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A little known, low-budget horror flick, Hell High actually has more in common with the vengeance exploitation films of the '70's than with the teen slashers that were so popular during its time.

When trouble making teens decide to terrorize their teacher, they go over board with some murderous consequences!

With a compelling story, moody atmosphere, and a good cast, Hell High (which has little to do with its title) is a horror film that manages to over come the limitations of its low budget. Even still, the film is pretty well made for a B horror flick. The music score and filming locations aren't bad either.

The cast of unknowns is pretty good. Maureen Mooney does a good turn as the tormented teacher. Christopher Cousins isn't half bad as a reluctant teen assailant. Best of all though is the late Christopher Stryker (who died of AIDS before the film could be released). He makes for a great teen bad boy and a surprisingly merciless villain! Stryker could have easily went on to bigger films.

Criticize it for what you will, but Hell High is one of the better 'lost' horror flicks of its day. It's 80's horror that takes a refreshing break from the slasher film conventions.

*** out of ****

(* out of *****) The Blockbuster Video Guide gave this movie three stars -- I'm thinking everyone involved in the Blockbuster franchise must have undergone mentally-corruptive radiation treatments in the '70s. Boy, is this movie stupid! It's your typical cruel prank/revenge/slasher plot, except it looks even cheaper and bored me even more than usual. Some mean (and over-aged) high school kids throw rocks at their mean teacher's house and then sexually molest her, so she jumps out the window. Well, of course she's not dead, and of course there's a traumatic incident from her childhood (she `accidentally' threw a bucktful of mud onto two libidinous motorists, causing them to fly off the bike and impale themselves on wooden stakes in a scene that I assume was supposed to be shocking, but, instead, had me laughing for a good five minutes), and, next thing you know, she's hopping mad and homicidal. Character motivations are weak and absurd, at best, and the plotting is almost transparent in this sick turkey. I loved the scene where the former football star and his friends drive a car onto the field in the middle of a game and intercept a pass while cheesy, triumphant music swells -- were we supposed to feel uplifted here and like this guy or something because he's not quite as cruel and sadistic as the other guy, he's just too much of a coward and a doofus to not go along with him? It stars -- well, really, who cares?

Lowlight: Oh dear, so much to choose from.... There's the tacky scene where the teacher's out cold and undressed on her bed and the slutty girl's showing her dopey ex-boyfriend how to properly touch a woman. But, no, let's just stick with the opening scene where the kid throws the mud at the bikers and they lose control and somehow land on those sharp wooden stakes. I'm sure there are even `better' scenes, but I'd have to rent the movie and watch it again to refresh my memory, and I'm just not ready to do that.

Hell High is one of your typical, bad, 80s horror films, and then again there are many things in it that are not so typical. For instance, none of the characters are likable or even sane. Usually you find at least one sane person in a slasher movie but not here. Everybody is pretty much crazy. At any rate that doesn't really matter, it still delivers good fun. I recommend renting the DVD with the Joe Bob Briggs commentary and don't even bother to watch it without the commentary, Joe Bob Briggs brings humor and fun facts into the viewing reminiscent of MST3K. His commentary really brings your enjoyment of the film up a notch by giving some where are they now comments, as well as commentary on why this film is different from the typical teen slasher. I give it a high rating based mainly on this commentary track.

The stage curtains open ...

My journey through lost 80's horror films continues with this little known gem titled, "Hell High" (aka Real Trouble). A teen slasher flick that was written, produced, and directed by Douglas Grossman - a name I'm not familiar with, and a person who has apparently never directed any other films. The entire cast are relatively unknown with only the lead actor, Christopher Cousins, having any notable body of work as an actor - mostly in television. I've never seen it before today, but overall, I'm glad I did.

The film opens with a little girl playing in an abandoned shack near her home when a man and woman come roaring up on a motorcycle to have a little nookie. The girl hides and watches as the man, in a fit of anger, rips the head off of one of her dolls. As they are leaving, she throws mud into the man's eyes resulting in a fatal crash. The little girl runs away horrified. Years later, this little girl has become a teacher who has a classroom of unruly and disrespectful students, especially one who's name is Dickens. One night, Dickens and some friends take things too far when they decide to scare her in her own home. These events coupled with her past cause her to snap and become a homicidal nightmare.

I actually enjoyed this one. I felt it was a bit more intelligent than the typical 80's teen slasher movie. It made sense with a back story that is viable. The movie flows pretty well, is evenly paced, and is in no hurry to get anywhere. I thought the character development wasn't bad, and the acting was decent. Maureen Mooney sold me as the mentally unstable teacher who finally loses it in the end. There's hardly any gore, but the tension is high. There is some suspense, and when she unleashes hell on the kids, they only had themselves to blame. I enjoyed the soundtrack to it as well, the music was fitting.

I think I'd recommend this one. Especially to anyone who loves a good slasher type film from the 80's. It wasn't great, but it holds its own against other films from that time. I'm surprised I never picked up on it until now, but I'm glad I did. I am rating it a solid 6 stars out of 10. I'd watch it again. It isn't high on the re-watchability scale, but I would watch it again. Overall, a decent slice of horror and an enjoyable time.

Four outcast high schoolers in the Northeast play a prank on their biology teacher at her home on the weekend, but the fun turns into murderous trouble.

"Hell High" was shot in 1985, copyrighted in 1986, but not released until 1989. It's also known as "Raging Fury" and "Real Trouble," which are more accurate titles. I was thinking it was a slasher, but it's really high school thriller/horror meshing the milieu of "Carrie" (1976) and "Christine" (1983) with the revenge exploitation of "I Spit on Your Grave" (1978). It only cost $188,000, but seems more polished than "I Spit," which cost $650,000.

The flick effectively takes you back to the high school days and the various cliques and types, such as the troublemaking leader of the outcasts, the hot girl that hangs with the misfit dudes, the goofy guy, the quarterback and his cheerleading babe, as well as the guy who's an inbetweener (Christopher Cousins). The agitator, played by Christopher Stryker, died of AIDs at the age of 27 before the movie was released.

It's relatively serious, but there's a little camp, e.g. The football coach. The best thing is you don't know where it's going. Don't expect a typical 80's slasher.

On the female front, Millie Prezioso is interesting as Queenie while Maureen Mooney plays the biology teacher and Kathryn Rossetter the girls' coach. The brunette girlfriend of the quarterback is worth a mention, but I can't tell from the credits if she's Victoria Andahazy (Mink) or Karen Russell (teen girl). As usual with this genre, there's a bit of harmless nudity.

The movie runs 1 hour, 24 minutes, and was shot in Westchester, Bronx, which is just a couple miles east of The Bronx Zoo with the high school interiors done in Scarsdale, New York, which is located eight miles north of The Bronx.

GRADE: B-