Director: Daniel Robbins
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Torture Slasher
Plot:
Attempting to pledge a big fraternity, a group of loser friends find that the humiliation and torture being inflicted upon them is not a series of ordinary hazing ritual and decide to fight back only to find a far greater threat at the center of their struggle and try to get away alive.
Review:
This was a decent and solidly enjoyable outing. One of the more enjoyable aspects to be found here is the absolute craziness this dives into once they begin dealing with the pledge antics. After the perfectly fine setup at the beginning here with the party at the house, this one dives into some rather enjoyable tortures which just come out of nowhere and delve into some rather dark and uncomfortable rituals that they take part in. Under the guise of it being tradition and all part of the process, there's a lot of fun to be had with the way this one dives into for their torture.
From being forcibly branded against their will to given dead-animal-and-rotten-food slop as a meal to scarf down and then taken into another room to be whipped and humiliated against their will, these early scenes showing the group being hazed are incredibly shocking with how they emerge in the story out of nowhere and prove to be merely the first stage of the craziness to ensue. As there's so much brutal, bloody fun to ensue from the final half of their desperate race to get out of the fraternity space alive and get away from the crazed members attempting to chase them down through halls of the building. These really enhance the film considerably and make enough to like to hold this over it's few minor issues.
Among the few flaws here is the excruciatingly contrived setup that gets this one going. The fact that the group is so clearly going along with a game-plan set into motion by sinister forces is so obvious with the way they're awkward and socially inept that comes as a complete counterpoint to the jock-centered behavior usually associated with fraternities. They stick out so badly that it's obvious the different groups are toying with them and their inability to recognize that makes them out to be completely idiotic for not realizing this as instead of building sympathy for them as intended it just makes them out to be rather unintended morons.
As well, there's also the surprisingly abrupt ending that doesn't really make any real sense. The fact that it brings up a big twist about the true nature of who's going to be involved in the special fraternity seems to be quite unnecessary as the twist comes out of nowhere, is not even set up as any kind of traditional shock and it's over once it plays out without any kind of resolution which leaves the entire focus rather shocking. Once everything's been settled and figured out it's into the credits which is so jarring and abrupt that it's quite hard to process what's going on as we've barely had time to process the actions much less the implications of the twist which make for a bit of a shock. Otherwise, there's not much else wrong here.
Overview: ****/5
While it has a few minor issues getting going and a minor issue at the end of this, the rest of the film is far greater with a lot to like about it overall. This is definitely recommended to those that appreciate the main positives to be found here as well as those that enjoy the quirks featured, while those that aren't a fan of the modern-day teens usually involved in such genre films are advised to seek caution.
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