The Dead Ones

This low budget presumably indie horror is interesting and it definitely does something a little different. The idea is not new to the horror genre but the setting and main situation driving the narrative is different. The biggest issue is that they give away too much of the twist early on so that the big reveal is not a revelation at all but just a well duh moment. The acting is mixed and the female lead who plays Mouse is the strongest of the four. The special effects rely too much on CGI which seems take away from the creepiness, what ever happened to good old low budget horrors using practical effects? The jump scares full flat due to this lack of tension and creepiness. Not a high recommendation but maybe check it out if you like to watch a lot of low budge horror.

Assigned to a summer detention class, a group of outcast students cleaning up after hours begins to suspect something is following them for a past trauma committed at the school involving a group of armed masked shooters and must try to get out of the school alive before those incidents threaten to consume the group.

This was a somewhat problematic entry. Among the few positives to be had here is the film's highly enjoyable brutality dished out the few times we see the gang cut loose and get crazy on their victims. The bluntness and absolutely unnerving manner in which they play with their victims and begin shooting up the school in the flashback is a fantastic way to get some positives going as there's an enjoyable aspect to the brutality and bloodshed offered in cold, stark fashion with the way they mow victims down or begin slashing at them. However, outside of the creepy masks they wear, that's all this has going for it. This one does have some issues with it. Among the biggest problems is the complete and total lack of any kind of explanation for anything. The idea of the kids staying after hours at the school is never discussion as we don't get any idea what their infraction was that sent them there or why no adult is keeping an eye on them as they seem to be there as punishment. However, with no teacher keeping an eye on them to ensure they complete it or backstory about what their history is since we're just dropped into this without much info about them making it incredibly difficult to care about them bickering and fighting at the very beginning. That carries over into the biker gang terrorizing the school, as we get absolutely nothing about them at all. They seem to show up to the school randomly without any kind of purpose or plan as to what's going on, go out of their way to avoid the group until it comes time to attack them and are acting like such spastic weirdoes it seems unlikely they'd be able to accomplish anything given their erratic outbursts and barely any information given about what they're attempting. Even that little bit of information doesn't amount to much as it gets muddled through the tactics they're trying to accomplish it with. The other problem with this one is the seemingly disjointed plotline that doesn't make any kind of sense whatsoever. The main idea of this one makes no sense with the flashbacks to the rampage going concurrently with their real-life struggles which is incredibly convoluted and confusing, especially once it brings in a quasi-supernatural feel that has no business being in the storyline. It changes what's going on and does so for no reason, turning this into a jumbled, confusing mess and completes the uninterest generated by the rest of the film. This is the biggest drawback to this one and effectively ruins what could've been with this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

It took me about 30 minutes to figure out what was going on in this one but once I did it actually turned out to not be too bad a movie with a slightly unusual take on a modern and old school problem, those being school shootings and bullying. Although I found it a cliched in parts it was, for me, unique in that in my country school shootings just don't happen so it was a different take on horror.

The lighting for this movie was well done and not too dark that the movie was lost in the dark and the cinematography was spot on, the acting was adequate if a little stunted at times and the dialogue was perfect without a load of unnecessary explanations or talking and I liked the slow character development, there's also plenty of gore for the gorehounds ,all in all a solid 7.

This movie really is better than the 3.1 and the reviews led you to believe. I usually give a movie like this or this genre about 15 to 20 minutes to engage me enough to continue to watch it. I was actually going to give up on this movie within that time frame but then got drown in. The reason for this was the cgi and green screen work up to 15 minutes or so was extremely amateurish. Then the movie found another gear and didn't stop excellerating till the end. I loved the story line even though at times it gets a little confusing. I believe this movie deserves to be watched for what it is and where it goes. Definitely needs more than a 3.1 rating.

It's a solid 5½ easy, if not a 6; certainly deserving a better score and wider viewing than it currently has (3.5 and 294 ratings).

It is confusing but I disagree with the reviewer who believes the 'twist' is given away too early so ruining the 'big reveal' - I suspect the director and writer did not intend a 'twist in the tale' and the confusion is deliberate; and once one settles into the viewing, it works (for me anyway). As it flashes between different settings, I did not know whether other scenes depicted the future, the past or geographically elsewhere; did the events in the main part of the film cause the other scenes, or are they parallel rather than directly related? It slowly becomes clear, piece by piece, like a jigsaw. The ending is satisfying but sufficiently ambiguous to prompt discussion - if only more people were watching and discussing (is redemption possible for all the protagonists, or did one protagonist have to suffer one punishment cycle for their responsibility?).

The acting by all concerned was certainly adequate at the very least (I was immersed in the film anyway, watching the actual characters, as opposed to being brought out of a film by people trying, with no great success, to act).

Also, an effective use of Charles Gounod's 'Ave Maria' (Méditation sur le Premier Prélude de Piano de S. Bach) - scoring a violent scene with soft, slow music can emphasise the poignancy of it (e.g. Oliver Stone's use of Barber's 'Adagio for Strings' as the soldiers destroy the village in his 'Platoon').

One final complement to it: I'm now far more sceptical of low ratings from small numbers on IMDb, and more inclined to give such films a chance.