- "Screw high school. That's just a blip in your timeline. Don't get stuck there."
- ―Tate Langdon
High school refers to the location as well as the advancing period of one's education before entering college or the workforce. The duration of high school classes is four years, divided into grades 9-12 and generally runs from late summer into late spring of every year. The average age of a high school student is between 14-17. The denominatons of high school grade levels are identified as freshman, sophmore, junior and senior. The highest managing authority of a high school is called the principal. When you are bad, you get sent to the principal's office. Some schools may offer the option of dropping out at age sixteen. When you graduate you receive a diploma and get to wear a robe and a square cap with a tassle.
In fiction[]
High schools are used with great regularity in horror fiction. As teenagers make up a large portion of the horror film demographic, it is not uncommon for movies or TV shows to feature high schools, or at the very least, high school students as part of the primary cast and/or setting for their features.
One notable school in TV fiction is Sunnydale High School, which is featured in seasons 1-3 of the WB Network television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Before it's explosive destruction at the end of the show, the school was located atop a mystical portal called a Hellmouth in the town of Sunnydale, California. Because of this, the town of Sunnydale was a veritable magnet for various supernatural entities, in particular demons and vampires.
In the 1978 slasher film Halloween, the three main female characters, Laurie Strode, Lynda van der Klok and Annie Brackett were all seniors at Haddonfield High School in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois. After leaving class one day, Laurie became the target of a stalker who remained hidden, watching she and her friends walking home. The stalker was none other than her own brother, serial killer Michael Myers. Haddonfield High was also re-imagined for the 2007 remake of Halloween, directed by Rob Zombie.
In 1990, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced a short-lived animated series called Gravedale High which starred the voice talent of comedian Rick Moranis as Max Schneider, a human teacher who gets a job at Gravedale High - a school catering exclusively to monsters. The student body is comprised of teenage analogs of classic horror character tropes such as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The A Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise focuses on teenage murder victims. As such, it is only natural that a high school would become a recurring setting. The one seen most often is Springwood High School, which is located in the town of Springwood, Ohio. It features prominently in the films A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and makes a small appearance in Freddy vs. Jason. In that film, Springwood High presents a scene where former students Will Rollins and Mark Davis return to warn Lori Campbell about the threat of Freddy Krueger.
Woodsboro High School is a fictional learning center featured in the Scream film series. It is located in the town of Woodsboro in the U.S. state of California. It appeared in the 1996 film Scream and the 2011 sequel film, Scream 4. Woodsboro High School was a public high school, grades 9-12. Many of the students who were targeted by the Ghostface killer attended school here. Ghostface even attacked Sidney Prescott at the school.
Gates Academy from The Gates.
In the 2010 ABC television series The Gates, one of the principal settings was the Gates Academy, a private school which included grades K-12. Notable staff members included Principal Hughes, Coach Ross (a werewolf), Mister Pollack, and later Sarah Monohan. Notable students included Andie Bates, Brett Crezski, Charlie Monohan, Dana Monohan, Emily Radcliff, Lexie Wade, Lukas Ford and Mia Mueller.
The 2011 Teen Wolf television series makes use of Beacon Hills High School as one of it's main settings. The school is an analog of Beacontown High School, which was the primary setting of the original 1985 Teen Wolf movie. Nearly every episode from season one of the series took place or made reference to the school in one matter or another. Beacon Hills High School is known for it's championship lacrosse team, which is coached by the seemingly psychotic Bobby Finstock. The school's student body consists of several notable characters including werewolf lacross player Scott McCall, his best friend Stiles Stilinsky, his potential girlfriend Allison Argent, his rival Jackson Whittemore and Jackson's former girlfriend Lydia Martin. Scott's werewolf mentor, Derek Hale is a former student at Beacon Hills.
High schools of note[]
See also[]
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