Loud, frenetic teen-oriented supernatural slasher attempts to show the "playful" side of filmmakers Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson, as some reviewers put it. The story has an outsider named Maddy (Aussie actress Caitlin Stasey) joining the Blackfoot High cheerleading squad, determined to get revenge on the star jock Terry Stankus (Tom Williamson). Things go horribly wrong after a late-night party, and the core group of cheerleaders ends up dead. However, thanks to some intervention by the witchy Leena (Sianoa Smit-McPhee, another Aussie), they return from the dead - with a decided change in attitude and appetite.
The movie is fast paced, so you have to give the filmmakers that much, but the script and the characters generally lack any truly interesting features. Leena, in particular, is the kind of lone wolf Goth type character we've all seen countless times before. One mildly intriguing touch is to keep almost all adult characters firmly in the background, with the exception of a neighbour played by veteran Michael Bowen. The movie also is notable for a healthy amount of splatter devised by Robert Kurtzman (formerly of KNB), and a plethora of hilarious cheese ball visual effects. The female cast is quite attractive, although the prospect of girl watching can only sustain the movie for so long.
The cast is okay, although they're often required to not speak their dialogue so much as to yell it. Williamson is actually a standout as a VERY bad dude, the perfect stereotypical picture of a nasty, callous, "I always get what I want" type jock villain. Outside of Terry and Leena, though, the characters fail to make much of an impact.
This may satisfy undemanding genre fans, at least those hoping for a reasonable amount of sex appeal and violence.
Five out of 10.
The movie is fast paced, so you have to give the filmmakers that much, but the script and the characters generally lack any truly interesting features. Leena, in particular, is the kind of lone wolf Goth type character we've all seen countless times before. One mildly intriguing touch is to keep almost all adult characters firmly in the background, with the exception of a neighbour played by veteran Michael Bowen. The movie also is notable for a healthy amount of splatter devised by Robert Kurtzman (formerly of KNB), and a plethora of hilarious cheese ball visual effects. The female cast is quite attractive, although the prospect of girl watching can only sustain the movie for so long.
The cast is okay, although they're often required to not speak their dialogue so much as to yell it. Williamson is actually a standout as a VERY bad dude, the perfect stereotypical picture of a nasty, callous, "I always get what I want" type jock villain. Outside of Terry and Leena, though, the characters fail to make much of an impact.
This may satisfy undemanding genre fans, at least those hoping for a reasonable amount of sex appeal and violence.
Five out of 10.