The School

I did start writing a very positive review for this, about half way through watching the movie. But as I was writing, and started commenting on the positives, I also started looking at the negatives. And as the movie went on, the negatives started mounting up. But I found, on balance, despite its many faults, it had...something. There are some excellent set pieces, and genuinely creepy scenes, and I loved a lot of the sets. Some of the story telling is quite clumsy , and obvious, and loses its way in places. It does drag a little in the middle. Most of the child actors are fairly poor, and make you feel like your watching a high school play at times, either with their stilted delivery, or over emphasis. The main character Zac, has been watching Heath Ledger's Joker rendition waaay too much and overacts to the max. So you're probably wondering why I awarded this 6 stars? It just had that certain quirkiness and enough good scenes to make it worth while watching. Don't expect a masterpiece, but give it a go

I went into The School knowing absolutely nothing (The way I like it) but within moments had my concerns that this was not going to be something I'd enjoy.

The reason being is that the movie plays out both in the horror scenario and flashbacks and I immediatly sensed that I knew what was going on, what the twist was and basically had the entire movie mapped out in my head based on similiar titles.

Was I right? Pretty much yeah.

It tells the story of a doctor who wakes up in a bathtub in a mysterious rundown school. She's surrounded by kids led by a lunatic that has them living in fear of him with a host of ludricrous rules. The school and it's perimter is also populated by the undead!

In the real world flashbacks her young son is in a coma and she's doing everything in her power to prevent the powers that be from turning the machine off as it's rapidly approaching two years.

Have you got an idea of what the twist is and where she is in your head? If not I'd be surprised. I've seen several films with essentially an identical plot before but generally they didn't have the kind of budget they did. So could that salvage anything?

Well The School does make best use of this recycled plot to its credit, a couple of the cast were capable and it looks great. Sadly when the finale kicks in and the whole thing is really quite expected it didn't have quite the impact it needed to elevate it beyond mediocrity.

Some nice ideas, but too many unanswered questions and I simply don't like movies of this general premise.

The Good:

Some decent ideas

A couple of standout performances

The Bad:

Been done before

Doesn't meet its potential

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The Littlest Vampire seems to be lost

They whitewashed Katana!

This one follows Amy, a young doctor, as she struggles with having a comatose son. She finds herself in a strange, dark, fantasy world where it falls to her to discover the source of the darkness and save everyone. It wasn't the most consistent in tone or genre- parts reminded me of Labyrinth, others of Lord of the Flies, still others of Gotham, and I spent the first half mostly wondering where it was going. But it was cohesive on its own terms and managed to be visually and emotionally compelling without overuse of the obvious triggers involved. It wasn't at all what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The thing is that until the plot is fully revealed is kind of confusing. Nevertheless, I have to say that I could see the whole thing thanks to those dark fantasy touches.

I saw a mix of like a lot of film. And as I said at the beginning is confusing because you do not know if you are seeing some kind of post-apocalyptic movie or what.

It is not outstanding but I think it will please more to feminine sensitivities-not only women ones.

The concept was a good one, and it sounded like one that would be relatable to the viewer. One that sounded like it would be a creepy film with some emotional impact. 'The School' may not have the most exciting of titles, but it did have its premise going for it and was more than willing to look past the poor rating and reviews.

Good news is that 'The School' does have its moments and redeeming merits and it is not a waste of time, didn't find myself severely regretting watching it at least like has been the case with some films recently. While there was a lot wrong with it, 'The School' is a little better than has been indicated (personal opinion of course). The bad news is that 'The School' is not really a good film still and should have done much more with its concept. This is coming from someone who was really intrigued and thought it could be decent if executed well instead of the semi-watchable to lacklustre film it turned out to be.

It does have its slick and atmospheric moments visually, there are far cheaper films out there. The audio is not too obvious and it didn't intrude too much.

Found the acting better than average with a empathetic female lead, apart from moments of over-acting from the younger cast, and the characters at least had some rootable traits and didn't bore or annoy me. There is some unsettling creepiness in the early stages, as well as some emotional impact.

On the other hand, the storytelling does get muddled and confused in the final third especially (although most of the film is vague) and ends feeling incomplete with too much left hanging in the air. The middle also drags quite a lot. The creepiness should have been much more consistent, things do get predictable and the tension and suspense dissipates the duller and more confused the film gets later on.

Will McDonald's performance is uneven, sometimes good but at other points he overdoes it. Similarly the direction has assured moments but also too many pedestrian ones too. The dialogue is a mix of contrived and limp and the editing is too often rather choppy.

Summarising, semi-watchable but didn't quite do it for me. You can do with far worse though. 4/10 Bethany Cox