Hell High

Unpredictable obscure mid-80’s revenge/horror

Four outcast high schoolers in the Northeast play a prank on their biology teacher at her home on the weekend, but the fun turns into murderous trouble.

“Hell High” was shot in 1985, copyrighted in 1986, but not released until 1989. It’s also known as “Raging Fury” and “Real Trouble,” which are more accurate titles. I was thinking it was a slasher, but it’s really high school thriller/horror meshing the milieu of “Carrie” (1976) and “Christine” (1983) with the revenge exploitation of “I Spit on Your Grave” (1978). It only cost $188,000, but seems more polished than “I Spit,” which cost $650,000.

The flick effectively takes you back to the high school days and the various cliques and types, such as the troublemaking leader of the outcasts, the hot girl that hangs with the misfit dudes, the goofy guy, the quarterback and his cheerleading babe, as well as the guy who’s an inbetweener (Christopher Cousins). The agitator, played by Christopher Stryker, died of AIDs at the age of 27 before the movie was released.

It’s relatively serious, but there’s a little camp, e.g. the football coach. The best thing is you don’t know where it’s going. Don’t expect a typical 80’s slasher.

On the female front, Millie Prezioso is interesting as Queenie while Maureen Mooney plays the biology teacher and Kathryn Rossetter the girls’ coach. The brunette girlfriend of the quarterback is worth a mention, but I can’t tell from the credits if she’s Victoria Andahazy (Mink) or Karen Russell (teen girl). As usual with this genre, there’s a bit of harmless nudity.

The movie runs 1 hour, 24 minutes, and was shot in Westchester, Bronx, which is just a couple miles east of The Bronx Zoo with the high school interiors done in Scarsdale, New York, which is located eight miles north of The Bronx.

GRADE: B-