School

School is a 2005 Halloween special Flash-animated short, created and written by Gregory McLeod (a.k.a. Cleod9) from Cleod9 Productions, and published by McLeodGaming. The story centers a group of students as they try to survive the class from their new creepy teacher, Mr. Hackensaw. The animation was done with a particular anime-influenced style, as it was common with the early MG cartoons, it also contains excessive blood scenes, though the quality of the animation seemingly downgrades the violence.
== Plot summary ==
left|thumb|Mr. Hackensaw threatens the Student 1.
During a rainy morning on Monday, October 31, 2005, in the Regal Valley High School, the principal of the school informs a group of students from a particular classroom that their regular teacher, Ms. Sunnyfeld, has passed away after she suffered from an accident yesterday. However, the principal informs them that they already have a new replacement teacher for the remainder of the year: a tall, creepy and mysterious man dressed in black and wearing sunglasses called Mr. Hackensaw.
The principal leaves the classroom and lets Mr. Hackensaw introduce himself to the students, where they meet his narcissistic personality. He recalls the students they may call him simply "Mr. H", which he proceeds to laugh in an evil way. When he is questioned by one of the students (Student 1) what is he laughing at, Mr. Hackensaw threatens him that he will slap his face if he is not quiet.
Mr. Hackensaw continues with "math" lessons, teaching them the principle of "IR>U" (actually implying a superiority complex), but when one of the students (Student 2) tries to say what does that "principle" really means, Mr. Hackensaw threatens him with a knife just for talking in his class; this, however, makes another student (Student 3) recall to the evil teacher that knives are not allowed in school and, in response, Mr. Hackensaw throws the knife at his face, killing him, arguing he does not want more interruptions.
The only girl student (Student 4), inadvertently, tries to dial 911 with her cell phone for help, but Mr. Hackensaw catches her and forces her to eat the cell phone, or else, he will shoot her with his shotgun. She slowly swallows the cell phone, suffocates, and dies.
Afterwards, while trying to continue his class, Mr. Hackensaw catches the first student he threatened (Student 1) trying to skip his class, with the excuse he just wanted to "go to the bathroom". Mr. Hackensaw asks him to come next to him and, then, he trusts his hand on his chest, engulfing his whole body in a black stuff that suddenly vanishes his clothes, flesh, and organs, leaving only his dead skeleton. In a "comic" relief, Mr. Hackensaw, against what happened, asks if anyone else "wants to go to the bathroom"; quietly, a student (Student 2) raises his hand and Mr. Hackensaw shoots him with the shotgun on the head, beheading him.
Finally, Mr. Hackensaw catches the last student (Student 5) alive, an obese boy; trying to commit suicide with a pencil. After insulting and mocking the student about his physic, Mr. Hackensaw, instead of killing him, sends him to detention. Now in the detention room, which is a completely dark room, the student is completely alone with nothing more than a TV screen. The screen tunes off and a TV announcer says they will show the, then, long-awaited Simpsons Movie, which excites the boy, only to be reminded that the film is still in progress and is not finished, much to the dismay of the boy, as he screams in frustration.
== Voice cast ==
Note all the voice actor but two, used nicknames or not displayed their real names:
*geist seig as Mr. Hackensaw: A creepy teacher who is dressed in all black and wears sunglasses who change to red when he is laughing, he hates to be interrupted and is somewhat a narcissistic person.
*Greg McLeod's father as the principal and Student 5, the principal role was not so big, he only let the students know their former teacher passed away but that they already go a new teacher, who turns out to be Mr. Hackensaw. The Student 5 is an obese boy, he was the only student left alive in the whole cartoon, but was left waiting in the detention room.
*Greg McLeod (Cleod9) as Student 1, the first student to be threatened by Mr. Hackensaw, he wears a blue hat and a red shirt. He was the third student to be killed by Mr. Hackensaw.
*Ch4r as Students 2 and 3, the first student is a blue-haired boy who wears a dark green shirt, he is not so different than Student 1 but he could be less intelligent as he falls on Mr. Hackensaw killing question. The student 3 might represent the nerd of the classroom as he wears glasses and is rather short, he was the first victim of Mr. Hackensaw.
*Kira "Kagome" Buckland as Student 4, she is the only girl in the classroom; though not directly killed by Mr. Hackensaw, she met her death because of the mischievous teacher's threats.
*Nicknyte as the TV announcer, a minor unseen character that announces The Simpsons Movie still being under development, to the dismay of Student 5.
== Reception ==
The cartoon is considered a classic cult icon of the old McLeodGaming, it met some favorable reviews by users in Newgrounds, who enjoy the dark story and inner jokes. Its bad point is that the cartoon is rather obscure and unpopular as other MG projects, like the series, overshadow it. Nonetheless, it retains a decent 8.8 out of 10 on Newgrounds aggregate score. Oddly, the original Super Smash Flash also retains this score.
== Goof ==
There is only one visible goof in the Flash cartoon: Student 3's legs were programmed to do an oscillatory movement (to move back and forth) while he was sitting. After Mr. Hackensaw kills him with the knife, while he is lying dead on the floor, his legs still keep moving back and forth for the remainder of the cartoon, when they are not supposed to move as Student 3 is already dead.
== Trivia ==
*Kira Buckland, who voiced the female Student 4, did the announcer work for Super Smash Flash and made some vocal effects for in the same game.
*This is the first and only cartoon where Gregory McLeod has ever done a voice acting for a minor character.
*It is also the only cartoon on the site that can be downloaded into a PSP or iPod.
*Throughout the cartoon, the word "principal" is written as "principle". Even though this word is not a typo, it should not be used to refer to the person in charge of the direction of a school. Its second use, from the math "principle", is correct, though.
*The way Mr. Hackensaw kills the Student 1, is similar to how Agent Smith, the main antagonist of The Matrix film series, turns people into his underlings by trusting his hand on his victim's chest.
**This is one of the many nods to The Matrix series in the McLeodGaming media, alongside Burly-Brawl Melee in Super Smash Flash.
== External links ==
*Watch School on McLeodGaming.
*Watch School on Newgrounds.