Top 9 High School Horrors
Steve Barton
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The Faculty (1998)
Okay, so maybe you didn’t have the nicest teachers in the world when you were in high school, maybe even a real hard-ass or two, but we’re sure it was nothing compared to the teachers in The Faculty. Now this film had a heavy hitting cast and crew. Helmed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein with a screenplay by Kevin Williamson of Scream fame, The Faculty certainly had some weight behind it. Featuring a parasitic alien invasion and starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Salma Hayek, Jordana Brewster and Famke Janssen it was a case of the inmates running the asylum as the student body had to protect their own bodies from infected teachers and administrators.
Ginger Snaps (2000)
The Fitzgerald Sisters were certainly a pair. Bullied and obsessed with death, the girls were such a unique and memorable pair. And as the story goes, it was a casting nightmare to find the right pair to play the duo. Ironically enough, after months of searching, Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins were cast on the same day. They auditioned on the same day and, interestingly enough, Isabelle and Perkins were born in the same hospital, attended the same pre-, elementary and private schools and were represented by the same agency. Karma, right? And although Perkins was four years older, she was cast as Bridgette, the younger sibling. Never before has a bullied student had so much bite!
Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986)
Troma Studios is on display in all its gory greatness in Class of Nuke ‘Em High (originally entitled Atomic High School, Troma obviously made a great choice with the name change, as Nuke ‘Em High is such a clever play on words…and it rolls of the tongue beautifully!) And everything you need for a great Troma movie is here, Tromaville High School (situated just one mile from the Tromaville Nuclear Power Plant), a young couple in love and a violent band of misfits known as The Cretins. Class of Nuke ‘Em High was Troma’s follow-up to The Toxic Avenger, so it could be said that these were the golden years of the studio. However, it must be noted that the first film of the re-launch, Return to Nuke ‘Em High, Vol. 1, has been widely praised for resurrecting the spirit of the original film. Perhaps we’re in store for a second golden age of Troma.
Graduation Day (1981)
Troma Entertainment also produced the next film on our list, Graduation Day, this time for Columbia Pictures. In this high school bloodbath we see some of usual faces like Linnea Quigley and Lin Shaye (then billed as Linda Shaye), but there’s also an appearance by your favorite letter-turner and mine, Vanna White who plays one of the’ mean girls’. Who would ever believe the timeless Vanna White as a mean girl? The movie has some notable kills, the pole vault onto huge spikes probably the most toe-curling of the bunch. Surprisingly, the film made nearly $24 million at the box office with just a $250,000 budget. Like it or not, that adds up to an A+ in Accounting!
