Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Hell High Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 4, 2022

The back cover of this release compares Hell High to a kind of combo platter of elements from both Class of 1984 and I Spit on Your Grave, which is certainly a heady recipe, so to speak. The Class of 1984 aspects come into play courtesy of a whole coterie of what used to be called juvenile delinquents, and one of the perhaps unintentionally comic subtexts to this particular film is that there seem to be relatively benign "bad kids", along with those who probably deserved incarceration some time ago. The I Spit on Your Grave side of things comes courtesy of a revenge scenario that plays out once the kids decide to play a prank on an already emotionally unhinged teacher, a decision which of course turns out to have devastating and (to them, anyway) unforeseen consequences. Joe Bob Briggs is featured in the rather bounteous supplements on this disc proclaiming the film as an unheralded masterpiece, and while my hunch is few will probably be willing to go that far, Hell High does have some interesting twists on a frankly too familiar underpinning, which can at least give it occasional moments of connection.

Before getting into misbehaving teenagers, the film actually begins with what might be termed a misbehaving tot, although the little girl probably has at least a somewhat decent reason for doing what she does, albeit she, like some of the teens later in the film, isn't especially prescient about consequences that might accrue due to her actions. She's seen in a bright and frilly pink dress playing with a doll in what seems to be abandoned swampland, where an old hut has been transformed into her make believe "palace". As she plays inside, she hears an approaching motorcycle, and she quickly exits out of some moveable siding, which is when what might be thought of as a "greaser" (albeit on a hog rather than in a hot rod) is trying to convince a girl to use the facility for a quick hook up. In the process, the guy has the temerity to rip the head off one of the little girl's dolls, which is when she devises a bit of a comeback which ends up in tragedy. Can you feel a time lapse segue about to happen?

While it may not be immediately clear, it's soon revealed that the little girl has grown up to be biology teacher Brooke Storm (Maureen Mooney), who is attempting to deal with a classful of miscreants, the most punkish being supposed BMOC (that's big man on campus for the acronym challenged) Dickens (Christopher Stryker), who is pretty much an unabashed sociopath from the get go in this story. A seemingly (relatively?) "nice kid" named Jon-Jon (Christopher Cousins) soon gets mixed up with Dickens and his gang, and after teacher Storm reacts to Dickens' rudeness by slapping him across the face, he's hell bent (no pun intended) on revenge. Unfortunately, he and his cohort are unaware of Storm's previous trauma, and when they play a prank on her that has "echoes" of what she did to the biker and his girlfriend, suffice it to say mayhem ensues, with both Storm and, later, the kids each taking turns as "victims".

Hell High may be a bit of a challenge for those assuming this is going to be a more or less "traditional" slasher or horror enterprise. Things actually get off to a fairly gory start with what happens to the biker and his girlfriend, but then there's a surprising lack of anything remotely graphic (other than Storm taking a shower, which one of the commentaries reveals employed a body double). But after Dickens and his friends decide to teach the teacher a lesson (so to speak), things do suddenly take an almost Grand Guignol turn, and in fact some of the gruesome special effects evidently make even director of photography Steven Fierberg queasy, again according to one of the commentaries. There's a kind of karmic comeuppance that ends up "dealing" with all of the bad behavior, including a kind of slightly comical tangent that occurs in the film's closing moments.

Hell High Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hell High is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

Hell High is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with stereo audio. ,br>
The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution at Company 3, Los Angeles. The film was graded and restored at R3Store Studios in London. The audio conform was completed at AGFA.

The original materials were made available for this restoration by director Douglas Grossman.

This is another impressive effort from Arrow of a cult release that many will probably never even heard of. There's an appealing vivacity to the palette starting with the incredibly bright pink dress that little Brooke wears in the opening vignette, but throughout the film, things really pop very well almost all of the time, even in some of the most dimly lit material. Detail levels are largely commendable, and as mentioned above in the main body of the review, some of the graphic gore effects that show up late in the film may actually cause a bit of squeamishness due to the precision of fine detail. There are some rough moments to be seen where the image noticeably degrades both in terms of palette and clarity, as evidenced in screenshot 19, which I'm therefore wondering if they may have been composited from another source, since at least this particular scene, which involved the supposed nudity of the teacher, may have been excised from some versions. There's also some noticeable roughness in a lot of the dark swamp material late in the film. In terms of versions, this particular version carries the Real Trouble name in the credits sequence.

Hell High Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hell High features a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 track. The score actually weirdly reminded me of Doctor Who at times, at least with regard to a synth ostinato bass for one cue, but all of the score sounds nicely full bodied and well imaged. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. A few of the sound effects don't really reverberate with much force, but I didn't notice any actual damage. Optional English subtitles are available.

Hell High Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries

  Audio Commentary with Director Douglas Grossman and Cinematographer Steven Fierberg

  
  

  Audio Commentary with Director Douglas Grossman

  
  

  Audio Commentary with Joe Bob Briggs

• School's Out (HD; 42:55) is an interview with writer, director and co-producer Douglas Grossman.


• A Beautiful Nightmare (HD; 28:56) is an interview with cinematographer Steven Fierberg.


• Jon-Jon's Journey (HD; 18:49) is an interview with actor Christopher Cousins.


• The More the Better (HD; 20:06) is an interview with actress Maureen Mooney.


• Music is Not Sound (HD; 26:48) features composers Rich Macar and Christopher Hyams-Hart.


• Back to Schools: The Locations of Hell High (HD; 13:07) is a tour of filming locations hosted by Michael Gingold.


• Archival Interviews

  Interview with Director Douglas Grossman (HD; 19:30)

  
  

  Interview with Co-Writer Leo Evans (HD; 11:41)

• Deleted Scene (HD; 2:10) was transferred from the original camera negative, but has no sound. It features a number of characters wandering through the swamp at night.


• Alternate Opening Titles (HD; 2:05)


• Trailers and TV Spots

  Raging Fury Trailer (HD; 1:36)

  
  

  Hell High Trailer (HD; 1:37)

  
  

  Hell High TV Spot 1 (HD; 00:30)

  
  

  Hell High TV Spot 2 (HD; 00:31)



• Joe Bob Briggs Introduction (HD; 5:06) is accessible under the Play Menu, and is authored to move on directly to the film.

Additionally, Arrow provides their typically nicely appointed insert booklet with an interesting interview with stunt coordinator Webster Whinery done by Michael Gingold. The keepcase insert features reversible artwork, and packaging features a slipcover.

Hell High Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Somewhat hilariously, two films in my recent review queue featured things going pretty seriously awry at a high school, and both feature climaxes with a focal character looking out of a classroom window to see police activity outside. Otherwise, Monday Morning and Hell High may share a few other things in common, including titles that were evidently changed, and a kind of lo-fi ambience that still has some technical finesse to offer. Technical merits are solid, and as usual Arrow has provided a really excellent array of supplements, for those who may be considering making a purchase.