(1981, LT Films/Jeff Kushner Films)
There is a killer loose at Sir John A.
Macdonald Junior High, and the staff and students are disappearing one by one.
Who is committing these brutal murders, and can they be stopped?
Running Length - 9:41
Number of victims: unknown
Kevin Markson played by: Jeff Kushner
Production Details
This film was the first in the series of My School films. I made it for a project in the media club in grade 7. I had been a big fan of the Halloween and Friday the 13th movies and wanted to try making one myself. I partnered up with my classmate Jeff Kushner and we wrote up a small story. It would be shot on the media club's Super 8 camera, which had been used to shoot the Star Wars animation. Since we were not allowed to take the camera off school premises, the obvious location of our horror film would be in a school!
We had three and a half minutes of Super 8 film to shoot our horror film. Our story involved somebody going around and killing students and teachers in a school. The killer would be another student, perhaps a former student. We named him Kevin, because that sounded like a creepy name. Not much would be revealed in three minutes of silent film. The title "My School" was chosen, because the story was being told mostly from Kevin's selfish point of view. He believed that the school belonged to him, and was trying to kill off any "intruders" to "his property". Why he felt this way would not be revealed until My School III.
What we shot consisted mainly of a person wearing a psychadelic plastic skeleton Halloween mask, running around the halls of the school. Sometimes this killer would grab other people and pull them off camera for the slaughter. No blood was used. A few other shots showed the ghosts of the murdered people with horrific white make-up, come back to haunt the killer. I really liked the long, creepy shots of the empty school hallways. I made up a strictly music audio cassette to play during the running of the movie, and used Meco's "Ice Bound".
My School grew from 3:30 to 9:48 many years later when we were shooting My School 5 and 6. Extra scenes were shot that established more of a story about Kevin and his killings. Yes, gore was added! A better ending was filmed, which made more sense. We also included some scenes of Kevin playing with his teddy bear, which would later become the Doom Bear. The old Super 8 footage was converted to video with a teleciine and edited amongst the new video scenes. An updated soundtrack was added, as were better beginning and end credits. Which version of My School is considered the official? The new one.
I've had thoughts of doing a remake of "My School" and base it on the novel I've written. I may be posting the novel on this site in the future. Basically, it's a full-length movie plot: Kevin's father is found out to be the neighborhood serial "Green Killer". He is chased and shot down by the police. Poor junior high school student Kevin Markson is a witness to his father's execution, and is traumatized by it. The other students at school tease Kevin -- and play nasty pranks on him. Kevin has an eerie encounter with the zombie of his father in the school hallway -- who promises to protect Kevin from any harm. Suddenly, a student is killed violently at the school. Officer Taylor is assigned to the case, but it is thought to be a freak accident. Kevin believes it his father's ghost was responsible for the student's death and tries to stop him. But Kevin's father is hungry for more blood, and eliminates Kevin. The next day, many students at the school are slaughtered by a killer wearing a flourescent plastic Skeleton mask. Officer Taylor is called to the scene of the massacre and comes face to face with the killer. There is a chase, ending with a bloody battle in the science lab. The killer is unmasked as Kevin Markson! He was the killer all the time -- his father's ghost was all imagined. Officer Taylor turns on the bunsen burner gas and lights a match and jumps out the window -- causing a huge explosion. The killer is thought to be killed in the fire. Officer Taylor, suffering from minor burns, recuperates in the hospital. A nurse comes in, saying that there is a visitor to see him. A nice young boy enters the hospital room -- it is Kevin! He puts on a Skeleton mask and pulls an axe from behind his back. SHOCK ENDING! Officer Taylor wakes up in his hospital bed from an apparent nightmare. He knows that Kevin is still alive.