Horror High (1974) *spoilers*

I enjoyed my high school experience, but others feel it a nightmare. While high school is hard on some, the movie Horror High shows that it was murder on Vernon Potts. Day seven of my creature features is dedicated to a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde plot that is pretty well done. I really didn't find too much on this movie other than it's other title, The Twisted Brain.

The prequel to Horror U

We meet the protagonist, Vernon Potts, as he is being reprimanded by his English teacher. Apparently, Vern handed in his biology paper instead of his English paper (classic Vernon). Instead of being nice and understanding the situation, she flunks his English paper and destroys the biology paper he handed in (this must be Horror High). Vern is feeling pretty down and heads to the bio lab to work on his project. He is trying to make a serum that changes the user and makes him stronger. While he's in the room, the janitor comes in and threatens Vern about shooing his cat (the cat was trying to get at Vern's guinea pig). The argument gets a bit heated but the janitor leaves stroking his cat. Then his crush comes in and starts flirting with Vern, only to have her jock boyfriend come in and ruin the moment. Finally, Vern is harassed by the gym teacher and gets beat up in the locker room (the most stereotypical nerd hating school around apparently).

What is this kissing of which you speak?

Later that night, Vern sneaks back into the lab to check on his guinea pig. Vern had given it the serum to Mr. Mumps (sick name for a guinea pig) earlier in the day.  Apparently it worked because the janitor's cat is mangled. Mr. Mumps protected itself, but the janitor really loved that cat. As Vern tries to dispose of the body, the custodian walks in and proceeds to beat up Vern (yes, he is beating the crap out of a student). He makes Vern drink the serum and he kills the guinea pig (What kind of school is this? Is Morgan Freeman showing up?). Enraged by all these things, Vernon transforms into a beast and kills the janitor. He hides all of the bodies in the lab into an acid barrel.The next morning, one of the students discovers a skeleton in the acid and the police are called in.

Now they have a skeleton for anatomy

When the police show up, the most fly police officer ever struts into the school. His name is Lt. Bozeman, but because he clearly is Shaft I'll refer to him as such. Shaft questions all the students in the school and finally gets to Vernon. When questioned, Vern plays it cool and answers the detectives questions. Vern is awkward and digging a hole for himself, he can't be the murderer. Shaft lets Vern go back to class. English class is finished, but as Vern tries to leave his menopausal teacher calls him over saying that he is failing the class. She explains that if he comes to school every Wednesday night for English club, he can pass the class. Wednesday is the only day however, Vernon can go to the library but she doesn't care. Well...Vernon's ticked.

Reading Rainbow Guy would kill for books too

So Vernon takes his potion and kills his teacher. Shaft questions the students again and talks to Vernon who seems to be taking all these deaths in stride. Again, Vernon is dismissed but Shaft tells him that in the acid barrel they also found a cat and guinea pig skeleton (he knows Vernon was working with the guinea pig). Vernon is back in the lab when his crush shows up to greet him. She says she is having trouble with biology and needs his help. She says her boyfriend will be away that night, so Vernon and her will be all alone (ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!). Our protagonist is having a pretty good day so far, until his gym teacher starts harassing him again. He tells Vernon that if he helps one of the football players pass a test by cheating, then he gets the rest of the gym semester off. Vernon does not believe in cheating, but a threat here and there puts Vern in an awkward position. The teacher tells him to call him tonight at 10pm to give his answer. Guess what Vernon is doing later?

I'm one bad mother- shut your mouth

After awkwardly kissing and leaving his crush, Vernon heads to the school. The gym teacher is walking around the school because he hears noises, then suddenly he is grabbed. The police are scoping out the school to keep any eye out for the murderer. After questioning the teacher, they let him go and promptly leave the school. Vernon shows up out of the shadows just in time to stomp his gym teacher to death. The police are searching the school looking for the killer, and find the jock boyfriend.

All of Vern's problems have seemingly vanished. He isn't bullied anymore. His crush likes him and her boyfriend is in jail. Besides Shaft having an exorbitant amount of circumstantial evidence, he can write this off as a good week. Well, it was until the boyfriend is set free from jail. He calls up Vernon and says he saw him climbing out of the lab window when the gym teacher was killed. Vernon tells him to meet up at the school so they can finish this. While Vern is making more potion, his crush shows up and explains that it's all a trap to capture Vern and the police are involved. Scared and enraged, Vern transforms (without taking the potion) and begins chasing his crush. When he finally catches up to her, he can't hurt her. Vernon loves her too much to bring her any harm, but he is ashamed and runs from her. While outside, the police see him and give chase. While running, Vern sees the boyfriend (who is on the opposite side of a window and taunts monster Vern) and pulls him out of the school. Vernon starts beating on him and before he can kill the jock, the police fire a barrage of bullets. Vernon falls to the ground dead as his crush comes out and sits next to his body.

I died a virgin! So close!

This was a pretty good interpretation of Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was so 70's it dripped with camp, but I enjoyed it. Vernon may have been a homicidal maniac, but I felt bad for him. It's like seeing every reboot of Spider-Man and waiting for Peter to get his powers. Pat Cardi played Vernon and I thought he did a good job of it, even if he over acted quite a bit. This was his last acting job, but he has been in and out of projects since Horror High. Now, the coolest damn character was Shaft who was played by Austin Stoker and I would warrant watching the movie just for him. The music was pretty good, but the film looked really pulpy. It could've been the version I watched or it just didn't translate well to digital. The monster transformation wasn't very unique other than adding shoulder pads and changing the voice. The best part about the monster was how little you saw of him. Vernon was mostly in the shadows and had a skulk to his walk which made the monster scarier not having a good look at it. I don't know what else to say except that I liked it and I would recommend this to anyone in the mood for a pulpy gore fest.

I'm just a sucker for some of these movies and I can't pin point why I like some over others. Maybe my expectations are really low walking in and with that I find them excellent. Regardless, I give this movie five bullied nerds out of ten. Give it a shot when you're up late and want to kill an hour and a half. I don't think you'll be too disappointed.