Next up...
The Final
NOTE: THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS; THE MOVIE WAS SO DISAPPOINTING I CAN'T BE BOTHERED PARSING THEM OUT
Ok. So this movie actually started out pretty promising... The production value was pretty high, the direction and lighting were solid, and the acting was good, considering that we have an entire cast of Kids (read "Kids" as "meant to look like high schoolers)... Not to mention, I thought that the plot was pretty poignant, especially after
this story of a girl who committed suicide after being chronically bullied by her peers.
Basic movie plot: A group of high school bully victims come together to trap and torture their oppressors.
Could be good, right? Should cater directly to every torture/exploitation flick fan, not to mention Horror Nerds who were tortured in high school...
Right?
But unfortunately,
The Final FAILS:
- Our trapped victimizers-turned-victims hardly show any fear for their predicament... If our victims aren't scared/horrified/shocked, how can you possibly expect the audience to be? FAIL on mood.
- THERE'S NO BLOOD - The whole point of trapping the school bullies is to torture them and even though they utilize a captive bolt pistol to drill into someone's face and industrial clippers to shear off fingers, THERE IS NO BLOOD. Come ON - I understand the restraint of a small budget, but horror directors have ALWAYS found a way to splatter their victims. FAIL on special effects.
- The only prolonged torture scene is ripped directly from Audition. I'm not kidding: Apron, pins, everything except the "eeeee eeeee eeeee." FAIL on originality.
- TWO of the FIVE main villains are killed twice. TWICE. SERIOUSLY. FAIL on continuity.
- Once we have our victims trapped, most of the dialogue are extended diatribes about how violence begets violence. Well, DUH. Our main Villain spends more time monologuing than torturing. FAIL on writing.
- Oh, and did I mention that the torture scenes suck? One of the torture devices is supposedly an acid-like cream that melts your skin... But we don't actually see any skin-melting (or even off-screen screaming for that matter!). FAIL on horror.
Going in to writing this review, I was actually going to give the movie 2/5, but now that I've taken the time to catalogue its F's, I don't think I can give it even a 2... WOW, what a dog.
1.75/5.