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"Hell High" follows a group of teenagers who decide to torment their domineering biology teacher by pulling a prank on her at her home late one night. Unfortunately for them, she is already disturbed from a double-murder she unwittingly caused as a child, and the teens are in for more than they bargained.

This late-'80s horror flick is an offbeat and unusual combination of teen exploitation with a heavy-handed revenge plot, as well as a few slasher-esque elements mixed in for good measure. The film opens with a bizarre and fairly disturbing scene in which the antagonist teacher, as a young girl, causes a horrific motorcycle accident that claims two lives in the bog behind her family home. This no doubt sets the tone for a slasher film, but "Hell High" instead opts to take the revenge horror route, predating similarly-themed films such as "Teaching Mrs. Tingle."

The teenagers in this film are, for the most part, very unlikable, which poses a bit of a problem from an audience perspective when they find themselves being hacked and slashed. While the biology teacher is not exactly an emblem of geniality, the teenagers and their actions grow progressively more twisted as the film goes on, which leaves the viewer in a conundrum as it's difficult to find allegiance to either here.

Despite this, the film is quite aptly made for a low-budget affair, with glossy cinematography and atmospheric locations, mainly the rural house where the majority of the film unfolds. Things ramp up to a breakneck pace in the last twenty minutes, leaving the picture feeling slightly backloaded, but there is a decent amount of suspense that precedes this, which prevents it from being a slog in the first three quarters. It also benefits from having a cynical and fitting conclusion.

Overall, "Hell High" is a fairly well-made horror film that leans more into teen revenge tropes than anything else. While the suggestive title may lead one to believe they are in for a school-set slasher, the film bucks those expectations quite swiftly. Though it has its share of structural issues, it is an offbeat and different film from many of its peers, and for that, it's worth watching. 6/10.

But that's what i did. We were at the mall, having just come from my orthodontic appointment, and I was supposed to go back to school. However, once the title "Hell High" caught our eye, we had to see it. I remember a goofily inane, low-budget horror movie that featured a scene of a beautiful teacher becoming vocally aroused just taking a shower (because when women soap up their breasts, they are helplessly turned on.) And that's almost all I remember. But I guess I fared better than a friend who, a few years previous, had seen Revenge of the Nerds with his little, old grandmother. And, thinking on it now, I saw Clash of the Titans when I was like eight or something with my grandfather. A chaste shot of a woman leaving a bath was pretty exciting then. Later on, at dinner, my sister yelled out that I had told her there was a "tushie" in the movie. I was mortified. I could hardly deny I had said it, after all, as her knowledge of said tushie was proof enough. A shadow fell over my grandfather's face and not another word was said for a long time. A horrible memory.

I thought this movie was really laid back, boring for the first hour or so, but if you like the 80s (like myself) and horror (like myself) then I would say this movie is worth watching! I dig the soundtrack and the scary 80s beats when death arrives, and the Queenie is definitely poster-child of the 80s! Shes got style shes got grace, shes got beaten to death by a rock in her FAACE!! MWAH HA HA HA! If you're bored, watch it! There needed to be a bit more action and gore but for the most part its pretty enjoyable if you like the horror films that are pretty dark all the way through. You don't grow any attachment to any of the characters, its pretty much just a cheesy horror film of the 80s! And mind you, those are the best.

The beginning is quite fantastic, who doesn't love a young little girl in a scary little pink dress who kills off some teenagers who try to have sex in her playhouse!? lol.

A little blonde girl accidentally kills a couple on a motorcycle for breaking her doll. "18 years later" she's a reclusive high school biology teacher (Maureen Mooney) with a pack of obnoxious students who hate her. After she slaps a punk named Dickens in the face for tossing test papers on the ground, he informs his gang friends "I'm gonna stick it to that bitch!," so one day after a football game they show up at her secluded home wearing masks, watch her take a shower, throw swamp sludge on her and try to rape her. She snaps and tries to kill herself by jumping out of a window, then recoops and gets revenge. Bloody and in her lingerie, she sticks a pencil in a guy's head, attacks with a butcher knife, plots a dissection and beats a girls face to a bloody mess with a rock. End of movie.

This is sort-of like a teen version of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE--a boring, no-thrills revenge movie with some T&A, a little gore, annoying characters and a relentlessly boring opening hour where nothing happens.

Score: 2 out of 10

I'm a fan of low-budget movies, and even of entertainingly bad movies, but I struggled to maintain any interest in this one. As so often happens in bad movies, the acting, locations, camera work, sound, effects, costumes, etc. Were all adequate, only to be dragged down by a script that requires every character to be stupid, crazy, or both. The premise had potential; it's sad all they could think of for a plot was a crazy person doing bloody things. (P. S. Even craziness has a logic to it; I'm tired of movies that treat mental illness as permission to have the character do any unmotivated thing they want.)

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 ****

In the opening scene, a little girl, Brooke Storm, unintentionally causes the death of a young couple. We then jump ahead 18 years, and Brooke is now a biology teacher. She still lives in the same house near the swamp where the young couple died.

Dickens, one of her students, is a real troublemaker. Along with three of his friends, Jon-Jon, Queenie and Smiler, they decide to play a prank on Brooke. Off course, things get out of hand and the prank goes horribly wrong.

Although labelled as a slasher, 'Hell High' is not a slasher in the true sense. It is more of a vengeance movie. For a slasher, the film is also oddly paced, and - apart from the young couple in the beginning - there are no deaths until the final act. The first two acts pretty much plays like a thriller. In fact, come to think of it, this isn't really a horror. Psychological horror, maybe, but if you watch 'Hell High' thinking it is a slasher in the vain of classic 80's slashers, you're mistaken.

Only time will tell whether I'm going to remember this film by its title. At first I thought students were going to be killed at High School, hence the reference to Hell High, but not a single killing occurs at the school...

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.

This is the stupidest film I've seen since "Zombie Nightmare."

A little girl with blond pigtails and a frilly pink dress (The Bad Seed, anyone?) accidentally kills a teenage biker and his girlfriend by throwing swamp mud into their faces while they are driving. The two are thrown and impaled on some conveniently placed stakes and the girl runs away, forever scarred and guilt ridden. Fast forward about 20 years and the pigtailed little cretin is now a science teacher at a local high school. Her students are unruly and disrespectful and when she slaps one arrogant jerk across the face, he vows revenge. He and his loser friends - cast an overweight nerd, a slut and a dumb jock - attack the teacher in her house one night, throwing handfuls of green swamp muck against her windows and dancing on her roof whilst wearing Halloween masks. Of course, they take the whole thing Too Far and the already mentally fragile teacher snaps, running around the rest of the movie in a silky nightie with a machete in one hand.

This really isn't a typical slasher, if you want the truth. The terrorized teens all deserve what they get, displaying no morals whatsoever and basically proving themselves to be every bit as psychotic as their teacher. There are some nice touches to be found here: the killer is a woman, the slut swings both ways and the one guy with a thin moral streak is only Doing The Right Thing to save his own bright future. This film doesn't suffer from unoriginality - it suffers from painful stupidity. The script is horrible, the cast can't act worth a damn and the situations that arise are so utterly implausible that you'll be wondering if this was set in some parallel dimension where common sense doesn't exist. For example: the proper reaction upon finding your next door neighbor covered with mud and crouched in front of her broken window with a machete in her hand is NOT to force feed her some 'ludes and then leave! Good gods, who wrote this? A 5 year old with ADD?

Once again, Joe Bob Briggs and his comedy commentary make this a much more bearable viewing experience. Otherwise, this is a terrible 80s slasher, filled with all of the hideous fashions of that depressing decade. A couple of graphic murders may impress gore fans, but sitting through the other 70 odd minutes just isn't worth the effort. I've seen more interesting toilet bowl stains.

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.

This strangely offbeat and unusual late 80's slasher starts off vile and promisingly, but soon degenerates into a prototypically dumb and exaggeratedly implausible flick. Some people – more specifically its very small but devoted fan base – tend to describe "Raging Fury" as reminiscent to the gritty revenge-themed exploitation efforts of the late 70's, but I hardly see any connections. Nope, this is merely just another cheap and uninspired flick that actually insults the viewer's intelligence with all its impossibly far-fetched story twists. The highly entertaining opening sequences show a little girl "accidentally" killing a young biker couple in the swamp near her parental house because they destroyed her dolly. Enjoy this intro with its nasty make-up effects and glorious sleaze as much as you can, because it's all downhill from here… 18 years later, the little girl – Brooke Storm – grew up to become a biology teacher in a standard American high school, but she obviously still suffers from a very unbalanced mental condition due to her traumatic childhood experience (which makes you wonder how she ever managed to finish her own teaching studies). Elsewhere in the school, the popular jock all of a sudden decides it's time for a personality change and joins the school's gang of bad kids (again, the most common thing in the world). As some sort of initiation rite for Jon-Jon, the clique decides to terrorize Miss Storm in her own house. They even set up a plan to frame the football team's quarterback in case anything goes wrong! Needless to say the nightly attack causes Miss Storm to go totally bonkers again and the thugs get a whole lot more than they bargained for. "Hell High" is a bunch of senseless nonsense without tension or horrific atmosphere. The film only evokes unintentional laughs (when the police actually do come to arrest the quarterback, my mates and I were laughing tears) and sentiments of pity. Not surprisingly, the cast and crew list only exists out of nobodies. Director Douglas Grossman as well as most of the actors and actresses never worked on any other film again. Lead star Christopher Stryker even died of AIDS before the film's release. I know it's not a very nice thing to say but I doubt it was a big loss for the cinema industry.

I saw "Hell High" a while ago but I still remember how cheesy it is. It's about a band of "misfits" at some high school planning a night of harassment on this one teacher. The teacher still remembers something horrible that happened when she was little. The flashback of the accidental murders of two motorcycling teens is really odd and freaky. And the rest of the movie is crappy.

After some teenage "antics," the four head to the teacher's house for a night of "terror." It totally goes downhill after that when the accidentally kill the woman. Yet, she's not really dead. She's...a zombie! Oh, what a surprise. So, one by one, the losers get it. In this movie, though, there is a good guy instead of a good girl, and he gets away, never telling the story but remembering the story. In the end, he goes crazy, and it's the only really scary part of the film. I definitely don't recommend this. It's really bad.

If you want to see a movie with a plot, don't watch Hell High. If you want to see a movie and not spend 2/3 of it scratching your head, don't see Hell High. In fact, if you grew up anywhere in the world other than Scarsdale, New York, DO NOT SEE HELL HIGH!!! It is the worst movie imaginable. But I will say, it does have one amazing redeeming quality. If you attended Scarsdale High School, I do recommend seeing it because about 8 minutes of the film are shot in the hallways and a science classroom. The feeling of seeing your high school in a "professional" horror movie is really cool and probably worth it for that if for no other reason. If you do not meet the one criteria I offered, It's the biggest waste of money EVER. You might as well take your 5 dollars and put them in a Cuisinart.

Hell High aka Raging Fury starts off very promising. A young girl is playing with her doll in an outbuilding when two teens start making out in an adjoining room. The boy breaks the doll, in retaliation the little girl forces the pair off a motorbike to their grisly deaths. So far so good. Sadly it's downhill for the next 50 minutes or so. Forward 18 years and said little girl is now Ms Brooke Storm, high school biology teacher. Four of her students pay her an unexpected night time visit in retaliation for her slapping one across the face in class. They wear horror masks which I have to say looked very cool. She soon becomes aware of their malicious intentions, she has a 'phone but why oh why did she not think to call the cops before it was too late!!?? One of numerous dumb decisions and actions throughout. Often billed as a slasher movie but really it is more of a home invasion/revenge thriller, a much watered down "I Spit on Your Grave". The acting is unremarkable, the dialogue is often awful and the musical score is overdone. The four intruders are all loathsome, played by actors who were probably pushing 30. Nothing much happens for the bulk of the running time, only the first five and last twenty minutes can be considered horror. Some of the gore is OK though the death by pencil in the head was poor. A bit of female nudity does little to liven things up. I watched a VHS download of this, the movie is getting a Blu-ray release but I won't be buying it. Little known movie that deserves to stay that way.

This movie had so much potential to be far better than it was, not that it wasn't bad or anything it just left me wanting more with much of its effort of telling a decent story was squandered with unnecessary scenes of pointless character interactions that barely furthers the plot led by an antagonist who you don't feel a lot for with very little actual history behind our main villain as he and his gang feel entirely stock, yet the teacher played by Maureen Mooney did give a pretty decent performance.

The plot follows 4 teenagers who decide to play a prank on their emotionally unstable Biology teacher, not content with that they decide to terrorize her some more until she snaps & jumps out a window. Thinking she's dead, the crazed teacher begins to pick them off one by one.

This really takes on a rollercoaster ride, but the underlying idea had such promise, but the filmmakers really screwed things up with so many bad decisions like for instance it takes way too long for the revenge part to kick in & the final confrontation was a huge let down. Okay to a certain degree this film is slightly above the usual cheesy slasher flicks of the 80's.

However this movie tries to balance way too many genre elements without ever really being successful & the acting is way too amateurish for you the viewer to be fully invested. Perhaps if this was a lot more focused then it could have stood out amongst the glut of slasher movies from this time period, because as it stands it has a decent premise, but wasted potential.

*Kinda* slasher directed by Douglas Grossman. Seven year-old Brooke likes to play with her dolls in an abandoned shack off a cycling path near her home. When a teenaged couple arrive on their motorcycle to make-out in the shack Brooke hides and watches. The teenaged girl decides she doesn't want sex, and in frustration her boyfriend pulls the head off one of Brooke's dolls (this guy is hardcore). As the couple argue and get back on the motorcycle to leave, Brooke emerges from hiding, looks at the damage to her doll, and decides to go outside and fling mud in the face of the boy steering the motorcycle. The bike crashes and the couple are thrown off and impaled on metal railings, killing them both. Eighteen years later Brook is a science teacher at the local high school and the unexplained deaths of the couple 18 years before have become local legend. When Brooke humiliates high school bad-boy Dickens in front of class, he decides to pay her back and recruits three others to help him. The next night they don Halloween masks and attack Brooke's home, terrorising her inside. What they don't know is that the deaths Brooke caused as a young girl have left her traumatised, causing her to majorly flip out and turn the tables on her tormentors one by one.

Although this was filmed 1986, money running out plus other unspecified delays meant it wasn't released until 1989. By then the slasher was starting to be overtaken by other types of horror. Also, by the time it was released the top-billed actor, 27 year-old Christopher Stryker (Dickens), had been dead for two years from AIDS. The movie underperformed and was largely forgotten for many years. For most of the remaining cast this was their only onscreen credit (with the notable exceptions of soap-queen-to-be Maureen Mooney as grown-up Brooke, and Christopher Cousins as one the of the gang).

The film inverts the slasher trope; instead of a masked killer hunting down a group of innocent teens, it's the teens who are masked (and *far* from innocent), hunted by a killer whose identity isn't hidden in any way. It also makes the moral aspect murkier, with it being debateable how many - if any of the victims - deserve what happens to them. The performances are okay and the obligatory 80s synth score is fine. The film also ticks the boxes for the expected topless nudity. Pacing-wise it's slow after the initial two motorcycle deaths, and does tend to drag until things kick into gear in the third act. And like a lot of these movies if you start to pull at the plot it starts to unravel. You just have to go with it. But it's a fun piece of nostalgia. 6.5/10.

As a kid, Brooke, inadvertently causes the death of two college kids when she throws mud on them (I don't know either). 18 years later she is the high school teacher with unruly students. After bitch slapping one, the kid and his three friends (They include the token slut, fat geek, and 'rebbelious' outcast) attack her in her home. The teacher goes crazy (crazier). The optional commentary by Joe Bob makes this slightly more bearable. Whereas seeing this on it's own is almost a complete travesty. Who knows maybe I was too sober for this flick. But I highly doubt it.

DVD Extra: Intro by Joe Bob Briggs; Joe Bob Briggs commentary; second commentary with director Douglas Grossman; Interview with Grossman; Writer Leo Evans interview; red band theatrical trailer; 2 TV spots; Trailers for "Blood Shack", "Flesh Eaters", "Faceless", and "The Hollywood Strangler meets the Skidrow Slasher"

Eye Candy: Karen Russell goes topless (the only real ones in the flick); Mauren Mooney shows ass, the breasts are a body Double (BOOOO!!!!); and another body double for Millie Prezioso (double BOOOO!!!)

My Grade: D

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, Mink (Victoria Andahazy). 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-

'Stink-haunted Bogs'!!! Bodacious Boobie Doubles!!! Teacher Terrorizing Teens!!! Sexy Sinister Synths!!!! All Topped up with some grisly, profoundly edifying estrogen-soaked savagery!!! If THAT doesn't wet your warped whistle then you certainly won't dig on gnarly 80s swamp slime spattered High School horror shocker, 'Hell High'!

The conspicuously cruel, prank-playing student, Dickens (Christopher Stryker), wanted to give his uptight teacher a fearsome fright, but upon that fateful bloody night, the vengeful, Miss Storm (Maureen Mooney) put up a hellacious fight, and promptly switched off his f'n lights!!!!!' Douglas Grossman's engaging, and surprisingly atmospheric High School screamer is a FAR better watch than its relative obscurity suggests, and winningly has one of 80s horror most spectacularly creepazoid climaxes!!! 80S horror has always been one of my more relentless obsessions, and the exploitation enthusiasts at Arrow Video have done splatter mad hatters like me a great service by lovingly restoring this hysteria-laden home-invasion gem to its former gory!