Transfer student David (Derrel Maury) starts a new school where he finds that an old friend, Mark (Andrew Stevens), has fallen in with a gang who use fear and intimidation to rule the roost. Being a friend of Mark's, David is given the opportunity to become a member of the group, but after seeing how they operate, decides that he would rather show the underdogs that it is possible to stand up to their persecutors.Displeased with David's decision, head bully Bruce (Ray Underwood) and his cronies decide to teach the new guy a lesson by dropping a car on his legs. Crippled, and more than a little miffed, David responds by arranging fatal accidents for his enemies, freeing the other students from their life of oppression in the process. However, with Bruce and his pals gone, a new generation of bullies comes to the fore, and so David continues his murderous activities, ultimately deciding to blow up the entire school...Bit of a strange one this: Massacre at Central High starts off with it's protagonist David as a hero, valiantly standing up for the weak, but then gradually sees him transform into a twisted murderous psycho and the real villain of the piece. For a while, this is all fairly entertaining stuff, made all the more enjoyable by the presence of gorgeous Kimberly Beck as Andrew's curvaceous babe of a girlfriend Theresa (who provides not one, but two nude scenes!); sadly, once David slips into revenge mode, matters get just a little too unbelievable, writer director Rene Daalder seeming more concerned with conveying his political message rather than telling a viable story: the accidental but suspicious deaths attract no interest from the police; the scenes involving the previously bullied pupils becoming the school's new bullies are clumsily handled and rather laughable; and the further blatant murders appear to alarm no-one in the slightest (they even go ahead and hold the school prom, despite several unexplained explosions!).

Don't you just love poster artwork… as I was expecting something along the lines of "Class of 1984" with strikingly vile and vicious punks, but the considerably low-budgeted school-based revenge thriller "Massacre at Central High" was a little more thoughtful and dissident in its groundwork than playing it as straight-forward, brutal trash. These are not punks, but snobby preppies. Well it starts off very routine, but about midway through it puts a spin on its revenge angle / actions in what is a refreshing twist. It centres on control and hierarchy. Quite violent, but where it makes up for its lack of blood is the creativity of its deaths. Sure it might be rough around the edges and the scratchy script can feel quite forced, but it's unsparingly conniving and really does weigh up the consequences in changing behaviours in what is a well-devised and curiously sincere story. Rene Daalder's direction is brisk, if clumpy in its varied visions/methods as it contains a certain cold pitch, where some tension is squeezed out. While the makeshift music score is rather wonky with its arrangement, where at times doesn't seem to fit. The acting falls on the raw side with some familiar faces cropping up in the likes of Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine and Kimberly Beck. Derrel Maury gives a suitably deranged, but in a quietly brooding sense performance as the kid who finally decides to rid the school of its power-hungry (and hateful) bullies… but in the end it does come at a cost where maybe he isn't much different to those he despise in his plans to change things for the better. Entertaining 70s exploitation with a biting message.

Between working for Mr. Russ Meyer and directing Mr. Sid Vicious's "My Way" video, Mr. Rene Daalder contrived one of the classic drive-in films of the 70s. In gorgeous technicolor, masterfully cast from the familiar faces (and boobs!) to the utter unknowns, smothered in Marxist/nihilist commentary too vulgar to describe as 'subtext', this would have been the birth of punk rock if not for all those flutes. The new kid in town takes on the high school power elite, first with words then with highly inventive murder, only to see the underclass - peasant farmer, intellectual librarian, nerds, dyke-esques, fat kid, the gamut - form their own snooty hierarchy. What else can you do at that point but blow up the school? Very Sid Vicious, even if commerce prevented them from following things to their logical conclusion. WOW is it ever fun - the perfect mix of head and cheese.

This movie might have been somewhat decent, if it hadn't been for the terrible filming, lighting and sound recording. Half the time you couldn't recognise the characters or understand their conversations. You had to guess who they were and what they were saying (which, I have to admit, was pretty fun!).I also noticed that all the actors were at least in their thirties while their characters were high school kids. They kept on talking about "old friends" (how old could they be, if they were not older than 18???) and their time in jail!! This seems pretty impossible for someone attending grade 12. The story itself was not even too bad, but all the efforts were in vain due to the amateurish way in which the film was shot.