The Final

I love a good revenge fantasy wherein the viewer can put themselves in the shoes of the downtrodden as they dish out justice to deserving jerks, but it's unlikely that many people will experience such satisfaction with this particular film, the high-school outcasts who plan to get even with their tormentors going way too far in their quest for retribution. Not only does the film fail as a satisfying revenge flick, but it is also barely passes as a torture-porn style horror, with not nearly enough eye-watering graphic gore to satisfy the genre's bloodthirsty fans.

Where the film works best is as a cautionary tale, showing exactly what can happen if one allows a desire for revenge to become all-consuming; the film makes it abundantly clear that such a path can only lead to suffering for ALL involved. Sadly, although the film might possibly work as a deterrent for potential vengeful nerds, I doubt that bullies will get the message that picking on the weak is wrong: most of them are far too stupid to grasp that concept.

I was apprehensive when I approached The Final, choice cut of Afterdark Horrorfest 2010. Any movie portraying school related violence runs the risk of offending many, but The Final, crafted with this in mind, scores a home-run by walking the tightrope and putting on a class act.

The main characters were anti-heroes, to be sympathized with, but certainly not to be admired (even by the most disturbed of movie goers). I personally appreciated the well crafted chemistry among the villains. The violence was well orchestrated as well. The film relied more on suspense than gore, something to be admired in a horror film these days.

Overall, The Final proved to a highly entertaining piece, while delivering some serious catharsis when the credits rolled to those of us who feared offense. It's not perfect in all its areas, but it was the best of the Horrorfest, as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, I'll go ahead and say that first and foremost, this movie is not for everyone. If you can't stand torture, you will simply not like The Final. For those who do, this movie is a rare gem that didn't rely on the gore factor, but earns its praise through terrific acting. I was really looking forward to this movie as a part of Horrorfest, but expected the acting to bring its quality down a peg. I was dead wrong, other than some stuck-up cheerleader types who were played a little over the top for my taste, the actors playing both hunter and hunted did a tremendous job. There are a few moments where you'll say "why doesn't so and so do this to escape" or "what's going on behind the scenes here". Some minor characters had flaws as well, but were given little to work with in their respective roles. I don't really believe there are more than a handful of 10/10 movies out there, and this one just doesn't make that cut. I give it a 7 because I would've liked to see more development, and there were truly things I would've changed in the script. Overall though, a great job building tension and suspense.

Well this movie was a surprise. I was expecting some mediocre mass-produced horror flick, but it proved to be much more than that.

There is a genuine disturbing aspect to the story of this movie. It shows the darker and scarier sides of mankind's mentality and the lengths of which some will go. Of course, what happens in the movie is a bit out there and a bit too over the top, but still there is some sense of disturbing reality to it. And that is what makes this movie so cool, the essence of its twisted character.

The cast of the movie did a good job in bringing their characters to life in believable ways, and hats off to them for that. For without these performances the movie would not work as well as it did.

And it was also a nice touch to see references to other horror movies, especially the reference to one of my all time ever favorite horror movies, the Japanese movie "Audition". This surely brought a smile to my lips.

This movie is not scary in the tradition sense of trying to scare you out of your seat, but it plants a seed of forebrooding dread, a seed that blooms throughout the movie as the events come to be. This movie gets under your skin and will stay with you for some time, as it bears many similarities to events that have happened throughout the years, or events that would very likely come to happen.

I recommend this movie strongly, especially if you like movies that give you stuff to think about. Do not expect to be scared out of your mind, but know that you will be in for some psychological thrills and scares.

This movie should not be missed.

It had a good enough story line leading up and kept me intrigued as to exactly how things would play out. Then it was as if the story writers gave up. What I had anticipated to be the better half of the movie, quickly went downhill. The revenge on the bullies was too rushed and characters had to explain what was happening rather than let the screen 'tell' it. Ended with too many 'What happens to ...?' and leaves a lot of holes in the story.