Director: L.C. Holt
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Gathered together on New Year’s Eve, faculty members at a small-town high school trying to get past a recent tragedy are sent on a wild scavenger hunt to quell the whims of a deranged killer seeking revenge for their involvement in a student’s death and must stop him before its too late.
Review:
This was an underwhelming and somewhat problematic slasher effort. What works nicely here is the film’s attempts at trying to bring about a fine slasher villain which is quite fun here. The whole motivation of the rampage aside, the idea of this one is about a revenge rampage taking out the guilty party associated with a tragedy which is a traditional setup at play that comes off rather well here. That carries over to the stalking and slashing scenes here as the graphic carnage on display is wholly impressive as the encounters in the barn, a stellar series of confrontations that take place in a library outfitted with various neon lights in the rooms, and a big confrontation in the school auditorium that lets the great mask and nice gore work to have some positive points.
There are some really big issues holding this one down. One of the main drawbacks with this one is the rather unlikable main group of teachers that we’re asked to follow who are immensely tough to get behind. The opening party that brings them into the film is the wrong kind of introduction required here with everyone shown out to be a back-stabbing group of gossips who are out to cause drama with everything they do, from digging in and needling the one trying to expose some kind of tragedy that just occurred, verbally cutting down their co-workers for stepping into the conversations or dealing secrets that don’t make anyone out to be sympathetic in the slightest. This type of introduction is carried over into the opening stages of the game they’re forced into playing where their argumentative behavior and combative tone make it hard to care about the group whether they’ll make it through the entire game.
That brings about the other big issue here with a scattershot and chaotic game at the center of the film. The whole idea of the flashbacks to explain their actions on the bullied student whom everything is based on serves the film well but only paints this out as yet another in a long line of bullied teenagers that has nothing new or original about it the more this goes on so these scenes end up just stalling the pacing instead. Also, the constant back-and-forth nature of everyone turning on each other throughout the game never comes off as logical as everything seems to happen merely to prolong the film with their insecurities brought up to use as an excuse to not go for the killer when they have the upper hand so they end up losing out and causing the killer to strike so it’s all continued for nothing. With an overlong finale that is infuriatingly stupid trying to make a point about bullying, this one has some big issues that hold it down.
Overview: */5
A massively underwhelming and disjointed slasher effort, this one manages to disappoint in numerous high-profile ways and only has the brutal gore to hold it up in the end. Only go for this one if you’re a hardcore slasher fan or a die-hard fan of the creative crew while most others out there should heed extreme caution.
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