Hell High
| Hell High | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Douglas Grossman |
| Written by | Leo Evans Douglas Grossman |
| Produced by | Douglas Grossman David Steinman |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Steven Fierberg |
| Edited by | Greg Sheldon Claire Simpson |
| Music by | Chris Hyams-Hart Rich Macar |
Production company | DGS Productions |
| Distributed by | JGM Enterprises |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Hell High is a 1989 American
Plot
As a child, Brooke Storm goes to play with her
Eighteen years later, Brooke lives alone in her childhood home, and is haunted by the deaths she caused as a child, which are now considered unsolved murders. Brooke works as a domineering and neurotic high school biology teacher who is unliked by her students. One of them, senior Dickens, is particularly antagonistic toward Brooke, and when he taunts and humiliates her during an exam, she slaps him in the face. Dickens and his friend Jon-Jon follow Brooke home in their car, and spy through her bathroom window while she masturbates in the shower.
The next day, Jon-Jon goes to pick up his new waver classmate Queenie at her home to attend the football game, where they meet with Dickens and their prankster friend, Smiler. The four disrupt the football game by driving Dickens' car onto the field before fleeing. Dickens devises a nebulous revenge prank against Brooke, and brings his friends to the marsh where the young couple were killed eighteen years prior. There, they gather swamp mud and then approach Brooke's house, donning Halloween masks. They climb onto her roof and begin pounding their feet, and throwing mud at the windows. When Brooke steps outside, they dump a bucket of mud on her, triggering traumatic memories of the deaths she caused as a child.
The teenagers flee when Brooke's friend Mink arrives, finding Brooke in a paranoid
Meanwhile, Queenie angrily leaves the house. Outside, she finds Brooke crying in the woods. Queenie approaches Brooke, relieved to see that she is alive, only for Brooke to bludgeon her to death with a rock. When Jon-Jon goes to investigate, Brooke also bludgeons him, rendering him unconscious. Brooke returns inside the house, where she stabs Smiler through the temple with a pencil, killing him. When Dickens goes to help him, Brooke lunges down the staircase with a butcher knife, and stabs Dickens in the chest. Jon-Jon regains consciousness and returns inside the house, where he finds an injured Dickens bound to a wall, where Brooke is preparing to perform a live autopsy on him. Jon-Jon incapacitates Brooke and frees Dickens, but she soon awakens. Armed with the butcher knife, Dickens leaps on top of her, and is impaled with a firepoker she is wielding; Brooke's throat is slashed in the process. Jon-Jon leaves the quarterback's jersey in the house, and returns home and hides in his bedroom.
At school the following day, police arrive when Brooke fails to appear. They enter the biology class, overseen by a substitute teacher, and swiftly arrest the school quarterback. Jon-Jon is momentarily relieved, until he hallucinates that Brooke is the substitute teacher.
Cast
- Christopher Stryker as Dickens
- Maureen Mooney as Miss Brooke Storm
- Christopher Cousins as Jon-Jon
- Millie Prezioso as Queenie
- Jason Brill as Smiler
- Kathryn Rossetter as Coach Sandy Hand
- J.R. Horne as Coach Heaton
- Victoria Andahazy as Mink
- Cylk Cozart as Wide Receiver
Production
The film was shot on location in Westchester County, New York.[2]
Release
The film was released theatrically in the United States beginning May 12, 1989.[1]
Critical reception
![[icon]](/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2018) |
Richard Harrington from The Washington Post gave the film a negative review, writing, "Even within the limited expectations of the horror genre, it's not particularly satisfying, since the chills are all on the cheap. However, sitting through Hell High is likely to bring back at least one high school memory, that of a long, long, long detention, made worse because you have to pay for it."[3] Cavett Binion of AllMovie was unimpressed by the film, calling it a "routine slasher-thriller", though one that "deviates slightly from the standard formula by way of a fairly intelligent script."[4]
Most reviews were negative. However, Brett Gallman on his website Oh, the Horror! considers it "a weird, gangly, messy perversion of 80s slashers", commending the film's darker narrative, performances, and dismantling of the typical slasher film formula.[5]
Home media
Hell High was released on
References
- ^ a b "Hell High advert". The Baltimore Sun. May 11, 1989. p. 68 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Hell High". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020.
- ^ Harrington, Richard. "'Hell High'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- ^ Binion, Cavett. "Hell High (1987)". AllMovie. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
- ^ Gallman, Brett. "Horror Reviews - Hell High (1989)". Oh, the Horror.com. Brett Gallman. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Hell High (1987) - Douglas Grossman". AllMovie. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
- ^ Squires, Jon (April 29, 2022). "1989 Slasher Movie Hell High Comes Back to Life on Arrow Video Blu-ray". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022.
External links
- Hell High at AllMovie
- Hell High at IMDb
- Hell High at Rotten Tomatoes
