George Clooney is one of the most famous actors on the planet, and it’s been that way for the past three decades. His time as a Hollywood A-lister really started thanks to his lead role in the hit ’90s NBC series ER, before he transitioned to film with notable parts in movies like From Dusk till Dawn, Syriana, Up in the Air, and the recent Netflix release, Jay Kelly. However, back when Clooney was a TV actor trying to find his big break, his first feature film role happened in the 1987 meta slasher Return to Horror High.
Another Horror Movie Was Technically George Clooney’s First
If you want to get in the weeds, the first official movie George Clooney was in, which was also in the horror genre, is 1983’s Grizzly II: The Revenge. The then 22-year-old Clooney had a small role as a fun-loving hiker named Ron, but the sequel, in name only, to Grizzly is not remembered as a great one. Instead, Grizzly II is notable for two things: it also had newcomers Charlie Sheen and Laura Dern in bit parts, and the disaster of a shoot led to the film not being released until 2021, two decades after the three actors had become huge Hollywood success stories.
With Grizzly II not being released when it was made (if you’ve seen it, you know that was for the best), the struggling Clooney kept trying before finally starting to make a small mark in the 1984 series E/R (no, not that one) and a recurring role as George Burnett on The Facts of Life. Then Clooney got his real chance to star in a bonafide theatrical release in 1987, a slasher called Return to Horror High.
Clooney Plays the Doomed Oliver in ‘Return to Horror High’
Return to Horror High, written and directed by Bill Froehlich, was released on January 9, 1987. Despite the title, this was not a sequel, but an original effort in a not-so-original subgenre. After the success of 1978’s Halloween, slashers dominated the early 80s thanks to countless imitators like Friday the 13th, but by the latter half of the decade, the bloom was off the bloody rose, and audiences were starting to tune out.
Still, Return to Horror attempted to offer something unique with its plot about the fictional Cosmic Pictures filming a movie at the high school where a massacre had occurred years earlier. Titled Horror High, it’s a movie within a movie, but then, because this is a slasher after all, a mysterious killer attacks the actors in this film, knocking them off one by one. Most of the faces in Return to Horror High aren’t recognizable, but a few stand out. Among them is Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch fame as a police officer named Tyler.
This 2016 thriller already feels like the type of thought-provoking, original film aimed at adults that studios simply wouldn’t make anymore.
As McCormick’s star power was on the decline with The Brady Bunch no longer airing new episodes, another’s was about to rise. In Return to Horror High, George Clooney plays Oliver, a cocky, happy-go-lucky actor cast as a cop in the fictional movie. However, Oliver isn’t long for this world, because when he goes to investigate a strange noise and sees a streak of blood on a door, he’s pulled inside a dark room by the killer, who quickly makes Oliver the first victim, leaving a trail of blood running down his face. What makes Oliver’s fate even more tragic, and ironic for the actor playing him, is that he had just been cast as the lead on a TV show and was ready to leave this beneath-him movie behind.
‘Return to Horror High’ Is Better Than Its Bad Reviews
Return to Horror High didn’t set the world on fire, making a measly $1.2 million at the box office. Audiences weren’t interested in what looked to be another paint-by-numbers slasher, and critics weren’t kind either, with not a single positive review found on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, while the film is no slasher masterpiece, it’s better than its reputation because it knows exactly what kind of movie it is and has fun with the idea.
Return to Horror High is a meta slasher that’s nowhere near as smart as Scream, but it is still self-aware of its constructs and beat Wes Craven‘s Scream 3 to the punch with its similar plot. It also parodies the tropes of what came before it, without falling quite into the super goofy category of Student Bodies or Scary Movie. This slasher tries to create an intriguing mystery where anyone could be the killer, goes for a shocking twist, and although it’s campy, it’s of the charming variety.
Perhaps it had nothing to do with it, but George Clooney’s career began to really take off after Return to Horror High. That same year, he had guest roles in Murder, She Wrote and The Golden Girls. The next year, he began a recurring role on Roseanne. In 1994, when he was cast as Dr. Doug Ross on ER, his career exploded, and he was soon one of the biggest names of the 90s. Still, long before he was a TV star, he was a charismatic guy in a silly slasher playing an actor who had just landed his big role. Return to Horror High wasn’t exactly that for Clooney, but his first-ever feature film put him on the path.
Return to Horror High is available to stream on Prime Video and Tubi in the U.S.
- Release Date
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January 28, 1987
- Runtime
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94 minutes
- Director
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Bill Froehlich
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Brendan Hughes
Steven Blake
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Lori Lethin
Callie Cassidy / Sarah Walker / Susan
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