Rosie Holotik | Through the Shattered Lens

Despite being asked to take the case by an old friend (Mason Adams), Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is reluctant to defend Johnny Sorrento (Michael Nader) in court. Johnny is a former gangster who has been credibly accused of murder in the past. Now, he’s on trial for killing his wife and not even Perry is totally convinced that he’s innocent.

Of the 18 Perry Mason films that I’ve watched so far, this was definitely the best. This is the first time that I’ve seen Perry defend someone who he both dislikes and, even more importantly, distrusts and Raymond Burr was really convincing whenever he got angry at Johnny. For once, the case wasn’t wrapped up as neatly as usual. Solving the murder of Johnny’s wife meant delving into a past murder and it uncovered a lot of dark secrets. The identity of the killer was a real surprise but there was a lot more going on than just solving the mystery of who killed Johnny’s wife. At the end of this movie, Perry looked like he was about to cry, no matter how much Della (Barbara Hale) tried to comfort him.

Sharing much more would be the same as spoiling all of the movie’s twists and turns so I’ll just repeat that this is the best of the Perry Mason movies that I’ve seen so far. The guest cast is great, especially Mason Adams and Paul Anka. The Perry Mason films always follow the same plot and sometimes, they can blend together but this one made a real impression and really took me by surprise.

So, you knew when I started this series of Back to School reviews that I would eventually end up reviewing a horror film or two. Whether it’s because they were written and directed by people still bitter over being teenage outcasts or because they were produced by people who were smart enough to realize that a lot of horror fans are still students, several horror films have been set in the world in high school.

Take, for instance, the 1974 film, Horror High.

Horror High tells the story of Vernon Potts (Pat Cardi), who is the smartest student at his high school. However, it’s debatable how much of an accomplishment that is because, in this low-budget film, it appears that there’s only 6 or 8 students at the school. Regardless, Vernon’s combination of intelligence, acne, and social awkwardness have come together to make him the school outcast. Not only do Vernon’s fellow classmates make fun of him but the janitor threatens to kill him, the football coach orders him to help the team cheat, and his English teacher destroys Vernon’s biology homework. Vernon’s only friend is a guinea pig named Mr. Mumps. Vernon eventually gives Mr. Mumps an experimental serum that turns Mr. Mumps into a murderous monster. Unfortunately, the janitor subsequently kills the guinea pig but, in the process, he also forces Vernon to drink the serum, which leads to Vernon occasionally turning into a monster himself. On the bright side, Vernon does eventually get to date the girl he has a crush on, largely because she’s single now that Monster Vernon has killed her boyfriend…

Horror High is one of those low-budget films that is so extremely odd that it can’t help but have an oddly dreamlike power to it. This is one of those cases where the total lack of narrative logic actually works to the film’s advantage. Pat Cardi makes for a believable outcast and everyone else in the cast is properly despicable. As ludicrous as the plot may be, the film itself is full of a palpable atmosphere of dread and doom. I’ve seen a lot of bad high schools in a lot of low-budget horror films but it’s hard for me to think of one that was quite as nightmarish as the one in Horror High.

Incidentally, Horror High was filmed in my home state of Texas, in the wonderful city of Irving!

And you can watch it below!