Thursday, August 07, 2014

High School Hellcats (1958)

Routine bit of '50s juvenile delinquency exploitation from AIP, about a good girl who arrives at a new school and tries to win the approval of the school's all-girl gang, but soon finds herself in over her head when things get out of control. The story has echoes of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE in its premise of an alienated teen rebelling against her distant parents who just don't understand her. Nowhere near as lurid as its title suggests, it's never quite as much fun as it seems like it should have been. Only the finale -- a visually striking sequence taking place in an abandoned, dark movie theater -- achieves the really melodramatic, hysterical tone that could have enlivened the rest of the film.

No comments: