By
Todd Garbarini
Anyone
going into Dutch film director Rene Daalder’s 1976 film Massacre at Central
High might very well be expecting an all-out slasher film. While the poster
art might give this impression, audiences will be sorely disappointed as it is
essentially a variant of Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel Ten Little Indians
but with a much different tone. The opening credits and the strains of an inappropriate
and perfunctory title song Crossroads (which is better suited to a
made-for-television movie of the period) demanded by producer Harold Sobel to
the consternation of the director immediately sends the wrong message to the
viewer. Much of what has been written about the film over the years demonstrates
the consensus that Massacre, the title of which appears to want to
capitalize on the Tobe Hooper horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
from two years earlier, is a political allegory, and one can certainly analyze
the film from that perspective, though it is doubtful that audiences at the
time, especially those seeing the film at a drive-in of all places, looked so
deeply into a film that on the surface looks to be a story about simple revenge.
Set
inside the battleground of Central High School in Southern California, David
(Derrel Maury) is the new student and therefore automatically becomes a mark.
He is no stud, but certainly not a pushover either. Mark (Andrew Stevens from
Brian DePalma’s The Fury from 1977) is an old friend who owes David a
favor from his past, one that we are not privy to, and appears to be willing to
do whatever it takes to make David feel welcome. The ground rules for making it
through Central High are simple: you’re either a somebody or you’re a nobody,
to quote American Gangster’s Frank Lucas. Mark’s clique includes Bruce (the
late Ray Underwood from Brice Mack’s Jennifer from 1978, another film
about high school revenge), Craig (Steve Bond from Joel Bender’s Gas Pump
Girls from 1979), and Paul (the late Damon Douglas of John D. Hancock’s Baby
Blue Marine, also from 1976). These three bullies, for lack of a better
word, essentially rule Central High which is presented as a seemingly insular
world of jocks, jerks, and losers. For the first hour and a quarter of the
film, adults are only spoken of and never seen onscreen. It is worth noting
that Mark walks a tightrope in this film – his allegiance to David makes him hesitant
to be included completely with this terrible triumvirate who harass pretty much
anyone they want without fear of reprisal.
David
is subjected to seeing other students mercilessly harassed by the bullies, especially
Mary (the late Cheryl Lynn “Rainbeaux” Smith) and Jane (the late Lani O’Grady)
who are practically raped in a despicable sequence. David comes to their rescue
and beats up their harassers, only to be partially crushed under his car by the
group in an “accident” soon afterwards. Enraged, David single-handedly kills
all three bullies in a fantasy right out of today’s high school killer headlines
by sabotaging one’s hang-glider, one’s Dodge Tradesman 300’s brakes, and
exploiting an empty swimming pool in a sequence almost too ridiculous to
believe.
This
scenario creates an interesting situation at the school as the once oppressed
and harassed “losers” see the existence of a power vacuum and seize it, becoming
bullies themselves and embodying everything they hated about their tormentors, Apparently,
David is also well-versed in the art of bomb-making! What a coincidence. There
is no mention of how he developed these skills (The Anarchist’s Cookbook,
perhaps?), but he manages to come up with some fairly ornate methods of blowing
away the new bullies, and they all go off without a hitch: (spoiler alerts!)
one is blow away while at his locker; another is blown to Kingdom Come a la Sam
Rothstein at the start of Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) but,
unfortunately, no St. Matthew Passion for this guy; and last but not
least Mary, Jane and their friend (Robert Carradine) are crushed by a rock in
the middle of a threesome while in a tent (it comes out that police believe
that they were involved in the killings – how convenient). I suppose this
sequence gives new meaning to the term “die hard.”
Despite
all this mayhem, the school still moves ahead with a dance(!), and now the adults
and police show up. David gets the idea to blow up the school – until Mark and
his girlfriend Theresa (Kimberly Beck of television series fame), whom David
fancies, tell him they are going to the dance. When he gets wind of this, David
retrieves the bomb from the boiler room and, straight out of a James Bond film,
makes it to the front lawn to save the day, but not without paying a price for
his actions.
There
seems to be a need to prop the film up in a bright light and look at it for
evidence of it being a highly political film that is making a commentary on society
and the members who dwell in it. I am unsure if that was the real motivation
behind the film, however if one chooses to view it that way, the film is an
interesting social commentary on what creates a bully or an oppressor, and how
the oppressed end up taking over the positions of the long-gone bullies. The script
is schematic, and the film is not particularly well-acted, but to be fair the director
and crew had a 20-day shooting schedule on a modest $400,000 budget, so he
certainly had his work cut out for him. The fight scenes suffer from performer
restraint and the bullies are so annoying that the audience can only hope for a
miserable end for all of them but when they come, the releases are more of a
whimper than an all-out rise out of the seats that one would experience at the
end of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) when the shark is finally
killed.
Synapse Films released a steelbook
edition of this film in November 2020 and now it is available in a Standard
Edition from the same company. The following extras are included:
The Projection Booth Podcast
Interviews with Cast Members
(87:00) – this is an audio playback that needs to be selected on the audio menu
to access it and it can be listened to through the entire length of the film.
This is a great listen as I was initially disappointed to see the absence of a
commentary, but this is the next best thing. It is hosted by Mike White who
speaks to Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, and Rex Sikes over
the phone.
Audio Interview with Director Renee
Daalder (25:00) – likewise, this is an audio
playback that needs to be selected on the audio menu to access it and it can be
listened to through the first 25 minutes of the film, after which the film
audio resumes. It is an audio interview with the director conducted by writer
Michael Gingold and it is a wonderful record of their discussion as Mr. Daalder
sadly passed away in 2019.
Hell in the Hallways (42:27) – this is a really nice look
back at the making of the film, shot in high definition, with Derrel Maury, Tom
Logan, Rex Sikes, Robert Carradine, Andrew Stevens, and Jeffrey Winner, in
addition to some behind-the-scenes crew members who discuss how much fun and
also how challenging it was to make. Tragically, Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith and Lani
O’Grady both died way before their time. I recall seeing Lemora, A Child’s
Tale of the Supernatural (1973) on October 24, 2002, as part of a “scary
movies” retrospective at the Walter Reade Theater in New York, and wishing that
I could interview Ms. Smith about her starring role in the film. Unbelievably,
she passed away the very next day at age 47. Ms. Smith was 21 when she appeared
in Massacre and is heartbreakingly beautiful, completely naked in her
death scene that arrives 70 minutes into the film. She was a free spirit and
appeared in some of the most interesting films of the 1970s and her presence
brought something special to those films. Along with Candace Rialson, another performer
from the 1970s who sadly died way before her time, they are two of my favorite
actresses from this era.
Original Theatrical Trailer (2:23) – this is in full-blown high
definition and looks culled from the new master. The same cannot be said for
the TV Spot (00:33), however, which is framed 1.33:1 and looks its age,
beat up and contrasty. There is also a great-sounding Radio Spot (00:27)
as well as a nice Still Gallery (3:14).
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