Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Return To Horror High

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Return To Horror High



    Released by: 88 Films
    Released on: May 29th, 2017.
    Director: Bill Froehlich
    Cast: Lori Lethin, Brendan Hughes, Alex Rocco, George Clooney, Scott Jacoby, Andy Romano, Marueen McCormick
    Year: 1987
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Arthur Lyman (Richard Brestoff) is the only survivor of a massacre. The cops arrive on the scene and question him and it turns out he's the writer of a horror movie that was being shot in the school where the killings took place, Crippen High. It just so happens that this school was also the location where an earlier mass killing took place some years before… and that killer was never caught. As two cops question him, we see the events play out in a series of flashbacks.

    As the movie plays out, we see what happened to the cast and crew as they went about their businesses. Sleazy producer Harry Sleerik (Alex Rocco) wants everyone to pile on the sex and violence, insisting that his lead actress (Lori Lethin) expose her breasts. He's not out to make art, he's out to make a fast buck. Officer Tyler (Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch!) pokes around where she can, former professional wrestler Pepper Martin plays the chief. George Clooney shows up as a police officer. It all basically ties together in the end but to really detail all of how it does and why would be a disservice to those who haven't seen the film. As uneven as it is at times, the movie is pretty clever.

    It also had a great tag line:

    “Killer to the left...Killer to the right...Stand up...Sit down...FRIGHT! FRIGHT! FRIGHT!”

    Some of the murder set pieces are pretty great, even if they're not the most realistic scenes ever committed to film. Sometimes the camera pulls back and we're in on the joke, it's the whole movie within a movie aspect at play, but other times the camera doesn't pull back and we realize it's tying into the murder being investigated. The gore is fairly strong in the picture and the effects are appropriately gruesome when the movie calls for it.

    As to how everything connects to the original killing spree, the one where the killer is still at large, well, you may or may not see it coming - but it works. The movie's plot is interesting in that it doesn't spoon feed everything to the audience. There's definitely some original ideas at work here. The box copy for this release points out how it pre-dates Scream, which is true, but as to how much of an influence there was on Craven's box office smash is debatable. They're both self-referential slasher pictures, so they have that in common.

    Return To Horror High uses the 'movie within a movie' idea well, exploiting it to nice effect while still managing to make some well-deserved pokes at the formulaic nature of the genre (Lethin's character rants about misogyny at one point, which stands as a pretty clear example of what the movie is trying to say). The film places a stronger emphasis on humor than it does on horror, however, so those who require that their eighties slashers be played only with the utmost seriousness may take issue. Some of the plot twists towards the end overdo it a bit, but it's a pretty fun ride throughout.

    The cast are fun. Alex Rocco is perfect as sleazy Sleerik. He doesn't care about anything except money, and if his director has artistic intent that he wants to work out, too bad. Lori Lethin is pretty good as his leading lady, and Maureen McCormick, while certainly an odd casting choice for a cop, is actually pretty damn funny in her role clearly cast against type. Clooney, a big draw for some people, is only in the movie for a few minute but it's fun to see him here.

    Oh, and some useless IMDB trivia: “Alex Rocco, Scott Jacoby and George Clooney have all appeared separately on episodes of "The Golden Girls".” The more you know.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    88 Films presents Return To Horror High in a 'new HD widescreen transfer from the original negative' that is presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and framed at 1.85.1. The picture quality here is pretty good, there's nice detail and depth to the image and very little in the way of print damage to note. Black levels are pretty solid, color reproduction looks nice and there are no noticeable issues with any compression artifacts, edge enhancement or noise reduction. The image retains a natural amount of film grain, skin tones look pretty natural - yeah, this looks just peachy in HD.

    The only audio option on the disc is an English language LPCM 2.0 stereo option. Optional subtitles are provided in English only. No complaints here. The dialogue in the film is audible and clear throughout and the score sounds pretty solid. If any hiss pops into the mix, it's minimal. Levels are nicely balanced and there are no problems with any distortion to note.

    Extras start off with a brand new exclusive audio commentary featuring director Bill Froehlich, writer Greg Sims and cinematographer Roy Wagner. Froehlich essentially leads the charge and has the most to say of the three participants. The mood of the track is pretty jovial, it sounds like these guys got along then and still get along now. They talk about casting the film, the locations, writing the picture, the tone that they went for right from the start with the opening credits, working with New World on the production and how much they loved the script, what some of the other cast and crew members have been up to before and since the movie was made, changes that were made to the script over the course of the production and lots more.

    Also on hand is a featurette entitled Class Dismissed with actress Lori Lethin that runs just over fourteen minutes. She talks about starting in commercials and then making the transition to low budget movies just sort of by default and how she never really thought about acting as a serious career in her younger days. She then talks about getting her start in the business, working on pictures like this one and The Prey, Bloody Birthday and more. She looks back on her career pretty fondly and tells some fun stories here.

    Rounding out the extras on the disc is the film's original theatrical trailer, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection. 88 Films has also packaged this release with some nice reversible sleeve art featuring your choice of original poster art options. Included inside the keepcase alongside the disc is a full color insert booklet containing an essay from Calum Waddell entitled High School Frights that discuss its connection to similarly themed films and its status (or lack thereof) as a 'sequel' to Horror High.

    The Final Word:

    88 Films gives Return To Horror High a more than respectable high definition debut. The movie itself is a lot of fun, a slasher-esque horror comedy (the emphasis is on comedy, mind you) with an interesting cast and some noteworthy murder set pieces. Lots of fun to be had with this one, and the presentation and extras on the disc are strong.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!







































      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X