Black Spines

A masked serial killer known as "The Pill" is hunting high-school students in the small town of Page Hollow (but actually filmed in Pomona, CA). The killings are brutal, although if you've watched Friday the 13th films, maybe they aren't any worse than those.

What sets the film apart is the care taken to spend time with these characters. At the heart of the story is Cameron (Jan Luis Castellanos), a nebbish and loner teen whose father has recently died, and is struggling to find a path forward. He lives with his more self-assured sister Kathryn (Tiana Le) and mother (Vanessa Rubio, of "Cobra Kai" fame). Another strong performance is from Elizabeth Yu, who plays his best friend Shawn.

Cameron isn't handling high school well - without much of a social life and no real friends, he is mercilessly bullied by the school jocks, the main gang leader is coincidentally another "Cobra Kai" alumni - Gianni DeCenzo.

After a short prologue sequence involving the first killing of the film, it surprisingly jumps backward one week to fill in the action and killings referred to in the prologue. That's a refreshing twist.

"Black Spines" relies perhaps a bit too much on high school tropes - dumb jocks, bullies, etc. But maybe that's expected and necessary in a film like this. Plus, the killer has an almost supernatural ability to be in the exactly right place and time when a potential victim is alone. And no one, including the police, spends much time trying to determine the identity of "The Pill".

Despite these drawbacks, the entire cast is assured and likeable. Although the plot is in some ways derivative of other teen slasher films, there are enough twists and unique family dynamics to keep your interest.