Killer High

If you're in the mood for over the top, gory fun, this movie delivers the goods. It's colorful, the actors are all game, especially the lead (Sabrina), and the creature (a sort of giant Razorback puppet in most scenes) is grotesque enough to be impressive. I had fun watching it, and as long as you're cognizant of what you're going to get from a movie with this title, you won't be disappointed. Special mention goes to the lady in the wheelchair. In fact, everyone on camera is giving it their all, and that elevates this movie to a higher level than expected. The movie involves teens and a cursed high school. The body count is astronomical. The backstory is ridiculous and inexplicable. What more do you need to know? Nothing, really. Just enjoy the zany ride.

I am totally NOT a fan of horror movies, especially not the gory kind, or the stupid spoofs of more recent years (Scary Movie, Disaster Movie etc). I was in the hospital recently and had nothing to do but watch SyFy channel's horror movie marathon, so I ended up watching it. I loved it! I actually cared about the characters and the plot, and laughed the whole way through. It's not a straight up spoof, it's the kind of movie where the characters take the situation as completely genuine, but the movie is not taking itself too seriously (think Ghostbusters).

The acting was perfect for this type of movie, overly dramatic, but not so forced it was annoying. The characters were true to the stereotypes of high school and the behavior/conversations were spot on for school reunions. The plot was silly, but there actually was one that was well thought out and they stuck to it. There were some really cool visuals that would have fit in with a serious action movie, but were made to fit this kind of comedy to perfect effect.

Side note: The scene with the chocolate balls had me laughing so loud my nurse came to check on me. :D

Bottom line, if you're going in to this expecting a serious horror movie (Texas Chainsaw Massacre type) you're going to hate it. If you're going in expecting a straight up parody (Scary Movie type), you may enjoy it, but it's not going to be what you're after. But, if you're looking for something like Little Shop of Horrors or Ghostbusters (this is definitely more gory, comedic gore, but there is still a lot of blood and entrails etc), this is going to be what you're after.

Participating in a scavenger hunt, a group of teens unwittingly release a giant warthog-like creature that stalks a group of friends attending their high-school reunion at the school years later, forcing the class president and her entourage to fight off the deadly, bloodthirsty creature.

This one ended up being an absolute blast of an effort and had a lot to really like about it. One of the biggest selling points here is the incredibly enjoyable atmosphere created throughout here. The abandoned school where it all takes place in is a perfectly creepy setting, offering all the gloom of a darkened, left-behind location covering the bleachers or the floors, the broken doors and walls with the endless corridors that works even better with the reunion centered in the gym which is full of all the neon lighting and decorations which all come together into a fun overall setting. There's also the fact that this one features the gloriously practical giant warthog creature that runs wild which gives this one a great feel. It's imposing and quite creepy, managing to score rather nicely not only with its design but also the ferocity of the creature's actions as it leads into some rather fun attack scenes here. Due to the unexpected nature of it's appearance at the school, these scenes of the creature running loose offer up a lot to like from the opening ambush on the pranksters that starts this one to the first attacks on the outside of the party and the first instances of the creature being on the premises during their party that she tries to hide from everyone offers up the kind of rampaging creature feature action that works nicely. Once the full extent of the creature's revealed to all, a spectacular series of bodily dismemberments against the rest of the patrons at the party in a full-on frenzy of severed limbs, blood-spray and total chaos that turns it into a fantastic action scene and setting the stage for the final half where it turns into the relentless series of confrontations with the survivors not only realizing the creatures' origins and intent but also getting into some highly enjoyable tactics to outwit the creature. Combined with the fine blood and gore through the kills involved here, this one offers enough to like to hold out over it's few minor flaws. The main problem here is the series of cliches utilized in the storyline which make it quite obvious what's going on. The idea of keeping it hidden from the party guests is completely nonsensical as that's criminally negligent of keeping them in harms' way against the creature and simply keeping the running storyline of her need for perfection to continue on. Still putting people in danger to allow the creature the opportunity to kill as many as it does during the big massacre when it didn't need to had it simply dropped the idea of running into these cliches when it didn't need to. The other flaw is the rather confusing nature of including the slow-motion captures of the attack scenes showing the layout of the scene with the creature interacting with the bodies and seeing their reactions, a rather irritating tactic when it's constantly repeated during each of the big scenes that the setup is featured. Alongside the rather curious nature of bringing up the asthma condition of the creatures' human host that never gets utilized making it's inclusion a question mark in that sense, there's not a whole lot really wrong here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

...that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about "Killer High" (2018), as far as plot goes. It's a made-for-TV horror/comedy with several laugh-out-loud scenes and some interesting filming techniques, like angles and stills. The warthog monster is linked to the school's mascot and it's ferocious, but kinda goofy-looking. There's a lot of quality gore, if that's your thang.

The cast is ethnically diverse and likable, led by Kacey Rohl as the amusing protagonist who organizes the reunion. Varun Saranga and Asha Bromfield co-star as her main pals. On the female front, curvy cutie Niamh Wilson (Michelle) stands out, but she's out of the picture after the first ten minutes. Lauren Collins (Carrie) is good, but they don't do enough with her. Humberly González (Rosario) is striking, but she needs to eat some hamburgers.

The film runs about 90 minutes and was shot exclusively in-and-around a brick high school (I can't find any location info). The opening reminded me of my juvenile years breaking into our high school for kicks.

GRADE: C+ (5.5/10)

Cheesy, campy low budget flick. Entertaining enough but doesn't get the humour right. Enjoyable for a late night movie when you don't want anything serious but ultimately nothing special.