Above is a promo for the juvenile delinquent scare flick High School Hellcats, one of only two films ever made by Indio Productions, along with Hot Rod Gang (click this link to see the poster for that). There’s not much recommendable about this movie. Plotwise, Joyce, the new girl in school, gets hazed and bullied by Connie, ringleader of the Hellcats. If Joyce doesn’t submit she’ll find life rough. As Connie puts it, “You won’t be invited to any parties and you’ll have very few friends. And you’ll never have any dates with boys. We’ll see to that.” She’s the type of chronic pain who thinks clever ridicule is repeating anything an adult says to her, but in a fake obsequious voice. “Connie, will you please be seated?” Connie: “Yes, sir, I’ll please be seated.” She’ll make you support youthanasia. Heh. While Joyce is lured by the dark side of high school, pulling her toward the light are her square guypal and her goody-good teacher. It’s all pretty banal, neither accomplished enough to merit praise nor bad enough to elicit laughs unless you watch it with professional comedians, but in the ’50s even the most forgettable movies sometimes had unforgettable posters, and the above gem is an example of that phenomenon. The half sheet version below isn’t bad either. High School Hellcats premiered in the U.S. this month in 1958.
