I am going to start off by saying that what I loved most about this movie is that it kept me guessing, the movie was creative, so I never just knew what would happen next. I went into this movie knowing nothing but the title and the short summary given on Netflix. I am going to try to avoid spoiler, but it is difficult when the most attractive parts of the movie are the way it surprises you.
Now, just based off the title, I went into this expecting this film to be a campy “let’s kill the popular kids” movie. At the beginning it even felt like it was going to go that route, as a few minutes into the movie the first cheerleader dies. Very quickly, however, things about the characters seemed to be different. While none of the characters were developed in-depth, they all quickly showed that they didn’t follow the cookie cutter cheerleader. I think the most unoriginal characters were the football players, but even they were a bit different. Terry the super-Alpha male, stood out among them.
The basic story is, the head cheerleader, Alexis, dies in a cheer related accident. Afterwards, one of her non-cheerleader friends, Maddy, decides to infiltrate Alexis’s friends and destroy them from the inside. After knocking over a few
dominoes her plan begins to work, but has she gone to far? Along with her scheming, Maddy is also force to deal with a new age/goth-ish ex-lover.
Unfortunately, I can’t really say anything more without ruining what the film has to offer, which is why I didn’t put My Suggestion as just Buy. I am not sure that this film will hold up to repeated viewing, except perhaps for those that feel an affinity for one of the characters.
As, I was researching this film, I saw that one of the directors were Lucky McKee, he has also been a part of movies such as Woman, and May. Both very off the wall movies, if I would have known that before viewing I might have expected more of what I saw in this film. Just be warned, this movie is not nearly as graphic as either of those films, I would say it ranks a soft R. Since this movie is a remake, I am not sure if that restricted or helped it, as I have not seen the original. I am hoping to see more from McKee set in this films universe.
If you’re looking for a different sort of teen scare flick, this might fill that whole in you black heart.
I have included the trailer, but I think it reveals too much, so watch at your own risk.
