Customer Reviews

High School Hellcats [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Good girl Yvonne Lime gets involved with bad girl Jana Lund and her gang of Hell-cats, a sorority of not so nice gals who rule the halls of a typical 1950s high school. I am so glad this movie is finally being released on video! It is a really fun film, probably one of the best juvenile delinquint movies of the 50s. Lime is finally given a chance to show her talent (she was wasted in films like I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF) and Lund proves quite capable as a bad girl. But the best role really goes to Susanne Sydney as Jana's jealous co-hort in the Hellcats club. Also in the cast is B-film regular Brett Halsey as Lime's love interest and Rhoda Williams as the kids' understanding teacher.

one of the best J.D. movies of the 50s with some pretty decent performances by the cast. Yvonne Lime is perfectly cast as the good girl trying to go bad. great film just to watch the girls' styles which so many contemporary rockabilly girls try to emulate. The transfer onto tape is super clear and for the money is one of the best films of this genre you can buy.

I just received the DVD High School Hellcats but when I put in the DVD I noticed that the movie on the disc is actually Return To Treasure Island. I'd be satisfied if that was what I ordered but it's not. Even the disc itself says High School Hellcats on the front but it's the wrong movie. This is a serious mistake.

I think im in love with a bad girl name dollie. She is so sexy and pretty, i hope she does more movies than this one. The acting is not natural which consumes the majority of old classics. You would never ever see modern movies where actor's are just playing the part and realism is not there. You know what, for a classic movie, this one is awesome. I can't get enough of watching this show as i have seen it over and over again. sexploitation movies at its BEST! You have romance, murder, and suspense roll up into one package and it spells MUST SEE.

Judge Tom Becker, DVD Verdict--I figured there had to be something salacious or daring, at least a little subversive subtext--after all, the word "Hell" is in the title, albeit, as the first part of a compound word, but still, I don't think movies were allowed to say "hell" at the time, unless they were referring to a location, so this, in and of itself, should make the movie some kind of "adult" fare.

Nope. These "Hell" cats are more like Heckcats, and darned if they do anything that rises above the level of annoying.

Joyce is such a mamby-pamby, that you have to wonder why the tough Connie even bothers with her. Then it occurs to you: LESBIAN ATTRACTION! Only, it's not, or at least it never comes up, even in subtle ways--though Connie's number two girl, the pouty-faced, pocket-knife wielding Dolly (Susanne Sidney, Angels from Hell) seems more than a tad disturbed at Connie's attention to the new girl.

Maybe this is one of those suburban exposés, a SHOCKING take on how IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTING can cause a wave of JUVENILE DELINQUENCY? Well, kinda. Joyce's folks are shown as those bugaboos of the cracking façade of '50s families: the uninvolved parents. Dad, who works at some non-descript job, is taken aback at how quickly his little girl is growing up. At one point, Joyce trundles into the living room wearing a slip, and her father slaps her for being indecent. Mind you, if there were any more material on the slip, it would be a parka, but still, the whole idea of "undergarment" throws Dad into a tizzy. REPRESSED INCESTUOUS DESIRES? Nah, he just doesn't want his daughter walking around in her underwear.

Maybe it's Mom? Maybe Mom is one of those Eisenhower-era hussies who cats around while presenting an air of respectability. After all, Mom spends her days swathed in furs and pearls claiming to be at her local bridge club. Is this really a SIRKIAN MELODRAMA OF A FRUSTRATED WOMAN'S INTIMATE DESIRES? Nope, evidently, Mom's just hanging with a bunch of well-dressed bridge players.

Are Joyce and Mike exploring their BUDDING SEXUALITY? Negative. Are the Hellcat girls SELLING THEIR AMPLE FAVORS to traveling salesman? Nix. They do smoke and have the occasional drink, and there is a mid-point death that rejiggers the naughty fun and games, but by and large, these are just over privileged suburban girls with snotty attitudes who would have been laughed out of The Breakfast Club.

We don't even get a cool rock score, just some generic "bad girl" jazz, like the Hellcats just time-warped from the Prohibition era.
Full review at dvdverdict.com

This is a Teenage Melodrama from the 1950's. It really only deserves 2 stars but I'm giving it 3 for its nostalgic value and unintentional humor.

Back before American International Pictures attempted to seduce the Youth Market with inane beach party movies and cheap monster movies, they made their first move with a series of inexpensive melodramas built around unknown teenage actors and poorly imagined teenage troubles. Their parents never understand them and are usually mean. These movies were not very well written. This is one of those movies. True to fashion, the ads and the title promised much more than they delivered. These girls are more like Josie and the Pussycats than Hellcats.

Imagine a movie like John Waters' FEMALE TROUBLE without the sleazy fun stuff and you pretty much have the idea. I'm sure he saw all of these "back in the day" and I'm sure they were a source of inspiration.

This movie stars pretty Yvonne Lime of I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and Handsome Latin-looking Brett Halsey. Unfortunately, for every Michael Landon, Jack Nicholson, and Ann Bancroft, all of whom started in junk like this, there are hundreds of also-rans. If you have a keen eye, you will recognize some of the other actors and actresses from films like BLOOD OF DRACULA and EARTH vs. THE SPIDER. You may also recognize the music by Ronald Stein which was also used in ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN. The High School is the same one that was used in RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS.

The only comment that I can add is that, yes, once upon a time teenagers really dressed like they do in this movie, and no, our lives were nothing like this nonsense. Still, it's fun to look back at what we paid a quarter to see.

I'm waiting for RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS, REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS and THREE BAD SISTERS, all of which are better than this movie.