Though to call it a slasher film is really rather unfair to what the filmmakers have attempted. For, while the box art looks like a slasher, the plot description reads like a slasher and there are even a few stalk 'n slash segments in it, it really isn't a slasher. Picture 'The Game', 'Cruel Intentions', and 'Halloween' participating in a menage and this being the result of that union.
A bunch of bored rich kids get their kicks playing liar games, whomever lies the best gets that pot. But when a new kid with a shady past arrives they decide to up the ante. They invent a serial killer around a recent unsolved murder in the nearby town and psych out the entire school as well as each other. But when people begin to disappear and a figure clad as their killer had been described starts playing with them, it seems like it might not have ever been a game at all.
The film works hard to turn slasher conventions around on themselves. The plotting does everything it can to throw views off the truth; who is the killer, is there a killer? Red herrings abound as the lies mix with the truth to keep the scent faint. Most of the script is well written and keeps viewers guessing, but on occasion it is simply too easy guess what the film is trying to hide from you, which is bit disappointing.
The acting is mostly very good for a cast of relative unknowns. Linda Booth is about the only one I immediately recognized and that being from her memorable death in 'Wrong Turn'. Her and Bon Jovi in a deliciously sleazy role. On a whole the females come off the best with each of them playing a distinct character while the males tend to blend together from time to time.
The production values are by no means big budget, they are more than adequate and there a number of effective artsy segments that do much to establish a distinct visual style for the film.
A brief note on the rating. The PG-13 rating is obviously meant to open up the film to a wider audience, but I can guarantee that many horror purists would skip it because of that. Being a gore hound, at first I was put off by a slasher film without graphic killings, but I can safely say that the film really doesn't need any more flowing crimson than it already has.
Slasher fans will arguably get the most mileage out of this, but even those without a taste for the sub-genre ought to be able to enjoy the layered plot.
8/10
A bunch of bored rich kids get their kicks playing liar games, whomever lies the best gets that pot. But when a new kid with a shady past arrives they decide to up the ante. They invent a serial killer around a recent unsolved murder in the nearby town and psych out the entire school as well as each other. But when people begin to disappear and a figure clad as their killer had been described starts playing with them, it seems like it might not have ever been a game at all.
The film works hard to turn slasher conventions around on themselves. The plotting does everything it can to throw views off the truth; who is the killer, is there a killer? Red herrings abound as the lies mix with the truth to keep the scent faint. Most of the script is well written and keeps viewers guessing, but on occasion it is simply too easy guess what the film is trying to hide from you, which is bit disappointing.
The acting is mostly very good for a cast of relative unknowns. Linda Booth is about the only one I immediately recognized and that being from her memorable death in 'Wrong Turn'. Her and Bon Jovi in a deliciously sleazy role. On a whole the females come off the best with each of them playing a distinct character while the males tend to blend together from time to time.
The production values are by no means big budget, they are more than adequate and there a number of effective artsy segments that do much to establish a distinct visual style for the film.
A brief note on the rating. The PG-13 rating is obviously meant to open up the film to a wider audience, but I can guarantee that many horror purists would skip it because of that. Being a gore hound, at first I was put off by a slasher film without graphic killings, but I can safely say that the film really doesn't need any more flowing crimson than it already has.
Slasher fans will arguably get the most mileage out of this, but even those without a taste for the sub-genre ought to be able to enjoy the layered plot.
8/10