We know Oscar winner George Clooney among others as Danny Ocean from the acclaimed heist hit “Ocean’s Eleven” (and its sequels), from award-winning dramas like “The Ides Of March” and “Up In The Air” or the TV megahit “Emergency Room”. Anyone who has a soft spot for horror from the 80s and 90s will probably first and foremost associate the Nespresso man with his genre films, which range from cult (“From Dusk Till Dawn”, 1996) to legendary bad (“Grizzly II”, 1983). “Return To Horror High” is also a film from that era – which had a difficult time in Germany for a long time.
“Return To Horror High” once had bad luck with the local authorities, was not released in its entirety and ended up on the Index in 1988. A full 25 years later – the usual time it takes for an FSK re-examination to take place – the indexing was finally lifted. A good nine years later, there is even a renewed reduction: Now the FSK has released the uncut version of “Return To Horror High” even from 16 years!
The news reached us shortly after the film celebrated its German HD premiere. Because just a few weeks ago, Nameless Media released the film as a strictly limited edition in a Blu-ray media book. In view of the new release, however, the chances are extremely good that an official FSK 16 uncut release will follow soon – then probably not only as an expensive collector’s item, but as a standard edition on DVD and Blu-ray for a small thaler.
This is Return To Horror High
“Return To Horror High” was not only the directorial debut of filmmaker Bill Froehlich, but is also the only feature film by Froehlich, who later worked mainly on TV series such as “Freddy’s Nightmares” and “MacGyver”. In view of this, however, he was able to gather a very prominent cast: in addition to Clooney, who would not celebrate his breakthrough until a few years later, Pepper Martin, known from “Superman II”, and Alex Rocco also belong to the cast, which film fans especially like as casino owners Moe Greene from The Godfather.
However, the ambitious low-budget production was received mixed by fans and the trade press. Schlock fans with a penchant for handmade (albeit obvious) gore effects can definitely take a look, but beyond that the wild genre ride has hardly any qualities worth mentioning. This is also suggested by the average values on various film rating platforms: only 18 percent of users Rotten Tomatoes rate the film as positive and also on the IMDB (4.3 out of 10 stars) and at letterboxd (2.4 out of 5 stars) “Return To Horror High” performs below average.
Here’s what Return To Horror High is all about: Years after Crippen High School became the scene of a spectacular series of murders, a film crew sets out to bring the story to life. But then a first crew member disappears. The terrible events of the past seem to be repeating themselves – after all, the murderer from back then was never caught…
