Massacre at Central High

Massacre at Central High
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRene Daalder
Written byRene Daalder
Produced byJerome Bauman
Harold Sobel
Starring
CinematographyBertram van Munster
Edited byHarry Keramidas
Music byTommy Leonetti
Distributed byBrian Distributing Corporation
Release date
  • April 28, 1976 (1976-04-28)[1]
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$500,000

Massacre at Central High (released as Blackboard Massacre in the UK) is a 1976 American thriller film directed by Rene Daalder and starring Derrel Maury, Kimberly Beck, Robert Carradine, and Andrew Stevens. The plot follows a series of revenge killings at a fictional American high school, after which the oppressed students take on the role of their bully oppressors. Despite its title, it is not a slasher film but an unusual blend of political allegory, social commentary, and low-budget exploitation; with the exception of the final sequence, no "adult" characters (such as teachers and parents) are seen.[2]

It was shot on 35mm film, and has a running time of 87 minutes.

The film's director, Rene Daalder, described Massacre at Central High as "eerily predicting punk and Columbine".[3][4][Note 1] It has also been cited as a possible influence on the 1988 black comedy Heathers.[5][6]

  1. ^ "Massacre at Central High". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Peary, Danny (1984). "Massacre at Central High". Cult Movies 2. London: Vermilion. pp. 88–90. ISBN 0091544416.
  3. ^ "Massacre at Central High". Rene Daalder. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  4. ^ Spitz, Marc; Mullen, Brendan (2001). We Got the Neutron Bomb: the Untold Story of L.A. Punk. New York: Three Rivers Press. p. 153. ISBN 0307566242. ...my [director Rene Daalder's] teenage movie Massacre at Central High, which anticipated punk, Heathers, and Columbine back in '76.
  5. ^ "Return to Central High: An Interview with Derrel Maury". The Terror Trap. May 2011. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  6. ^ Bowie, John Ross (2011). Heathers. Berkeley, CA: Soft Skull Press. ISBN 978-1593764579.


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