"With its nod to Clockwork Orange, Mischief Night, directed by Richard Zelniker, avoids every cliché and cheap trick, instead forcing us inside the pain, fear and excruciating confusion that lives inside so many people today. It doesn't look 'at' a social issue and offer a glossy solution. It demands that we feel the desperation of its trapped protagonists. Who is the hero and who is the villain? No easy answer there either. We all have a voice. A passionate, but weary English teacher (portrayed with such humanity by Moe Irvin) offers a path. Shakespeare. Poetry. But this writer, director, producers and stunning cast walk us down that path and lead the way for every kid, parent, citizen, human asking not just 'Why did another kid take a gun to school?' and 'Why did another horrific killing happen?' The pain is intolerable. The fear is constant. And the answers too quiet and too late. Mischief Night opens a much needed conversation. No. It demands it from a roof top.
And about that director, Richard Zelniker found a soft-spoken boy with a volcano inside of him and put that voice on screen. Where so many filmmakers today rely on horrific violence, gore and external terror to hold our attention, Zelniker somehow makes us feel every painful moment without ever taking the easy way out. An adult film about childhood agony that reveals itself so exquisitely, you are left shaken to the core without one 'shock shot'. Like The Hurt Locker, your heart is in your mouth from the first five minutes through the final exhale. Beautifully photographed, the images are terrifying and haunting in the best way. How does a film that never jolts you with that sudden scream keep you so wrapped? Zelniker and his cast jolt us awake. Complacency is not an option. Helter Skelter, Clockwork Orange, and The Outsiders have a companion for the shelf. I really didn't want to, but Zelniker made me look.
And now I can't close my eyes."
Eden Bernardy Screenwriter
