Return to Horror High
A 1987 Horror film that's tremendously self-aware and... really pretty bad. But it was George Clooney's film debut as well as Philip McKeon's film debut.
A series of murders happened at Crippen High School in 1982 with the killer never caught. Years later, Harry Sleerik, sleazy movie producer, has decided to film a horror movie at the sight of the school. Then, the actors start disappearing... Is it the sole survivor of the original massacre who's returned as the film's screenwriter? The principal of the school who insists on playing the same role in the movie? The creepy school janitor? The former high school jock playing the leading man?
Tropes used in Return to Horror High include:
- Dramatic Unmask
- Dream Within a Dream: Or better, dream within a movie (within the "real" movie).
- The End - or Is It?: After the final bit of end credits, there's the squeaky sound of the janitor's mop bucket.
- Karmic Death: The biology teacher gets dissected.
- Mind Screw
- Nightmare Fetishist: The female cop has a thing for blood.
- Off with His Head
- Polish the Turd: The screenwriter for the film says this, word by word, about the screenplay.
- Spiritual Successor: Scream can be considered one to this film, despite it being a B-list movie. It is about the dramatization of "actual" events, with the director demanding more blood and Fan Service, lines about getting naked in horror films being degrading to an actress... As the description says, it's very self-aware despite (or because of) not being very good. Oh, and the killer's costume looks very similar to Ghostface.
- White Mask of Doom: The killer.