'80s Roulette: RETURN TO HORROR HIGH

An early George Clooney appearance does not justify watching this one

I have (almost) every single movie released in theaters in the ‘80s in the United States on a hard drive and once a week, I’m going to hit shuffle and review whatever film comes up first.

Welcome to ‘80s Roulette!

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FEBRUARY 20, 1987

Return to Horror High
Lori Lethin, Brendan Hughes, Alex Rocco, Scott Jacoby, Andy Romano, Richard Brestoff, Al Fann, Pepper Martin, Maureen McCormick, Vince Edwards, Philip McKeon, Panchito Gomez, Michael Eric Kramer, Marvin J. McIntyre, George Clooney, Remy O’Neill, Darcy DeMoss, Cliff Emmich, Willie Etra, George Fisher, Dexter Hamlett, Joy Heston, Frank Kniest, John Mueller, Alison Noble, Kristi Somers, Larry Spinak
cinematography by Roy Wagner
music by Stacy Widelitz
screenplay by Bill Froehlich & Mark Lisson and Dana Escalante & Greg H. Sims
produced by Mark Lisson
directed by Bill Froehlich
Rated R
1 hr 35 mins

Several years after a series of brutal murders at a high school, a film company returns to the school to make a film about it and the murders resume.

Bill Froelich and Mark Lisson had their first break as a team in 1980 with a TV movie called If Things Were Different, and they kicked around in TV for a while, working on Hart to Hart, The New Mike Hammer, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King as writers and producers. This put them in a position to try to make their first feature film, and they found a script they could rewrite, with Lisson set to produce and Froelich directing. It’s a semi-clever premise for a film, but there’s a reason this is the only feature film that Froelich ever directed. Whatever juice there is in the premise is almost completely squandered by the aimless, tonally inconsistent execution.