Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Jim Mullen Tate (TheFearmakers) Some bad horror movies know exactly what they're after, and RETURN TO HORROR HIGH toys with an audience who thinks they know what the characters are doing and where the story's going, and why...Beginning in the present time, exterior night, as a tough yet gentle-giant-type police chief and a doting, surreptitiously perverse female officer, played by BRADY BUNCH oldest Maureen McCormick, are outside a high school where a multi-mutilation of bodies are a mysterious result from a confusing aftermath: Then cutting back to a horror flick being shot inside the school centering on a string of deaths that had occurred years before... Confused yet?Well there are plenty of head-scratching moments that all eventually add up to a much more worthwhile drive-in homage than most video rentals from the middle eighties. A young, mullet-donning George Clooney plays a primadonna pretty boy actor on the verge of stardom, and he's the first to walk off the safety of the set - into the ghostly halls of the spooky high school, a dry ice saturated locale that could have worked even if HORROR was more of a serious venture.The weakest aspect (in a movie that needs anything it can to work) is no-name leading man Brendan Hughes as the former cop who was there when it happened and now, replacing Clooney, he's the film-within-a-film's star along with an actress who makes up for him, in spades: THE DAY AFTER's subtle beauty Lori Lethin plays several people - or maybe just one?At times of utter confusion she's always fun to watch either scared to death, combating males, or being oblivious to the body count/bloodshed surrounding...Also starring former ALICE child actor turned awkward lean teen Philip McKeon with OVER THE EDGE father and son Andy Romano and Michael Kramer along with the movie's movie's pretentious director and slimy producer Scott Jacoby and Alex Rocco plus former 1950's stud Vince Edwards, RETURN TO HORROR HIGH is a cat batting a ball of colorful string, unveiling itself creatively as it's surprisingly good: enough for horror fans to not have to take it seriously enough to feel cheated of their beloved genre, and the casual viewer could very well be entertained if they'd give in and... as the saying goes... go with it. (cultfilmfreaks.com)

Leofwine_draca Wes Craven's 1996 film SCREAM is regarded by many as the first post-modern spoof of the overworked slasher genre, a film blurring the line between fact and fiction, riffing on many of the genre's conventions and throwing in plenty of in-jokes along the way. The truth is that RETURN TO HORROR HIGH, a largely forgotten 1987 spoof of the high school horror flick, did all that a full nine years beforehand. Comparing the two films today, it's easy to see why Craven's is the better film: it's entertaining throughout, witty and intelligent with a great script, loving and a classic. RETURN TO HORROR HIGH is none of those: it's a frequently dumb spoof that blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction in a bad way, leaving the viewer scratching their head and wondering just what the heck is going on.Most of the clichés are present and correct here, but the central premise just isn't that appealing. I find the whole 'filming a movie that comes to life' type storyline pretty uninteresting, because it means there's always a small cast and the scenes are invariably repetitive. It's a case in point here: this is a film that looks and feels cheap throughout, with a no-name cast giving all kinds of lacklustre performances. The majority of viewers will be distracted in the first ten minutes by the pre-stardom performance from George Clooney, but he's quickly offed by the murderer.The film mixes fact and fiction in such a way that it's never really clear whether what you see is a flashback, a movie set, or real life. Of course, there are a string of inventive murders along the way, the best of which is when a biology professor is dissected just like a frog in his class. There are a few other fun bits here and there, but the film chooses to focus on the inane rather than the interesting and the presence of two completely uncharismatic leads ruin any entertainment value that this film might have had. Kudos for the creepy climax, which takes the shock ending of PSYCHO and ups the ante tenfold, but in the end RETURN TO HORROR HIGH is a missed opportunity and it took Craven to get the premise right when he made HIS slasher spoof.

gavin6942 A few years ago, a mysterious serial-killer caused panic on Crippen High School. The killer was never caught. A movie company, Cosmic Pictures, has decided to make a feature movie about these events -- on location, at the now abandoned school.This film has received some ex post facto praise and recognition for having George Clooney. And while he is quite entertaining in the film, he is also only in it very briefly. This is hardly a showcase of Clooney talent (and good looks).It also has an awfully terrible score. I could look up who did and call him or her out, but you know what... it is best I just let them remain anonymous.But seriously, this is a decent little slasher film. I have seen dozens of slashers. Maybe one hundred slashers... but never saw this one until now. Shame on me. It is far from the worst, and has some decent kills and effects. Plenty of corpses, blood and all the stuff you like in a slasher film.

Alexstam54 I wanted to see this movie because of the great picture on the front of the DVD (a cheerleader-skeleton!). But the movie is a bomb... It's plain boring! And there's no cheerleader-skeleton to be seen in the entire movie... George Clooney gets killed in fifteen minutes, how stupid can a director be! The movie wasn't scary and there are way too many plot twists. The only reasons to watch this film is Clooney in an early role (I guess he too had to start somewhere...) and the actress who played Marcia in The Brady Bunch, she's kinda funny. But it's still a C-movie! If you want to see where other famous actors started check out 'The burning' (Holly Hunter), 'He thinks you're alone' (Tom Hanks) and 'A nightmare on Elm Street, (Johnny Depp).