The new kid at school is bullied until he can take no more and plots revenge against them, killing them one by one. Soon, a new order is established in school and the roles get filled anew and the bullying resumes.
Written and directed by Rene Daalder, this film is one that set a lot of standards in the genre. Often credited as an early slasher film, Massacre at Central High is more of a revenge film, in terms of the story, that happens to take place at a high school and with its students. However, the story and characters are a bit of a blueprint for many slasher films that came in its wake. There is a killer, he kills the kids one by one, but something feels like it’s missing for this to be a true and true slasher film. However, the basis of the slasher recipe is here and it works in the settings. So, this being said, this film is considered a slasher and will be reviewed as such. The story as it is takes place in a high school with the characters being mostly teenagers with very few adults. The characters are not too cliché and given that the film was originally released in 1976, they were definitely not cliché back then. The writing and directing are on point, showing that Daalder has planned this quite well and worked well with the situations that came up during filming.
The cast here is interesting and very, very mid-1970s. The lead is played by Derrel Maury who does well in the part, showing emotions and going a bit extra when needed. The rest of the cast includes Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, Kimberly Beck, Rainbeaux Smith, and a few others. The cast as whole is believable and very much 1970s in terms of style, how they carry themselves, how they talk. That being said, most of the performances are good here, bringing together a very good ensemble cast.
The cinematography by Bertram van Munster is really good and gives a clear view of everything, playing with framing and lighting just right to give the film a style and let the story shine at the same time. His work here shows an understanding of the work needed to bring the story at hand to the screen in the best way possible. In terms of the new Blu-ray release, the image is crisp and clear boasting a high-quality transfer. The sound on this new release works great even on a simple sound system.
As for the extras, the best part of it all are the interviews done by Michael Gingold with quite a few of the cast members as well as key members of the behind-the-scenes talent. Some of them are a bit difficult to recognize, but the feature does add their names when they first show up (something not all new releases do, believe it or not). The interviews are in depth without going too deep, meaning they share important information, memories of filming, and a few other tidbits, but they do not delve too much on things the viewers would not care for.
This new release of Massacre at Central High is a high-quality transfer with good sound that includes great features filled with interviews and information on the film’s shooting. 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.
Massacre at Central High was re-released on Blu-ray disc by Synapse Films today.