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School is starting to get back in session for many, hammering in one of the final nails of summer’s coffin. It’s fitting that the new school year heralds in the arrival of Fall; few things are scarier than the hells of school. Students must deal with homework, teachers, parents, social structures, and puberty. Teachers must contend with unruly students, their unrulier parents, grading, and office stresses. And high school is a hell of its own.
Luckily, horror covers the terrors of school from every perspective, young and old alike. This week’s streaming picks head back to school to exploit all the academic anxieties and fears.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Battle Royale – freevee, Hoopla, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Tubi
Thanks to a government-mandated act to control Japan’s disorderly youth, class 3-B has been selected to participate in the annual Battle Royale. The students are dropped on a remote island, provided with provisions, and given three days to slaughter each other until a single victor emerges. Those that refuse to cooperate have their explosive collars detonated. Pushed into slaying their classmates for a shot at survival results in a bloodbath. Battle Royale is ruthless, thrilling, and frequently tragic, as climbing the high school hierarchy takes on new violent meaning. High school has never been as savage or as disturbing.
Class of 1984 – Crackle, freevee, Kanopy, Midnight Pulp, Peacock, the Roku Channel, Screambox, Shout! TV, Tubi
An exploitation film for the teachers. Class of 1984, directed by Mark Lester and co-written by Tom Holland and John Saxton, follows Andrew Norris (Perry King), the new music teacher at a troubled inner-city school. Andrew is surprised to find his new school comes features metal detectors, graffiti-covered walls, and armed teachers, but that’s before he meets the student gang terrorizing the halls. When he attempts to exert authority over the hoodlums, they viciously attack his wife, prompting a shocking escalation of violence and vengeance. Reagan-era paranoia fuels this lurid thriller based on the 1954 novel The Blackboard Jungle. Look for Roddy McDowell as a fellow teacher and Michael J. Fox as one of the school’s few innocent kids.
Cooties – Pluto TV, Tubi
Aspiring writer Clint Hadson (Elijah Wood) thinks his first day as a substitute teacher in his hometown of Fort Chicken is off to a rough start, thanks to awkward encounters with the faculty. Then contaminated chicken nuggets cause a mysterious viral outbreak that transforms the children into feral zombies. Co-written by Leigh Whannell, Cooties showcases the frustrations of being a teacher, from the office politics to dealing with gross student germs. Emphasis on gross in this over-the-top zombie comedy. The stellar cast is more than up to the task of playing hilarious and unwitting horror heroes, but Whannell himself steals every scene as the socially inept science teacher.
The Faculty – Paramount+
From director Robert Rodriguez and screenwriter Kevin Williamson, this late ’90s teen horror movie dissects high school’s social hierarchy with an insanely fun sci-fi horror premise that wears its influences on its sleeves. For Harrington High, school got much weirder when a parasitic alien began taking over the faculty and student body one by one. Nerdy-type Casey (Elijah Wood), loner Stokely (Clea Duvall), cheerleader Delilah (Jordana Brewster), football player Stan (Shawn Hatosy), drug dealer Zeke (Josh Hartnett), and new girl Marybeth (Laura Harris) team up to fight back against the invaders. Paranoia and mayhem ensue to an infectiously fun degree.
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II – AMC+, Crackle, Peacock, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu
In director Bruce Pittman’s wild cult sequel, initially conceived as a standalone horror movie, high school mean girl and prom queen Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) accidentally burns to death shortly after getting her prom queen crown and returns 30 years later to seek revenge on the men responsible: Principal Billy (Michael Ironside) and Father Cooper (Richard Monette). But a ghost with a vengeance on her mind needs a victim. Enter virginal teen Vicki (Wendy Lyon). Hello Mary Lou dials up the absurdity and weirdness of teen hormones, featuring a horny mean girl ghost and outlandish scare tactics- including a memorable carousel horse of nightmares.
