Return to Horror High is a low-budget slasher from the late ‘80’s, which was a notoriously bad time for the sub-genre. Not only were the films cheap, they generally had terrible actors and even worse effects. It was very hard to do a slasher during this time, or at least to do it right. The stalk-and-slash formula had played itself out after only half a decade and was now simply trudging along.
Nobody wanted another one when Return to Horror High came along, but luckily the filmmakers seemed keenly aware of that fact. They did want to retread old territory, but not in the way that everyone else was doing it. Instead, they wanted to do it intentionally by actually centering their picture on the production of a low-budget slasher movie. It’s completely meta and, as such, remains a major standout of the era for being so ahead of its time. Return to Horror High doesn’t necessarily feel like a precursor to Scream so much as it feels like the sort of genre commentary that might have been made after Scream. It has more in common with pictures like Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon and The Cabin in the Woods than Wes Craven’s subversive slasher.
One of the most interesting things about Return to Horror High is that, as you go through the film, you never really know what you’re looking at. Each scene can and often does change at the drop of a hat. Are you watching the movie, or the movie-within-the-movie? It’s as much of a fun guessing game as trying to determine who the killer is and it really helps to keep the audience engaged.
I think one of my personal favorite things about the film is the fact that its meta-humor can be sometimes unintentional as well. George Clooney makes an appearance here as the actor initially cast as the lead in their production. But he gets a phone call for a much bigger job: a recurring part on a TV series (possibly set in a hospital?) which is not too different from a guy who was doing movies like Return to Horror High before hitting it big with ER.
Compared to the other slashers that were being made at the time, like Mountaintop Motel Massacre, Slaughter High, and Chopping Mall, Return to Horror High definitely stands out. It was made for just as much money as those others and probably the same amount of time. It’s very cheaply done and can’t really hide that, but it rises above it nonetheless because it’s a smart film. It’ always easier to forgive things like that in something that’s entertaining you and making you laugh.
From the structure, to the meta deconstruction of the slasher genre, to the almost non-linear style and plot, to even the killer’s reveal, Return to Horror High is completely ahead of its time and is fascinating for that. It manages to stand out and shine in a time where not a whole lot did, rising from that late-80’s void that still managed to produce some greats. I’m not sure if I would call Return to Horror High one of those greats, necessarily, but it comes damn close.