Jonathan Levine –
2008 – USA
This film has a nice style and assurance
about it, and it had the potential to be a significant, influential thriller of
its time. The plot, however, is so unoriginal
that it utterly fails the filmmakers’ ambitions, which is said since there is
certainly a vision there struggling to come through. Aside from the beauty of star Amber Heard,
the main asset of the film is the sparse and sun-drenched locale of suburban
Texas, shot with a slightly grainy filter to give it a nostalgic feel. Past that, though, it’s basically a
descendant of the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer school
of horror, with a gaggle of snarky and superficial high schoolers alternately
seducing and victimizing each other.
Stripped bare, the film is basically an old-fashioned who-done-it
complete with a twist ending revealing that the real villain is the very last
person we would have guessed! It’s a
lightweight thriller that would have seemed better-than-average as a TV-movie,
but it’s worth seeing for the somewhat arresting production values.
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