"An intriguing, diagrammatic example of subversive cinema. The action takes place in a lavish LA high school where authority is noticeable by its total absence, and where life exists only in the gaps between classes. This teen exploiter goes for nothing less than an entire allegory on society, power structures, and the failure of revolution. Despite a deceptively laid back style, the film's ambition, knowingness and surefootedness make it worth a look."
– TimeOut New York

"Nudity, violence and a strangely subversive script highlight this characteristic mid-'70s slasher... Rene Daalder's film is, at one level, a teen slasher but a look beneath the surface reveals a subversive, bleak view of society as a whole."
– Channel 4 Film

"Working within the very conventional frame of the teen-age exploitation picture, Mr. Daalder has made a witty, surprising, very entertaining low-budget movie that doesn't easily fit into any category. Massacre at Central High is both a teen-age exploitation picture and its send-up. At the same time it's a morality tale that works a few intelligent variations on Death Wish (1974), which didn't have a thought in its head. It might even be read as a metaphor for the rise and fall of the Third Reich... Any film that so efficiently juggles so many ideas deserves attention."
– Vincent Canby, The New York Times

"Renee Daalder is a Dutch male director whose relation to American high schools was probably about what Brecht's was to Chicago when he wrote The Irresistible Rise of Arturo Ui. I'm not claiming that Massacre is nearly as complex or as politically focused a work as the Brecht, but there are similarities. Another descriptive comparison – a more politically oriented Carrie... There is a free-floating Third Reich theme that foreshadows the contradictions of punk... These adolescents behave just like the adults on whom they model themselves. It is not necessary to show the adults because they co-exist with the kids, inside their bodies. They, the adults, are Body Snatchers."
– Soho News

"More teen exploitation flick than distilled horror. Of course there is much to recommend Massacre and the film attains a level of poignancy and earnest sincerity that was so common in the seventies but which is utterly lacking in today's motion pictures... It's worth a look and one can only wonder how come it hasn't been more widely seen or why it's been out of circulation for so long... A bloody but bittersweet tear of the soul, this adept angst terror is buoyed throughout by that rarest of horror genre apparitions: realistic characters thoughtfully drawn."
– The Terror Trap

"Blessed with some choice dialogue and suspect costuming decisions, Massacre at Central High is the epitome of the '70s meathead ethic fused with an apt social commentary."
– Cinemuerte

"Although only marginally a horror film, this is easily the most interesting and intelligent entry in the 'dead teenager' sweepstakes, a film that actually dares to place its murders in a microcosmic political climate: the American high school... A fascinating little movie that delivers its expected exploitation thrills while presenting a political allegory, albeit a somewhat confused one. We are shown a world run entirely by adolescents. Director Renee Daalder understood the average American teenager's view of high school: it is a highly structured caste system wherein differences are poorly tolerated."
– TV Guide

"..this is a weirdo proto-slasher...It's murkily filmed and has a strange atmosphere: there are no teachers around, the police never seem to investigate the deaths - they only turn up right at the end for the dramatic finale - and none of the students are ever seen in class. This could have been an inspiration for Heathers (1988), with its main character's murderous solutions and generally offbeat quality, which the stilted acting only enhances. Music by Tommy Leonetti, and listen for the inappropriately sugary theme song."
- Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

"TV exposure over the years has made this a cult film. It doesn't live up to its title, but it's well worth seeing."
- Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

"There are about 9 or 10 kills in the film in which at least 2 or 3 of them were nicely done for a mid '70s flick."
– RIP

Compiled by Nathaniel Thompson