A low-budget movie crew make a trashy slasher film on location at a high school where a series of murders took place five years ago. Pretty soon a mysterious psycho killer starts bumping off cast and crew members left and write. Director/co-writer Bill Froehlich offers a fun behind-the-scenes glimpse at the chaotic shooting of a down'n'dirty cheapie flick, relates the absorbing story in a complex and tricky flashback-ridden manner, delivers plenty of clever and startling film-within-a-film moments, stages the murder set pieces with reasonable brio, and, best of all, makes several spot-on satiric pot shots about pandering to the lowest common denominator (y'know, graphic and gratuitous sex and violence) and the filmmakers' responsibility to produce something of substantial moral value. Moreover, the killer's true identity is a genuine surprise and the fake-out ending is brilliant. The sound acting from the sturdy cast rates as another significant asset, with stand-out contributions from Alex Rocco as cheerfully shameless sleazeball producer Harry Sleerik, Scott Jacoby as pretentious director Josh Forbes, Brendan Hughes as earnest cop hero Steve Blake, Lori Lethin as sweet lead actress Callie Cassidy, Andy Romano as sensitive Principal Castleman, Richard Brestoff as hapless screenwriter Arthur, Vince Edwards as mean, lecherous biology teacher Richard Bimbaum, Maureen McCormick as eager, bumbling, blood-happy Officer Tyler, and Al Fann as merry janitor Amos. A then unknown George Clooney appears briefly as unreliable lead actor Oliver, who gets offed early on in the picture. Stacy Widelitz's slick cinematography boasts some smooth gliding Steadicam work and a surplus of smoky backlighting. Roy Wagner's spirited shuddery score likewise does the trick. An enjoyable and inspired deconstruction of your basic slice'n'dice fare.

This movie could serve as a wake-up call to all those who thought "Scream" was oh-so-stunningly-original. Witty lines like "Why does everyone always want to go to a dark basement without even a flashlight?", commenting on the oldest horror cliches, pop up here ten whole years before they became "fashionable". The film does have a very complex structure and adds one bizarre twist after another in the last 30 minutes, and ends up not making a whole lot of sense; in that respect, it reminded me of the funny 1976 whodunit-spoof "Murder By Death". And just like in that film, you'll be better off ignoring the plot and concentrating on the individual moments and scenes. There are some engaging performances (particularly by Lori Lethin and Alex Rocco as the producer - "write them a hopeful, life-affirming scene where they talk about love and children, and make sure it's set in the showers, so they can be naked!"),and in general the film offers much more creativity than you'd normally expect to find in this genre. (**1/2)

there was this little gem.it's a horror spoof,and it worked for me.i found it amusing.there were some great one liners in the film.Scream owes a fair debt to this movie,as does the Scary Movie franchise.you may not laugh yourself into a stupor,but you'll probably chuckle a lot.i'm actually very surprised at the low rating(3.8)this movie has on this site.i would rate it much higher.people complain about the bad acting,but i think that was intentional.for me,i had a good time watching it and wood watch it again.incidentally,it's not a sequel to the 1974 movie Horror High.in fact it has nothing to do with that movie at all.for me,Return to Horror High is a 6/10