Departing Seniors

This comedy horror mystery thriller is combining supernatural theme with murder mystery. I think that that's the main attraction of this movie. Javier is a high school senior who's suffered bullying. After a violent one which caused him to fell down the stairs, he developed a psychic ability that makes him seeing vision randomly whenever he touched an object or being touched by someone. One day he had a vision of a bully in his school getting murdered and he made it his mission to stop the killer. That's the plot for this movie, simple, interesting and watchable. So I gave it a go, and as it turns out, it wasn't really bad, but it wasn't good either. There are some scenes that were too loud while some others were too quiet that I almost couldn't hear the dialogues. And as a murder mystery, it lacks a lot of logic. I managed to guess who the murderer correctly after the second murder. So the mystery isn't the best part of this movie. I think that the things that appealed to me in this movie are Javier-Bianca's bestie chemistry, Javier's teenage romance, and last but not least, Javier's psychic ability.

After being bullied by his peers, a high school teen is sent to the hospital and survives the encounter with the newfound ability to see the past or future of those he touches which forces him to use the abilities to save his friends when a savage killer begins stalking and killing his classmates.

This was a fairly enjoyable and likable slasher effort. Among the better aspects on display here is the intriguing setup that offers a somewhat intriguing setup mixing together several different elements into a teen slasher. The early setup of the early life within the friend group getting a chance to see their life together with a look at the different cliques in the school who are at odds with each other as the jocks bully the other guy and his friend, making for a nice bit of sympathy involving everything being brought up. As these incidents bring about the accident that reveals his ability to see their past or future based on touch and a generally great grounding within some highly topical LGBTQ commentary, it does a fun job of adding a solid paranormal bent to the typical teen slasher it's set up to be. The other enjoyable factor with this one is the way it handles the approach of the killer throughout here. The central concept of hiding the fact they've been killed by having the killer perform everything to make it appear as if it was a suicide allows for an intriguing hook that's pretty enjoyable and makes for not just some impressive setpieces but a hint of intelligence from the killing figure. As the stalking scenes offer up some intriguing scenes of the masked figure going through the school and taking them out before going through the process of setting everything up for the suicide appearance, there are plenty of likable factors here that go along with the wholly intriguing look of the killer to give the film a lot to like. There are a few drawbacks to this one that do hold it down. One of the main issues here is that the pacing to this one is the lackluster and draining pacing here which is quite bland for a majority of the running time. As it takes far too long spelling out the series of subplots involving the students and their lives following the incident as there's a lot to unpack with discovering it's presence and abilities, the first half plods along rather limply with a lot it has to spell out what's happening and it all comes at the expense of the stalking action normally found in these kinds of efforts which can be somewhat of a disappointment. The other real drawback to this one is a disturbing trend of off-screen kills that we then stumble upon later that leaves the whole thing excessively underwhelming repeating the same thing for most of its kills, keeping this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

Every once in a while you find a horror gem among tons and tons of crap on the various TV streamers and this one is a good one for sure! The direction is on point and the acting is surprisingly good. Plenty of twists and turns throughout the story will keep you guessing. Saying anything else to avoid spoilers, but has "Happy Death Day" vibes with the better elements of "Scream".

Some Gory Gore hounds may be disappointed by the lack of blood and guts, and I doubt this one will be winning horror film of the year, but it doesn't detract from a fun "whodunnit?" teen slasher on a non-Hollywood budget.

It's hard to hate on a film like 'Departing Seniors'. It feels like an inexperienced up-and-coming filmmaker taking their shot, and with a limited amount of talent they actually do a lot right.

Of course it's very sloppy in a lot of ways, and you have to look past that in order to enjoy it. The performances are often over the top - people yelling their lines when there is no need for it, for example.

The horror scenes aren't overly suspenseful but they are interesting. And it's a whodunit which is always a fun added layer to any film.

This is a film that means well and takes its best shot. Is it perfect? Far from it. But there's enough going on to keep it afloat. 6/10.

Without ever having heard about the 2023 movie "Departing Seniors" prior to stumbling upon it, I still opted to watch it on account of it being a horror movie of sorts that I had not already seen. And without harboring a single expectation to the movie, I suppose writer Jose Nateras and director Clare Cooney had every opportunity to entertain me.

The storyline was sort of okay, though it was hardly something extraordinary. I mean, it was watchable for what it was, but the movie was struggling a bit with its pacing and having a mostly dislikable character gallery.

The acting performances in the movie were good. And while I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, then that was actually something that spoke in favor of the movie.

I suppose if you are a newcomer to the horror genre, then you will find more enjoyment in the narrative than I did as a seasoned horror veteran.

While certainly a watchable movie, this was hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

My rating of "Departing Seniors" lands on a four out of ten stars.