A Final

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.

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.

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.

It's a bit of shame. This movie seemed to have some real potential, due to its concept but it still manages to go wrong, pretty early on in the movie already. It's still a movie with lots of great ideas and some good moments but the movie doesn't really known how it wants to make you feel and the movie therefore feels confusing and messy.

Let's face it; the premise of having a bunch of bullies get taken revenge on by their 'victims' sounds like an awesome idea, you can do so much good and interesting with. Lots of stuff that you can cheer for, since everybody till some extend can definitely identify with the bullied persons in this movie. And while the movie does this at points it also really crosses the lines of morality. Seriously, how is what these kids are doing in their movie any less worse than those kids who did those school shootings because they always got bullied, or for whatever other reason? The movie doesn't really seem to know how it wants to make you feel. The one moment you are really sympathizing for the bullied persons, who are taking revenge but at others you are disgusted and shocked by the way they are taking their revenge.

But it definitely is a movie that is still being mostly entertaining. It isn't being too heavy on its subject and it just doesn't try to handle it too seriously. This is what still makes "The Final" a very watchable movie. Even when the movie really starts to cross the border you won't get too disturbed by it, due to the entire way the movie got shot and set up.

The entire premise of this movie might sound gory but the horror fans will still most likely miss some real good gore and disturbing shocking moments in this. It definitely is no "Saw" or "Hostel", though the movie might sound like that. I don't even remember really any blood in this. It's not because they didn't wanted to have any probably but more because they simply couldn't. It's not a very high budget movie, which is OK, since the movie does very well with the resources it did have.

It's a good enough movie, that just doesn't live up to its premise and potential well enough.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This is not one of those movies that I'd refer to as,, fun. I saw it first awhile back after it came out, so this is my 2nd viewing,, and my thoughts on it have still stayed the same. This is a great suspense/thriller for the content it contains. A group of High school misfits/outcasts set up a party and invite the popular kids to come. The popular kids who've spent the last few years torturing them (emotionally/psychologically/physically) daily at school. Why would the misifts do this? Well,, they're not planning on showing the cool kids a great time,, more like a night of horrors they'll never forget.

This movie should really ring true for everyone in some way. No matter whether you were the bully or the bullied,, we all have seen bullying and it's effects on people. Growing up I was bullied plenty, and it had a profound effect on me and my sense of self-worth. While I have grown up, and have a very healthy sense of self-worth now,, it took a VERY long time to get there. As I would hope everyone does, I look at things very different now. I don't wish anything against the bullies from my past,, but the scars are always there. I went to a restaurant with my family a couple of years ago,, and one of my bullies was there. I hadn't seen or thought about this guy in more than a decade or so,, but just being in the same room made everything come back. I was on the verge of a panic attack. He didn't acknowledge me, nor I him,, but I felt like that tormented kid again.

This movie (imo) does a good job of showing what can happen if people are pushed far enough. Especially considering the Godless/nihilistic views that are so prevalent in this day and age. I see how kids treat each other now, and it makes my generation almost look saintly (well, not quite,, but much nicer). We are living in the last days, that's for certain,, and it's gonna get worse before it gets better. Anyways,, I've said enough.