Massacre at Central High (1976)

In 1967 a high school history teacher devised an experiment to teach his students about fascism.  While it has had its own documentaries and movies, the takeaway from his fictional movement, called the Third Wave, was how easily anyone could be persuaded through slogans and manufactured superiority to look down on others and revel in the power they believe they have.  The students, all potentially good people, got caught up in the whole thing to the point where it got out completely out of control. 

Dutch director Rene Daalder may have been slightly influenced by that experiment, or just amused enough by the conventions of American high schools to see the roots of fascism already there.  For his second feature Massacre at Central High he constructed a strange, otherworldly environment, one where all the adults are absent and a group of kids rule the school and do what they want, with everyone else afraid to even do so much as talk about them for fear of word getting back.  Though pretty much forgotten except by exploitation fans, Massacre was a major influence on a number of high school films during the 1980s, particularly Heathers.  Unlike Heathers, however, Massacre was not meant merely as satire, but rather a dire warning about how attractive power can be. 

David (Derrel Maury) has just started attending Central High School in an unnamed California town.  There he meets up with his friend Mark (Andrew Stevens), whom he hasn't seen in sometime.  Mark believes he owes David for helping him out at a previous school, and so has arranged for him to become part of a clique known around school as the Little League Gestapo.  It includes their leader Bruce (Ray Underwood) and his two best friends Craig (Steve Bond) and Paul (Damon Douglas).  Right away David doesn't get along, particularly when the group bullies a kid named Rodney (Rex Steven Sikes) and destroys his car.

The trio try to make it clear to Mark that he should bring David in line, but that all falls apart when David manages to beat up all three to stop them raping two girls, Mary (Rainbeaux Smith) and Jane (Lani O'Grady).  Despite that they agree to give Mark one last chance but, when Mark sees his girlfriend Theresa (Kimberly Beck) frolicking naked with David, he changes his mind.  David is left crippled after an attack and, after recovering, goes about killing the boys to rid the school of their presence.  Unfortunately, he soon finds that the power vacuum left is being filled by those that were previously oppressed and are now seeing their chance to push people around.  Disgusted with the realization, David plans his own final solution.

The parallels to Heathers, though that movie's writer, Daniel Waters, denied any major connection are quite evident.  Three friends who can get away with anything and often do, one hanger-on who has conflicted feelings about what is going on and a new kid in school who is willing to do something about it, even if it is extreme.  Massacre does have a higher body count, but the endings aren't too far removed.  Still, the reason Heathers endures while this has been relegated to cult status is because the later film had a much more to say about teenagers, media influence, the struggle to fit in and the parental neglect that were hallmarks of Generation X upbringing.  Daalder is more concerned with high school as a framing device. 

It does get a bit heavy-handed after the first round of deaths, and although this is where the killing gets more creative it is also where it feels like the kids, like the hippy Spoony (Robert Carradine) and the previously put-upon Rodney, start to spout plot points that don't seem like natural dialogue.  At this point none of the characters are anywhere near as interesting as they were at the beginning, as they are now mouthpieces.

This movie also walks a strange line between art and exploitation, providing scenes of violence and full-frontal nudity together with a particular style that was meant to purposely remove most outside influences from the kids' lives.  In some ways it is similar to Lord of the Rings, but not focusing on the evils inherent in young people, but on society in general.  Performance wise the young actors do well, with David being an affable if aloof character at the beginning and soon becoming more and more withdrawn into his own world of revenge.  Andrew Stevens plays the conflicted role well, as does Kimberly Beck, giving much emotional depth to Theresa as she deals with her feelings for both David and Mark.  Ray Underwood is the main bad guy, and he plays Bruce like the burgeoning sociopath he is.

What is surprising is that Massacre at Central High is truly a good film, although I still prefer Heathers just because I identify with it and its message about my particular generation a bit more.  Still, Massacre avoids many of the pacing issues found in similar films and Daalder, though he tries to hammer it home a bit too much, gets his point across quite well. 

Massacre at Central High (1976)

Time: 87 minutes

Starring: Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Kimberly Beck, Robert Carradine, Ray Underwood, Steve Bond, Damon Douglas

Director: Rene Daalder