bullied soon see newborn power, and become the bullies. Then they start to be murdered. This is kind of a cult movie. The acting is OK, not great. The dialogue is kind of hokey at times. But the movie takes some unexpected twists and turns, including the conversion of the bullied to bullies, The wrap-up is a little defusing. Overall, an interesting watch. Stars: Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Kimberly Beck, Robert Carradine. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Apart from the lack of any authority figures in a school where students keep dying in mysterious circumstances, this is one of those low-budget films that does capture the imagination within the horror genre. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Massacre at Central High

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      Critics Reviews

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      Emilie Black Cinema Crazed The film itself is a must for horror fans as it is where a lot of the typical slasher rules seem to come from. It’s also an interesting look on the mid-1970s. Rated: 4/5 Sep 22, 2022 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy At this lamentable point in time, that title sounds like a “Thanks but no thanks” viewing option, but rest assured that this is probably NOT what one expects. Rated: 3/4 Sep 17, 2022 Full Review James Kendrick Q Network Film Desk even with its various flaws and shortcomings, it deserves more attention as a uniquely daring attempt to invigorate staid exploitation fare with an incisive social intelligence Rated: 3/4 Sep 14, 2022 Full Review Sarah Cartland Caution Spoilers This is a real oddity -- there are no adults, and its examination of how class-related bullying affects teenagers' behaviour is fascinating. But it looks cheap, the acting is often ropy and the comedy sits uneasily with the brutality. Rated: 3/5 Nov 8, 2018 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Though offering an intriguing allegorical premise about the power structure, it never graduates to be a literate Animal Farm satire. Rated: C Sep 15, 2007 Full Review Pablo Villaça Cinema em Cena Apesar de beirar o trash em alguns momentos, o filme contm algumas idias interessantes que podem provocar boas discusses - especialmente se for encarado como alegoria. Rated: 3/5 Sep 10, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Maimed by bullies at a California high school, a new student (Derrel Maury) engineers acts of revenge.
      Director
      Rene Daalder
      Production Co
      New Line Cinema
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Horror
      Original Language
      English
      Runtime
      1h 27m
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