Massacre at Central High (Blackboard Massacre) poster & wallpaper
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Kimberly Beck, Steve Bond, Robert Carradine, Damon Douglas, Dennis Kort ... see more see more... , Thomas Logan , Derrel Maury , Lani O'Grady , Steve Sikes , Cheryl Smith , Robert Stephens , Ray Underwood , Jeffrey Winner , Andrew Stevens

Dutch cult director Rene Daalder's fascinating debut was this unfairly neglected and richly idea-laden political allegory set in an American high school. Derrel Maury stars as David, a new student at ... read more read more...Central High School who is shocked at the degree of control wielded by several preppie thugs who run the school with an iron fist. Though accepted into this circle given his connections to one of its members, Mark (Andrew Stevens), David loses favor with Mark's friends when he also begins spending time with the school's social outcasts. The worst is still to come, however, when David threatens the pecking order by foiling the thugs' attempted gang rape of a female student and has his leg crushed for his efforts. Eventually, the crippled David politicizes the underclass to fight their oppressors, and all three are killed by falling (from political power, the analogy clearly suggests). Daalder then takes the film in a different direction, with the newly liberated student body becoming an oppressive force themselves, and David enraged to the point of mass murder, deciding to wipe out the entire school. Stirred to action, it is up to the formerly apolitical Mark and Teresa to stop him. Daalder shrinks the entire political spectrum into the crucible of what seems on the surface to be a standard exploitation film. There are representatives of the extreme left, extreme right, disaffected center, intellectual bourgeoisie, and so forth, and all are nicely sketched without sacrificing the film's visceral appeal. Beyond the portraits, however, Daalder also skillfully shows the transitions which occur in many political movements, notably those which start as populist and develop into oppressively hierarchical castes. Perhaps disheartened by the failure of Massacre at Central High at the box office, Daalder did not direct again for nearly two decades, but returned with two more conceptually challenging (if equally unsuccessful) genre films, Hysteria and Habitat, in the mid-'90s. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

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53% liked it

583 ratings

Critics

67% liked it

6 critics

R, 1 hr. 25 min.

Directed by: Renee Daalder, Rene Daalder

Release Date: January 1, 1976

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Flixster Reviews (50)

  • cmrnlewis
    June 13, 2008
    cmrnlewis
    Not having seen this since I was young on a VHF station, I may remember this as being better than it actually is. Still, my memories are fond. Could it be that after all the school shootings, this is finally available on dvd?

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Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
September 15, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Though offering an intriguing allegorical premise about the power structure, it never graduates to be a literate Animal Farm satire. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
September 10, 2005
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Apesar de beirar o trash em alguns momentos, o filme contém algumas idéias interessantes que podem provocar boas discussões - especialmente se for encarado como alegoria.

Scott Weinberg
April 17, 2005
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

Better than the title might suggest ... barely.

Bob Bloom
July 30, 2004
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

A wonderful, cheesy guilty pleasure movie in the revenge genre. It's violent, hokey, but fun.

Emanuel Levy
June 30, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Andy Klein
June 5, 2004
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat

No review available.

Derek Adams
February 9, 2006
Derek Adams, Time Out

Click to read the article Full Review

May 24, 2003
Film4

Click to read the article Full Review

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