Slaughter High
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There's Horror in the Halls... Lynching in the Lunchroom... Murder in Metal Shop. |
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Slaughter High is a British (despite how hard it tries to not look it) Slasher Film released in 1986, and made by the people who brought you Pieces and Don't Open Till Christmas (and apparently Friday the 13th, or so they claim). It concerns the misadventures of bully target Marty Rantzen, a nerdy student at Doddsville High. A Deadly Prank ends up costing Marty his visage, and he is ultimately committed to a mental hospital due to the trauma.
Five years later, and after several unsuccessful attempts to fix his face, Marty escapes, and has a lethal class reunion at the now-closed high school.
Tropes used in Slaughter High include:
- Eighties Hair
- Accidental Murder: Carol hears someone coming around the corner, and lashes out with an axe, killing Skip.
- Acid Pool: Shirley's death.
- All Just a Dream: The film ends with a bandaged Marty waking up in a hospital bed, leaving it ambiguous as to whether any of the film really happened. Regardless, Marty kills a nurse, takes her uniform, jabs a doctor in the eye with a syringe, then rips his own scarred face apart.
- An Axe to Grind: Skip's death.
- April Fools' Day
- Ash Face: The electrocuted Stella.
- Asshole Victim
- Ax Crazy
- Bandaged Face: The hospitalized Marty.
- Barrier-Busting Blow: Marty punches through a window to get at Carol (but don't worry... he's wearing gloves).
- Bathroom Stall Graffiti
- Bathtub Scene: Though the water turns into acid.
- Batter Up: Carol bashes Marty with one a few times, then drops it and runs away, allowing Marty to pick it up.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: The jester mask.
- Black Dude Dies First: Digby.
- Blatant Lies:
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Carol: "You have done it before, haven't you?" |
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- Blood From the Mouth: One of the hallucinatory zombies vomits a large amount of blood.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: A toilet randomly overflows with blood.
- Bloody Handprint: Marty leaves one on a banner.
- Bound and Gagged: Skip.
- Bowdlerized: Releases in Australia and Hong Kong removed... well, almost everything.
- California Doubling: The film is set in America, but filmed in the UK.
- Captain Obvious: The trivia track included in the Lionsgate DVD.
- Carpet of Virility: Frank.
- Catapult Nightmare: Suffered by Carol.
- Cat Scare: The rat in Marty's old locker.
- Chase Scene
- Chekhov's Gun: The javelin.
- Closed Circle
- Cobweb Jungle: "Cobwebs... you gotta be kidding."
- Completely Different Title: April Fool's Day in Japan, and Jolly Killer in Italy.
- Cool Bike: Owned by Frank.
- Cool Mask: An old man mask with a jester hat.
- Cool Sword: Carl's death.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: "April Fools!"
- Creator Cameo: Producer Dick Randall plays Carol's agent, Manny.
- Cruel and Unusual Death
- Crusty Caretaker: Digby.
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: Skip gets captured when he investigates the noises by made by Marty's jester cap, and of course Carol and Nancy go looking for him.
- Curtain Camouflage: Used by Skip and Frank for a prank on Carol and Nancy. Marty also enjoys hiding behind a poster of himself, and when Carol tries this in the auditorium, Marty just starts stabbing through the curtains.
- Danger Takes a Backseat: Carl's death.
- Dawson Casting: But one example is the thirty-six or so Caroline Monroe playing the teenaged Carol.
- Daylight Horror: The last third.
- Deadly Prank
- Death by Irony: Electrocution, jabbing with a javelin, drowning, and (unintentional) burning were all ways they bullied Marty.
- Death by Mocking
- Death by Sex: Stella and Frank.
- Dem Bones: On the cover for the VHS.
- Destination Defenestration: Done to Marty by Carol.
- Developing Doomed Characters
- Dramatic Thunder
- Drowning Pit: Nancy's death.
- Dwindling Party
- The Eighties
- Evil Laugh: Marty does it only once, but that doesn't stop it from appearing prominently in the film's score.
- Everything's Deader with Zombies: After killing everyone, Marty imagines them returning as ghouls.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Coach.
- Eye Scream: A doctor gets a syringe in the eye.
- Facial Horror: Marty's disfiguration, and him peeling off a chunk of his own face off in the end.
- Fan Disservice: All nudity ends nightmarishly.
- Final Girl: Carol.
- Flipping the Bird
- Flower in Her Hair: Stella.
- Fur and Loathing: Susan and Stella.
- Gang of Bullies
- Gilligan Cut: "All we have to do is stay awake, it'll be a cinch."
- Gorn
- Gross Up Close-Up
- High School
- Hollywood Acid
- Hooks and Crooks: Digby has his head shoved onto a coat hook.
- Hope Spot: Carl getting to Carol's car, and Nancy getting outside.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Marty.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday
- Hostile Weather
- Hysterical Woman: Nancy.
- Identical Stranger: Joe and Frank might as well be the same character.
- Impaled Palm: After killing Digby, Marty nails him to a door.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Carl's death.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Though you'd think they'd stop drinking, since an acid-laced beer was what killed Ted.
- Insane Troll Logic: Why does everyone assume Marty will stop killing just because April Fool's Day ends at noon?
- In-Series Nickname: "Bonecrusher" for Joey.
- Ironic Echo: "How do you want it, hot or cold?"
- It's Probably Nothing
- Javelin Thrower: A javelin appears as a weapon throughout, and is used by Marty to stab Carol to death.
- Jerk Jock
- Kick the Dog: Marty killing the innocent Digby.
- Kilroy Was Here
- Lingerie Scene: Carol.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Frank has trouble getting it up, at least until Stella insults his heterosexuality.
- Male Frontal Nudity
- Malevolent Masked Men
- The Man They Couldn't Hang: Marty hangs Skip, who manages to survive until the rope breaks.
- Menacing Stroll
- Modesty Towel: Carol.
- Monster Clown
- Murderer POV
- Neck Lift: Done to Digby.
- Nerd: Marty.
- Nerd Glasses: Marty.
- Never My Fault: "That stupid dork Marty, it's all his fucking fault!"
- Nothing Is Scarier: We don't see how Susan dies.
- Offscreen Teleportation
- Ominous Fog: A classroom fills with it, once Marty completely loses it.
- Once Is Not Enough
- One-Scene Wonder: Coach.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping
- Overcrank: Repeatedly, including on when a man gets a syringe in the eye.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: The door Digby's body is nailed to swings open when Carol walks past it, and Susan's corpse swings down as she is exploring.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The scrawny Marty uses just one hand to lift Digby.
- Potty Failure: "You bastard, I wet myself!"
- Precision F-Strike: "I showed ya! April Fools! April fucking Fools, motherfuckers!"
- Preppy Name: Skip Pollack.
- Psychotic Smirk: The film ends on a shot of Marty's as he pulls a piece of his own face off.
- Right Through the Wall: Stella and Frank.
- Road Apples:
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Joe: "Oh, shit!" |
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- Recut: The initial UK release was trimmed slightly.
- Reunion Revenge
- Revised Ending: The original ending for the film had the zombies of Marty's victims lunging at him before cutting to the credits, but the hospital coda was added on by another director.
- Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue: The first part of the rhyme can be seen in Marty's yearbook, but the rest is obscured.
- The Scourge of God
- Shout-Out: Joe scares Stella with a hockey mask ("Who'd you think I was, Jason?") as we get a blaring sting from the Friday the 13 th series.
- Significant Birth Date: April Fool's Day.
- Sinister Schnoz: Skip.
- Sinister Silhouettes
- Stealth Hi Bye: Skip and Frank somehow reaching the washroom before Carol and Nancy.
- Stripped to the Bone: Shirley.
- Statuesque Stunner: Carol.
- Stern Teacher: Coach, who punishes Marty's tormentors, but doesn't seem that sympathetic towards him.
- Stuff Blowing Up: On the Title In, and when the chemistry lab goes up in flames along with Marty.
- Sweater Girl: Nancy.
- Swirlie: Poor Marty.
- Teens Are Monsters
- Tempting Fate: "It should be fun. Besides, what have we got to lose?"
- Tentative Light
- Title In: 1 April. Fool.s Day.
- Token Minority: Shirley (asian) and Digby (black).
- Too Dumb to Live: Please people, stop wandering off alone. And damnit Carol, quit dropping weapons, especially right next to Marty.
- Trap Master: Marty.
- Two-Faced: Marty.
- Vader Breath
- Visual Pun: Beer causes some literal gut rot.
- Villain Song
- Vomit Discretion Shot: That laced joint gets to Marty.
- We Wait: Said by Skip.
- Where It All Began: Marty kills Carol in the girl's locker room, the site of his worst humiliation.
- White Gloves: Marty.
- Who's Laughing Now?
- Window Pain: A brick gets thrown trough the gymnasium window, as a part of yet another elaborate prank on Marty.
- Wink Ding
- Xanatos Roulette: Marty, up there with Jigsaw and Death.
- Your Cheating Heart: Stella cheats on Joe with Frank.
- You Should Have Died Instead: "If you hadn't taken Marty into the showers, none of this would have happened! It's you two he's after, nobody else! Stella, Frank, Joe, none of them should have died, it should have been you two! You both should be dead!"
- Zombie Gait: Done by Joe.