High School Hellcats

Essentially it's a classic exploitation film from the 50's. Good girl hanging with the wrong crowd in order to fit in, toss in a little romance, and some inevitable violence. Overall, a classic film for those in love with the 50s. amazing fashion, and perfectly representing the era. Also quite in line with traditional film noir acting. if you can't take film noir, you WILL hate every minute of this movie. If you can however appreciate the style, you'll love every second of it. Great as a comparison to our modern culture. highly recommended. Extremely quotable. It's also a short film, so it doesn't drag on or move too slowly, which is nice. If you're into rockabilly or 50's subculture, it's a must see, otherwise, i'd probably pass it by.

Jana Lund is probably the best reason for seeing this film. She's gorgeous and exciting. And Yvonne Lime is adorable. The first ten minutes or so are a riot, with a classroom scene that must have inspired John Waters for his classroom scene in "Female Trouble." The rest of it goes downhill and lacks any credible "teenage" reality. Also Jana unfortunately gets killed off halfway through the film.

SUSANNE SIDNEY as "Dolly Crane" - see the pun in the name - steals the movie with her misplaced values (prides herself on teaching new girls how to steal). Would I be going too far to suggest there is a subliminal lesbian sado-masochist message in this campy romp? If ever I saw Freudian images, it was Dolly constantly playing with her knife, throwing it (which opened the credits) and gouging a tree while the "new" girl is ordered to make a date with another's girl boyfriend.

"High School Hellcats" doesn't quite live up to the title, but it turns out that it's a pretty good movie, especially for its time. Coming from the American-International production team of Nicholson and Zarkoff, it surpasses the standards of most of their efforts. Where I expected lines to make me laugh out loud and a plot that exaggerated the idea of girl groups controlling each other through peer pressure, this film was actually plotted in a nice straightforward way, and lacking any sort of twist or turn, it wasn't entirely predictable either. The script served the story without reaching for shocks to sell itself, and the acting was far from exciting, but also conveyed the proper moods and expressions for the story.

It would be too much to say I liked the movie. It's just watchable. The only intrigue is the dated ideas in the story and setting, but other than that, it manages to succeed in all the basics of the craft of filmmaking. Maybe Nicholson and Zarkoff's best, in that respect, even though they have others that are more fun for being much worse.

So Joyce Martin (Yvonne Lime), a dumb-twit mid-year transfer student from out-of-town---way out of town---, ever so much wanting to "belong" to the "Hellcats" does just that so she can impress "Hellcats" leader Connie (Jana Lund), who has just advised her that tomorrow is slacks day.

But wearing slacks to school is in violation of the school dress code.

And Joyce is the only girl who shows up the next day wearing slacks. It has been mentioned that Joyce is a dumb twit? But Joyce, gamer that she is, doesn't "give up" Connie and the Hellcats, when grilled by the teacher, and she is now "in."

"In" puts her in the "victims" fast lane of activities engaged in by Connie and the Hellcats, and she immediately dumps her dependable boyfriend Mike (Brett Halsey), who is a college student working in a nearby cafe, and just full of good and dull advice, such as counseling Joyce against continuing her association with the Hellcats. Mike is the type who still wears his high school letter jacket with the "4th Runner-up, District 2-AA Science Fair" patch, and is soon yesterday's news as Joyce, dumb-twit slash victim-looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places, dumps him for Rip (Martin Braddock)who knows where all the wrong places are.

Rip takes her to a Hellcat-sponsored party at a mansion. The mansion owners are vacationing out of town, but it is okay as they didn't leave any signs on the premises reading "Do Not Break In and Throw a Wild Party While We Are Gone." This lack of oversight would get them sued from here to Shanghai in the present-day world, especially if any of the breaker-inners were to suffer any harm while on the premises.

The party is wild and there is some smoking, drinking, dipping (snuff not skinny) and even games played with the lights out. A scream is heard, the lights come on, and Connie is found suffering some harm. Actually, she is beyond that and a whole lot dead.

Now it becomes a murder mystery movie, as everybody in the cast and several people in the audience, all have reasons for killing Connie. And poor Joyce, the slut that brazenly wore slacks to school, heads the list.