Hell High — Hell High( Blu Ray)
Appearing in the late 1980’s Hell High is somewhat of a genre-blending pot. It mixes elements of flashback thriller, jaded brat pack teen drama, with rape-revenge nastiness and slasher tropes- all topped with flakes of parody, and a few grinds of oddly placed humour. Here from Arrow Video-both in the UK & stateside- is a new Blu-Ray release of the film. With the release taking in a new 2k scan of the film, a new commentary track, and a good selection of new and archive extras.
Hell High (aka Raging Fury, Real Trouble) was filmed in the year 1986, though it wasn’t released until 1989. It was directed & written by Douglas Grossman, and filmed around Scarsdale, New York- which I’m guessing is where Mr Grossman came from, as this is the one & only director’s credit. The film is often quoted as being a straight & true slasher- but it really isn’t, yes, we do get traditional slasher set-ups/ kills, but these largely appear in the film's last twenty or so minutes. With the rest of the film been an often tonally unbalancing blend of 80’s brat-back high school drama, flash-back edged thriller, and rape-revenge venture.
The film opens in flashback form, to what I’m guessing is meant to be a 1950’s small town USA. As we see an around ten-year-old girl in a big pink dress going out into the woods, with her parent’s voices echoing in her head saying she must stay home. She arrives at a small wooden shack near swamp land- inside we see she has a selection of dolls with which she starts playing with, all of sudden we hear a motorcycle revering- and a biker & his girlfriend turn up. The girl scuttles out the back of the shack- and watches as he tries to get it on with his girl rising her top- she is not into it, and in frustration, he starts pulling apart the little girl’s dolls. The pair set out to leave on their bike, but the girl throws something onto them- causing them to get bloodily impaled on wood spikes.
We then flash forward eight years to a high school, and we meet timid-trying-to- be strict Biology teacher miss Storm (Mauren Mooney). She is trying to control her lesson with cheeky class clown Dickens (Christopher Stryker) does the opposite. As the film unfolds, we meet his misplaced selection of car cruising buddies- Jon-Jon(Christopher Cousins) who comes across as a slightly more athletic take on the type of character Andrew McCarthy played in the 80s. brash semi-punked Queenie (Millie Prezioso), and tubby/ bumbling Smiler(Jason Brill). The group plan to prank Miss Storm though as expected things get way, way out of hand.
The cast here is good to passable- though as was often the way with 80’s slashers, they look five to ten years old then they should do. The gore, when it appears is quite effective- we have the already mentioned double body impalement, there’s a head bashed in with a rock, pencil rammed in the temple, and knife/ machete hack ‘n’ stab. We also have a bit of female nudity, and fairly unpleasant taunting/ rape interplay. On the whole Hell High is entertaining enough- and the at times jarring tonal shifts are largely effective- I can’t recall Hell High from back in the VHS days, so it’s certainly nice to check it out here.
Moving onto this new Blu-ray, and get a new 2k scan of the picture- which is nicely balanced/ even with its colour and light/ shadow mix. Moving onto the extras side of things- and we get a nice selection of both new and archive things. First, up the new stuff- we get a commentary track with director/producer/co-writer Douglas Grossman and cinematographer Steven Fierberg, and this is a nicely chatty and at points interesting tidbit-edged track. They begin by talking about some of the names in the credits, and the colour grading in the flashback. We find out Hell High was filmed in two blocks, a year apart due to lack of money- though they managed to get back together most of the original crew/ cast. They talk about their influences on making the film, and how the film shifts through genres- which meant it had to find an audience. They chat about the film's locations, and apparently, in both shooting sessions, it was filmed in the fall. We get talk about some of the films set-up shots and the twisted sexuality of some of the film's characters. Later on, they touch on the film's score & song written for it. Talk about the film's often creative camera use, and its unsettling ending.
Otherwise on the new extra side we have: School’s Out! (42.33) on-camera interview with director/producer/co-writer Douglas Grossman. A Beautiful Nightmare (28.55) on-camera interview with cinematographer Steven Fierberg. Jon-Jon’s Journey (18.49) – on-camera interview with actor Christopher Cousins The More the Better (20.06) on-camera interview with actress Maureen Mooney. Music is Not Sound (26.48) on-camera interview with composers Rich Macar and Christopher Hyams-Hart. Back to Schools: The Locations of Hell High(13.07) a tour of the original Hell High filming sites with author/filmmaker Michael Gingold.
On the archive side of things, we get two more commentary tracks- one with the director, and one with cult horror TV host Joe Bob Briggs- who also gives a short intro to the film. interviews with director/producer/co-writer Douglas Grossman and co-writer Leo Evans, a deleted scene, alternate opening titles, trailers and TV spots.
The finished release features a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ralf Krause. And an inlay booklet featuring liner notes by Michael Gingold, including an exclusive interview with stunt coordinator/actor Webster Whinery.
Hell High’s mix of genres is certainly interesting and fairly creative, though at points it does come off more than a little tonally jarring. So, I’d say you have to be ready for a less than predictable/ easy teen film when checking out the film. Once more Arrow Video has brought together a nice selection of extras and as always good new scan of the picture for this release.