A student comes to school and pits himself against the local despotic regime. This all leads to Massacre at Central High, a 1976 exploitation film. And political allegory, I'm sorry to say, but it does have weird and fun qualities outside its tedious "insight".
David (Derrel Maury) is a quiet but oddly fearless guy. He immediately stands up to three bullies pushing around a kid by the lockers.
Things escalate. David stops the bullies attempting to gang rape two girls so they retaliate by crushing his leg under a car. Then he goes on a murder spree. All that's well and good, but once the bullies are out of the way, all the other students start to act just like them and I rolled my eyes as the film set about making its vapid point.
Sure, there are plenty of examples of tyrants being overthrown to be replaced by people just as bad or worse. But what does this movie actually have to say about it? One of the girls David saved from rape, played by Rainbeaux Smith, echoes the bullies who said, "All she needs is a good fuck." She says of the librarian not cooperating with her and her friend, "All he needs is a good fuck." So they're planning to gang rape him? Yeah, that's plausible (you sense my sarcasm, right?). Poor little Rainbeaux Smith couldn't assault a Care Bear.
It is always nice to see Rainbeaux Smith. Of course she's naked as often as possible, including a long, gratuitous shot of her walking around a campsite and finding dynamite.
The less you think about the allegory, the more enjoyable the film is. For some reason, the director decided not to show any parents or teachers so the school is just a place where teenagers gather to carry books and eat lunch. It actually seems really nice. The guys wear really nice shirts in this movie, I wanted every single one of them.
Massacre at Central High is available on The Criterion Channel as part of this month's new High School Horror collection.
No comments:
Post a Comment