Director: Chase Dudley
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Undertaking a difficult class assignment, a group of high school forensics students start looking into a series of murders committed at the school in the past, but when the spree continues, they must put their disputes aside to find the killer and their motive before they’re all taken out.
Review:
This was a rather fun genre throwback when it mattered. Among the better features here is the generally strong setup that provides this with a chance to explore multiple elements throughout its main storyline. The idea of the class investigating the crimes committed in the past, while in the middle of their personal issues involving growing up, being teased for different crushes, and other forms of schoolwork that go into their daily lives, that are soon interrupted by a string of murders and disappearances that throw everything into chaos. Getting an in-depth look at the main girl and her friends who make this one come together into a solid, twist mystery, as the different lines of investigation are followed up on, allows the film to start bringing together these different pieces to the mystery. It all feels realistic to the lives of modern teenagers while also setting up a convoluted yet engrossing mystery over what’s going on around campus.
When it comes to the stalking scenes to pay off the investigation, there’s quite a lot to like here. The opening scenes involving the killer targeting the teacher in the halls of the school are a great touch, coming across the mass of slaughtered bodies, while other big scenes include the highlight montage of victims slaughtered around town that come together quite nicely. The big ambush scenes, mainly the stalking at the prom, which includes the first murder outside by the bleachers, and following up on the chase with the other victim being a lengthy, involved sequence with a lot to like. Later ambush scenes around the campus, taking out various victims, are a lot of fun as well as providing the kind of inspiration for the finale, which is where this has the most to like. With the main victim being shown as psychologically tormented for what happened in the past, there’s a nice bit of guesswork involving the reveal of the killer and the different bloody kills featured here, these make for a solid enough time here.
There are some issues here that hold this one down. The majority of these factors are based solely on the film's running time, as there's little reason for this one to run over two hours. That most of these scenes are here in the film to boost up the running time comes across more due to a lack of proper editing than anything related to the story proper is the biggest goal since there's a lot of extraneous scenes that could've been cut without disrupting anything, from the opening ten-minute cold open with the coach that has several interactions with other workers that could've been trimmed down, the constant teasing about her crush on the fellow student, or the emotionally-charged relationship with the mother investigating the case. These all hold the pacing up so much that it takes well over half an hour until it starts in on the profiling case that the main storyline revolves around, and alongside moments where the low budget does creep in what's going on on-screen is what holds this one back.
Overview: ***.5/5
A really solid if overlong slasher effort, there’s a lot more to like here than expected, as the running time is the main drawback to be had here compared to the more enjoyable factors elsewhere. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre throwback, who enjoy this kind of indie effort, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have a lot to like, while most others out there should heed caution.
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