Seattle cult film 'Hell Hole High' a school of real hard knocks

There's been considerable debate about the term "psychotronic" as a movie genre descriptor. The popular VideoHound series guide, "Cult Flicks & Trash Pics" sums it up as "cult movies, trash film, underground flicks, alternative cinema, and camp outings — movies so bad they're good, as well as movies so bad we don't want you to think they might have some camp value."

"Hell Hole High" plops somewhere toward the middle or end of that catalog, which is either a compliment or an insult, depending on your preference.

Producer-director Alex Mayer has no problem with the schlock tag. "I'm trying to make cult, midnight movies," he says with the braggadocio of a burgeoning, exploitive entertainer.

With its rambling plot about juvenile delinquents at a bizarre reform school, the Belltown-centric micro-cinema production could achieve cult status in Seattle, especially given its formula, which Mayer describes as, "Some breasts, a couple of gore scenes, and a lot of slapstick."

It also features a few local personalities in over-the-top performances that add to the underground pedigree. One of them is Scotty Crane, who's on the downside of his 15 minutes cashing in on the brouhaha over the movie "Auto Focus," and its portrayal of his murdered, sex-addicted father, Bob Crane.

Scotty Crane and his wife, Michelle, add to the aforementioned slapstick as the drug-crazed parents of one of "Hell Hole High's" unfortunate student bodies.

Similarly addled by substance abuse is "Hell Hole's" hippie music teacher, played by infamous Seattle street busker and Jerry Garcia impersonator Three Finger Jack. His hilarious scene is part of the gore formula of "HHH," thanks to the unique physiology that gives him his name.

But most notorious on the faculty is sex-ed teacher played by Ara Tripp, who satisfies the movie's breasts requirement. The transsexual Tripp became a Seattle star a few years ago when she climbed a high-voltage tower next to I-5, removed her shirt as an act of civil disobedience, and tied up traffic for several hours, dancing and periodically blowing vodka-fueled flames from her mouth.

How did this transgendered celebrity activist and chicken-coop architect (really — read about Tripp's custom-built henhouse by typing her name into archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com) find her way into the cast of "Hell Hole High"?

"Being a master of exploitation films," says Mayer, "I had to include a topless fire-breathing woman."

Mayer hopes "Hell Hole High" will have some cachet for video culture fans of Herschell Gordon Lewis ("Blood Feast," "Two Thousand Maniacs"), early John Waters ("Mondo Trasho, "Multiple Maniacs"), and what schlock cinema specialist Joe Bob Briggs just called drive-in movies.

Briggs judged them on his scale of the three B's: Blood, Breasts and Beasts. For better or worse, "Hell Hole High" scores on all.

Ted Fry: tedfry@earthlink.net.