Synopsis: A group of high school outcasts plan a big party so they can exact brutal revenge on the obnoxious gang of alpha males and stuck-up prom queens who have abused and belittled them.I saw an early review on this film that said it's sort of "Saw goes to Columbine" and that's not too far from the truth. It's nowhere near as well done as most of the Saw series, nor as brutal, but it does have it's moments. And it's definitely a script right out of the headlines of today's regular school violence occurrences. But is it a good film and does it really have a big social message? Well, maybe 10 years ago. Nowadays it's just sort of cliched and a little bit ho-hum.
That's not to say it's not a decent and watchable for a cheaply done horror film. It's just probably not as powerful as it once would have been, nor as shocking. The kids all seem a bit over-the-top with their actions and stereotypical, so much so that the early high school bullying scenes seem almost satirical I thought. Then once the plan is put into motion, it gets pretty interesting and brutal, but nowhere near as brutal as it could have been as there's just too much talking and arguing going on and not enough action. It has a few gory, torture scenes but there's really not a lot of suspense or tension and then the payoff is just sort of meh.
A few other points... the kids getting revenge set up a camera at the beginning and say they're going to be Internet legends, but they never really touch on that again. If they would have shown them broadcasting live over the Internet or something that would have added something. Also all the outcasts wear masks at first, but say they weren't going to kill any of the bullies, yet they were going to kill themselves at the end? Why wear masks? Wouldn't the whole point have been to show the bullies who was getting revenge on you? It's sort of moot after a bit as they remove their masks, but it sort of made me feel like the writer just did it because it looked cooler. And frankly, the masks did look cooler. Lastly, they imprison the cool kids by slipping something in their drink. Something apparently magical that makes them all pass out and then wake up at the same time just a bit later. What the hell is that and where do I get it? Is it like a 30-minute roofie or something? Sort of silly and convenient I thought.
Most of the films it borrows so heavily are done better, but this one is still worth watching as teen revenge fantasies go. It's got a mean-spirit and some disturbing moments but doesn't really deeply address any of the problems at the root of it, but simply puts them on display yet again. If I hadn't seen it all so many times before it might be more memorable. Let's just hope we don't ever see this story again in the real world.
5/10
