May 16, 2010

Review: The Final (2010)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390535/
Here's a story about a bunch of High School losers who are tired of getting picked on by the cool kids, so they decide to throw a party to get some good old fashioned torture-revenge on them.

At the point when, in an attempt to be quirky or reverent, one of the killers sits down and starts playing the banjo while another of them tortures one of their captives, I nearly threw my TV out of the window. It was bad enough that what had come in the 45 minutes before that point was poorly written, poorly acted, and just plain sucky, but a character sitting and merrily play the banjo while they ripped-off the acupuncture scene from Audition was just painful to watch.

What is he even doing?
It starts off lame, gets lamer, get frustrating, moves into ridiculous territory, and about halfway through it becomes obvious that there wasn't a bit or thought that went into the writing of or the production of this movie. Maybe if they had a few actors with experience or a better script, it would have been tolerable instead of cringe-inducing.

The psychopathic geeks even try to kill the one cool kid who stuck up for them and was nice to them... he even got in a fight for their honor, and yet they decide he's expendable too. At least he survives. He was the only one in the movie that didn't suck.

Please stop.
The characters in this movie were so one dimensional and cliche that it's laughable. Now, I don't want to blame the actors for dropping the ball here (which I think they did), because maybe the Director wanted them to over-act and suck, but most of the performances here were just bad. For example, I actually watched the scenes that involved the "cool girls" with my face in my palm for the most part, because I couldn't believe what I was seeing...

"I'm not going to the party, I like, don't feel good and stuff."
"You have to go. All you need is some alcohol and some sex!"
"Fuck yeah, bitch! Woo, party!"
"We're so hot!"
"You know it bitch!"

I'm paraphrasing, but that's pretty close to how one scene went down. Really.

Totally realistic.
I'm not even going to get into the fact that the movie seemed to glorify outcast School Kids killing their classmates because they feel so alone and wronged, but in the wake of real life incidents like that in U.S. Schools over the past decade or so, it just seems in poor taste to me.

It's all just so cliche and cheesy... the kids parents all either neglect, ignore, or fail to connect with their children which prompts them to withdraw into their own dark loneliness and hatch a violent revenge plan... I'm sure the filmmakers made this movie as a cautionary tale, but to me it came off more as a "Yeah, kill the cool kids!" thing, which just felt wrong. And even worse, stupid.

Good try ladies, but no go.
Plenty of other Horror sites gave this one a good/decent review, and I just don't get it, as it's the weakest of this years AD Horrorfest lineup by far. Maybe I'm getting it wrong, but I can't recommend you do anything but avoid this one.

The Final did have some crazy hot chicks in it though...

6 comments :

  1. I agree. Its utter shit. The misfits are worst than the jock douchebags and mean girls...esp that gas mask kid and his melodramatic "you were mean bullies" monologue.

    Cmon, don't take Columbine material and treat it like this...jeez.

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  2. It's not the worst film I've seen,but not the best.I like the idea of the social lower class being pushed to the limit but it seems far too brutal and organised.
    And the "based on true events" part,what true events?I'm pretty sure that news would've reached the UK shores.
    I agree with Jaded that was melodramatic at times.
    Although I do think Lindsay Seidel is kinda hot which was a plus with movie.

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  3. I'm sorry, but with all due respect, I disagree. This movie was not utter shit and it was not as awful as you make it out to be. It was not perfect, definitely, but, honestly, it was a good movie and it had some good points to make; taking revenge on bullies is not one of them. I appreciate the theme of this movie, because I can easily relate to it, and several quotes from it do really make me think. I guess it all depends on the way you see it. I'm glad I saw the movie, and guess what? It's now one of all-time favorites and, though it's been a while since I saw it, I still remember it. You think this movie had terrible characters, script and acting? Well, I'm sure this was above average compared to so many other horror movies out there.

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  4. Sam, you hate Dead Snow and The Children, and yet you call this one of your favorites? I don't even know what to say to that.

    Personal preference is cool with me, and you loving this movie is fine, but it's a poorly made flick at very best.

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  5. It could have been better. That's for sure. And I wish it was. But, anyway, it worked for me. With all its imperfections. Because it managed to grab my attention and make me think, unlike Dead Snow and The Children which felt rather dull to me. We differ now on these three movies, but I assure you, we agree on so many other movies you have reviewed. By the way, I have watched a horror movie lately and I loved it. I have looked for it in your list and I couldn't find it. Could it be that you haven't watched it yet? It's called The Collector (2009). Well, as I can see, you are going to review Heartless soon. I can't wait to read that. I have already watched the movie and I'm really interested to see if we agree on that one or not. Thank you for everything.

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  6. Justified, I'm hardly a whiner that needs anything spoon fed to me, but this movie was just shit.

    You can love it all you want, good for you. That doesn't change the fact that it was a weak movie with some cardboard characters that no one but a child would identify with.

    It was bad. Sorry.

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