Massacre at Central High

Plot synopsis:
David is a transfer student to Malibu Central High School. Upon arriving, he sees three bullies, named Bruce, Craig, and Paul, who order Spoony, a semi-skinhead and radical, to wash off a swastika he painted on his locker. The bullies inform Spoony that no forms of protest are permitted at Central High. Soon afterward, David meets Mark, an old friend who he once helped out of a jam at their previous school in Los Angeles. Mark tells David that the school can be like a country club for him if he becomes friends with Bruce, Craig, and Paul, the bullies who rule the school student body and are from wealthy and powerful backgrounds.Over the next few days, David becomes more and more alienated by the abrasive trio as he watches their daily routine. During gym class, they mock the slow-witted, fat Oscar who is unable to keep up with the other students. Later in the locker room, they hit Oscar with towels. David, at Mark's insistence, does not intervene.In the school library, the bullies taunt Arthur, the nerdish student librarian, and dump books all over him. David helps Arthur up after the bullies leave and offers his help to take them on. But Arthur tells David to stay out of it for he says, "we fight and lose our own battles".Later that day, David also witnesses the bullies wreck poor Rodney's car after he parks in their place in the school parking lot. David offers to help Rodney fix his car. Rodney agrees, but again tells David to stay out of Bruce, Craig, and Paul's path for he doesn't want them to be his enemies.Meanwhile, Mark meets with Bruce, Craig, and Paul in Paul's van after school where he tells them about David. But to Mark's worry, the three bullies tell him that they do not want to be friends with David and they do not want to associate themselves, nor interact and nor want anything to do with David. Mark tries to tell them that David is a good guy who can be a great friend and ally to them, but the bullies tell Mark that David looks like a trouble maker. They sternly warn Mark to tell David to stay out of their path. Mark begins to worry about his friend, but he tells the bullies that he will straighten David out.David's only other friend at the school is Teresa, who happens to be Mark's girlfriend. After Teresa and Mark quarrel over David hanging around her, she walks away wanting some space. After classes are let out for the day, the bullies spot Spoony's two girlfriends, Mary and Jane, and decide to rape them just for kicks. When Teresa catches them trying to assault the two girls, they spot her and throw her into a vacant classroom. David sees this and charges into the classroom. He single handedly beats up all three bullies before the rapes are accomplished. While Teresa is grateful to David for saving her, Mary and Jane do not thank him and tell David that he is now a marked man having crossed Craig, Bruce, and Paul.Humiliated by this latest encounter with David, the bullies approach Mark and tell him that he only has one more chance to talk to David to mind his own business. At nightfall, they drive down the Pacific Coast Highway where they find David's car. Venturing down to the beach to find David, Mark sees him with Teresa skinny dipping in the ocean. Filled with anger and jealousy, Mark goes back to the bullies in Paul's van and lies to them by saying that he tried to talk to David, but he wouldn't listen. The three bullies decide to take matters into their own hands.One evening, David is repairing Rodney's car when the bullies appear and kick the jack out and it lands on top of David, in which one of the wheels crushes his left leg. After several weeks in the hospital, David returns to school, now limping from a leg cast under trousers. But worse for David, he can no longer jog which is the one outlet for his anger. Most of the students avoid and snub David for attempting to make a stand against the bullies. Arthur tells David a great big "I told you so" about wanting to take on Craig, Bruce, and Paul. Even Mark is mean and nasty towards David for his flirtation with Teresa. When Mark confronts Teresa later and tells her that he saw her and David that night on the beach, she tells him about how David saved her from being raped earlier that day. She also tells Mark that although she really wanted to have sex with David that night on the beach, he refused to make love to her out of loyalty to Mark. Mark feels guilty over it realizing that he inadvertently got back at David for nothing.But David, having turned psychotic from this latest encounter, secretly plots to kill the three bullies in the same manner he believes they tried to kill him: by making it look like an accident. David begins his lethal plan of revenge when he breaks a cable on one hand glider to one of the bullies: Bruce. During the bullies Saturday hand gliding excursion, Bruce loses control of his hand glider when the cord for the steering breaks, and it rams into power lines, electrocuting him.Craig is the next victim when David intercepts a letter from the janitor to Craig about the school swimming pool being cleaned. That evening, Craig, a championship swimmer in training for the next Olympics, arrives at the school for his private practice sessions when David turns out the lights to the pool area. He tricks Craig into diving into the empty swimming pool.Paul is the final victim when David attacks him the following day in his van and rolls it down a cliff where it hits the rocks and explodes, killing Paul instantly. Mark arrives on the scene and discovers that David is responsible for Paul's death as well as Craig's and Bruce's as well. David challenges Mark to stop him, but Mark loves David too much to fight him. David, however, despite knowing that Mark knows the truth, agrees to let him live out of his love for Teresa.For a time, everyone at the school is grateful to David and is on friendly terms now that the three bullies are gone from their lives. But soon, they all tries to enlist the help of their hero and savior David so they can obtain power. From Arthur taking charge of the geeks, Oscar with the fat guys, to Rodney with the jocks, and Spoony with the punks, they take on one another for power. Soon, fights and arguments break out all over the school as Oscar, Arthur, Rodney, and Spoony quarrel with one another over territory rights. David, disgusted at the fighting and that the oppressed have become the new oppressors, plots to get rid of all the students.A few days later, David commences "the massacre at central high". Arthur is killed when David switches his hearing aid with another one that produces high decibel sonic pulses, which blow Arthurs eardrums out. Oscar is next when he opens his locker and a pipe bomb that David had placed earlier, explodes, killing him and several of his fat boy members. The students panic as more pipe bombs go off, killing and wounded many students. Rodney attempts to flee from the chaos in the parking lot by getting into his car and upon starting it, it explodes, killing him and a number of other jocks and other students with him. Only Spoony manages to escape and hides out in the wilderness with his two girlfriends, Mary and Jane. But David follows them and kills them as well by blowing up a face of a cliff and crushing the three of them in their tent under an avalanche of rocks.Mark, aware that David is behind all the carnage, tells Teresa that they must try to stop David before he kills more people for he has clearly been driven to the edge by everything that has happened. Mark gets a gun and with Teresa they go after David. They arrive at David's house and confront him in his workshop where he is constructing more pipe bombs. David challenges Mark to shoot him and put and end to his killing spree that he is now addicted to since he cannot jog anymore. But Mark can't do it. David then subdues Mark and locks him and Teresa in his workshop and goes to the school, where a student-alumni dance is taking place. David hides a large bomb in the basement of the school and plots to blow up the dance with all the remaining students and teachers inside the gym.Mark and Teresa manage to break out of David's workshop room and head over to the school. Realizing that the only way to stop David is by playing on his last sympathies he has towards them, they enter the gym where they party is being held and begin to dance. David sees them and tries to get them to leave the building before the bomb goes off. The refuse and dance, saying that if David really wants to kill everyone in the school, he will have to kill them too. Realizing that they will not leave and that both Mark and Teresa are sorrowfully willing to sacrifice their lives for him, David rushes (not very fast because of his limp) to the basement and retrieves the bomb. He takes it outside where it explodes killing him, and blasting out all the windows in the school and gym. Mark and Teresa agree to tell the police that the missing Spoony had planted the bomb and that David had given his life to save everyone.

Tags: revenge, cult, murder, prank

Review:
After falling foul of a group of bullies at his new high school, promising young athlete David (Derrel Maury) is attacked and severely injured.
Fans of other revenge-style horror movies should probably enjoy this and it is recommended for those who like a nice, often subtle subtext to their films rather than just straight-forward and rather unimaginative horror.
The story is very interesting - David comes to Central High, only to find his old best friend Mark is now a part of a group of four guys that pick on everyone and rule the school.
One of them even buys a car from the parents of the leader of the bullies, the car belonging to their son who David has killed, to even more completely fill the role.You never see any adults in Central High - this is intentional as the world we are seeing revolves totally around the students.
Actually the only time you do see any adults is in the final sequence at the school dance, where they are very zombie-ish and lifeless, Central High being their own futureless living graveyard.This is definitely an underrated amazing little film.
All I can say is, "Massacre at Central High," in all its grainy, distinctly-1970's glory, makes "Carrie" look like a sugarcoated After-School Special.
The plot deals with a lanky, odd-looking kid who's transferred to a new school where a former friend (Andrew Stevens, of "The Fury") happens to be attending; he's disgusted with the way a gang of bullies prey on the weak, and starts eliminating the gang, one person at a time.
"Massacre at Central High" is a highly engrossing revenge flick that actually rises above the standards of the genre, combining the horror of the teenage years with a strong political subtext.
The movie is indeed an adolescent nightmare where adults aren't even featured until the final scene--instead of focusing on the tired "the-parents-have-lost-control" theme, writer-director Renee Daadler opts to filter everything--rape, violence, class war--through the eyes of vulnerable youth, thus making the film that much more horrifying and convincing.
Newcomer to a California high school doesn't like the fact that a gang of bullies is ruling the students and when he is attacked he strikes back big time!
But, that's only the beginning.Massacre at Central High is a low-budget dated film, but it is also an outstanding thriller with some excellent social commentary.
Ray Underwood is strong in his role as the bullying gang leader.Massacre at Central High has become some what lost over the years, but certainly not because it isn't an effectively powerful film!
But, it had so much more to offer than the "light-hearted" Revenge of the Nerds films.We open with a (they didn't have skin heads then) group of Nazi like blonde haired bullies terrorizing the lessor students into "politically correct" thinking ala the burgeoning "family values" <insert twisted cross here> movement.
Actually - who knows & who cares...almost 30 years after it's release the movie is very entertaining, accomplishes what it set out to do, and is a wonderful exercise in 70's exploitation...only a few rungs higher when it comes to plot & acting...I give this flick a 5 star "groovy" ~ Let yourself go & enjoy the ride...PS: The only thing to watch out for & skip at all costs is the lame...did I say LAME theme song from the opening & ending credits...If you already don't - this will make you want to wish that the 70's never happened (But it did...It DID...!) "You're at the crossroads of your life...the crossroads of your life and you are..." AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!.
Thought-provoking exploitation from the Golden Age. The title might suggest a cheap hybrid of Carrie and Death Wish, but Massacre at Central High is not your typical drive-in movie.
Granted it's filled with violence, blood, and nudity, and the revenge angle is quite powerful, but its examination of high-school politics is the element that really gets your brain working.
Massacre may have its flaws(admittedly it's not a high budget movie!) but it is surprisingly chilling and would have alot of relevence, were it to be rereleased today.The film ruthlessly drives home to the viewer what it can be like to be a a highschool student at a school where nobody cares-the lack of any adults in the movie and many scenes of bullying and tormenting bring the point home as did another great movie "Carrie".However, Massacre takes the premise one, two, three steps further- this isn't "Carrie" as many have said, it's more "Carrie" meets "Lord of the flies".
Performance wise, the acting is competent enough (the 'message' is the star, here) and the (despite what others have said) haunting theme tune (crossroads of your life) work well to back up a great cult movie.
(There are Spoilers) Arriving at Central High to begin classes David, Darrel Maury,is confronted with this gang of bullies, The Young Gestapo,lead by Bruce, Ray Underwood, who terrorize the students at the school.
Mark, Andrew Stevens, a good friend of David's, from a previous high school, and member of "The Young Gestapo" wants him to join them and stuck his neck out to assure Bruce & Co. that he will but David is unmoved and unimpressed and tends to stays by himself.
It's when David see's Bruce and his gang grab Jane & Mary (Lani O'Grady & Cheryl Smith) and after dragging the girls into a deserted school room he jumps into action and makes short work of the bullies having them flee with their tails between their legs.
It's then when the movie takes a political and ultra-violent turn with David back in school, after recovering from his leg injury, and slowly and methodically putting away Bruce Craig & Paul.
Not your average teenager movie or a rip-off of "Rebel Without a Cause" "Massacre at Central High" shows what the saying "Power Corrupts" really means and uses the setting of students in a high school, not dictators or leader of nations, as the metaphor.
You know right away in the movie that this is not about teenagers in high school or another "Happy Days" like sitcom when you notice almost at once there's no teachers and adults in the cast except for the Alumni Ball at the end of the film.
"Massacre at Central High" is a kind of film that's a curiosity when a given viewer learns of it before hand but as an unexpected late night cable treat that makes insomnia a tolerable malady to live one's days with.
The film is set in a lavish high school where three tough boys rule over the masses until a new kid comes along and puts them out of commission.
The premise surrounds David, a teenager who transfers to a new high school where the students run wild, and a group of male bullies torment their peers without consequence.
The unhinged David begins to murder each of the bullies, but his plan to cleanse the school backfires when those on the bottom of the social ladder take on the same traits as their former dead oppressors.A weird but memorable entry in the horror genre, "Massacre at Central" high feels like it occurs in a dreamscape or an alternate world.
Malibu's beaches set the stage for several scenes, and the film feels every bit a "California" production.Performances from Robert Carradine and Kimberly Beck (who would later become a genre favorite for her role in "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter") are some notable highlights, while Derrel Maury plays the outsider/deranged avenger with an appropriate distance.
None of the performances are particularly provoking and are by and large rather bland, but serviceable given the material.All in all, "Massacre at Central High" is a unique and thoroughly strange film that toes the line between exploitation slasher and thoughtful allegory.
Don't you just love poster artwork as I was expecting something along the lines of "Class of 1984" with strikingly vile and vicious punks, but the considerably low-budgeted school-based revenge thriller "Massacre at Central High" was a little more thoughtful and dissident in its groundwork than playing it as straight-forward, brutal trash.
Derrel Maury gives a suitably deranged, but in a quietly brooding sense performance as the kid who finally decides to rid the school of its power-hungry (and hateful) bullies but in the end it does come at a cost where maybe he isn't much different to those he despise in his plans to change things for the better.
Hence Animal Farm and Massacre at Central High, a political allegory and a first rate teen exploitation film in the Roger Corman mold: tits, gore, and some mild political commentary.
Massacre at Central High is one of the earlier exploitation/slasher films to feature a school full of thirty-something's getting bumped off, but that's not to say it's a cut above the rest of the genre.
One thing that writer-director Rene Daalder does succeed at, however, is putting the focus squarely on the society at the centre of the film at all times, and this is done by only showing the school "kids", and no adults.
High school student who was crippled as the result of some bullies who have token over the school gets revenge by killing them all.
Transfer student David (Derrel Maury) starts a new school where he finds that an old friend, Mark (Andrew Stevens), has fallen in with a gang who use fear and intimidation to rule the roost.
However, with Bruce and his pals gone, a new generation of bullies comes to the fore, and so David continues his murderous activities, ultimately deciding to blow up the entire school...Bit of a strange one this: Massacre at Central High starts off with it's protagonist David as a hero, valiantly standing up for the weak, but then gradually sees him transform into a twisted murderous psycho and the real villain of the piece.
For a while, this is all fairly entertaining stuff, made all the more enjoyable by the presence of gorgeous Kimberly Beck as Andrew's curvaceous babe of a girlfriend Theresa (who provides not one, but two nude scenes!); sadly, once David slips into revenge mode, matters get just a little too unbelievable, writer director Rene Daalder seeming more concerned with conveying his political message rather than telling a viable story: the accidental but suspicious deaths attract no interest from the police; the scenes involving the previously bullied pupils becoming the school's new bullies are clumsily handled and rather laughable; and the further blatant murders appear to alarm no-one in the slightest (they even go ahead and hold the school prom, despite several unexplained explosions!)..
A new student named David comes to Central High.Unfortunately the school is terrorized by a gang of snobbish bullies.David can't accept the other students being bullied for no reason.He decides to fight back after his one of his legs is crushed under a bare drum rotor.One by one the bullies begin to die.Pretty interesting and captivating political allegory mixed with some slasher elements.The bullied becomes bullies themselves and the spiral of violence becomes overwhelming.The much-better-known 1989 film "Heathers" certainly borrowed several plot elements from "Massacre at Central High".Also Italian version of this film called "Sexy Jeans" was edited with pornographic inserts.8 out of 10..
Massacre At Central High is a weird little teen revenge flick - there are many things in it that totally spotlight the low budget - endless shots of the boom mike in frame, in the reflections of some of the shinier cars you can see some of the camera crew, etc.
Yes, Robert Carradine and Andrew Stevens went on to bigger and better things - but lots of this movie is just an absolute mess - from the opening soft ballad to jump editing to some awful acting BUT...there is something very real, very sincere in the revenge taking that definitely works, that definitely makes your skin crawl - so the movie is effective in many ways and the other powerful thing about it is it is no slasher film - there isn't some evil janitor or demented shop teacher going around and knocking off students - this is pure revenge and then after the revenge, pure, unadulterated human greed for power.
This movie is sort of like a line between the game Resident Evil and Varsity Blue because this movie has people getting chased by zombies and being in High School at the same time.
"Massacre at Central High" is a movie from 1976.
But he is also funny to watch), BUT the revenge of David, who is new in school and becomes a victim of the bad guys, is consistent.
The movie starts with flashbacks of all the memorable moments of this film and they are indeed worth seeing: When Steve Bond jumps into the pool without water you can't help laughing, and when the car falls on David's leg you are surprised how cruel the movie is.
The resulting material on film itself was apparently considered the end-product, the actual work of "Art".Somehow Renee Daalder incorporated some of these concepts about gravity in MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, but besides this peculiar little fact, I can only mildly recommend the film itself.
The opening of Massacre at Central High has the credits play over shots of the films main character David (Derrel Maury) running along a road and across beach in Southern California to an awful song called 'crossroads'.
However it soon becomes clear that with no one to keep the other students under control the school quickly becomes worse than before and it soon turns into a free for all as anarchy breaks loose, realising what he has done David must clean up the mess he has unwillingly created.Written and directed by Rene Daalder I really didn't like this much at all, even though I know it gets a lot of good reviews.
Set in a Californian high school, seemly without teachers or other staff, the new kid in town David becomes the target of a trio of bullies.
Driven by revenge, David literally pulverizes the bullies but  just when he thinks to have brought peace inside the school's walls  the former nerds become the new bullies and they all wish to be in control of the schoolyard...I sincerely doubt whether writer/director Rene Daalder fully intended it to be like this, but his film gained a solid cult reputation because it features so many effective political metaphors!
Especially since there are absolutely no adults in sight (no parents, police men or teachers), "Massacre at Central High" is like the perfect allegory on society, with its corruption and typical hypocrisy.
I'm sure everybody else sighs when the cops turn up to spoil the fun in these productions.The main actor, Derrel Maury, is excellent as David, a seemingly quiet boy who from the start doesn't fit in with the high school gang, who bully and terrorise the other students.
Because then the film got even better.Once the gang is gone, the other students become bullies in their own right, and limping David decides to clean up the school once and for all.
In fact, MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH is much, much more than a standard slasher film: it becomes a political treaty on the nature of oppressors and the oppressed, and the balance of power.
this is not a good movie.i don't recall seeing worse acting for a long time.basically,a new student becomes bullied to the point where he is pushed over the edge.he exacts revenge by killing those who wronged him, making their deaths look accidental.sounds okay so far,right.but,this killer decides to kill other students who had nothing to do with bullying him.now there are no real "legitimate" reasons given to murder everybody.now,we get to the acting.each time a fellow student has a fatal accident,the other students show very little emotion and continue as if nothing has happened.i have to chalk this up to the limited acting ability of all the actors.in most so called horror movies, acting is not expected to be Oscar calibre,but this is worse than almost any movie in the horror genre.and things are worse because this movie has no scary sequences,so it would be nice if the actors could pick up some of the slack.the characters are like robots in their reactions,so it's really hard to like any of them.there are at least two scenes of nudity which are pointless.there is never any suspense generated,so there is never any feeling of anyone being in jeopardy.one last thing.this movie tries to take itself way too seriously,as if it is an Oscar contender.if it had been played for laughs,it may have been a better,or at least watchable movie.
For whatever reason, Massacre at Central High lasted with me 30 years later and that must make it a pretty good film in my book.
There were two movies that came out in 1976 that portrayed high school as a living hell; one was CARRIE, the other was MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH.
David, now crippled and bitter because he can no longer run, exacts bloody revenge on his tormentors, killing all three and making it look like accidents; only the guilt ridden Mark and Teresa realize that David is responsible.Once the bullies are gone from the halls of Central High, life for the formerly bullied improves and everybody is every one's friend...but only for awhile.
The plot = A new student David starting at school quickly becomes a victim of nasty bullying by four of the jocks, after a near fatal accident David turns the tables and kills off the bully's through a series of violent accidents, but things don't change and the former victims quickly become the new bully's so David decides to take drastic action.What sets "Massacre At Central High" apart from other slashers, is the theme of revenge against the school theme and the methods of dispatch, rather than the usual knife or axe, we get nasty fatal accidents, which is rather a fresh idea and still holds up by todays standards.
Ultimately though, while containing several murders and a near double gang-rape scene, Massacre At Central High is not a slasher film.