I found this very interesting, not least of all because I was at the college where it was filmed whilst it was being filmed and thus can recognize a few of the cast as people from my lessons...it was a nice memory trip seeing all the locales too but anyway...
the resulting film is definitely better than I thought it would be, especially from the plot which concerns two college dropouts who perform a series of childish pranks designed to get back at those fellow college kids that they feel have wronged them.
however the abusive reactions of the people who have the pranks played upon them end up forcing them into murder.
the main objection I had against this film which was undoubtedly quite well acted, was the fact that unfortunately the two school boy like pranksters are supposed to be the people you're rooting for and yet they are easily as obnoxious and as childishly imbecilic as the people they are attacking, which means that as a viewer you struggle more than a little to know who to root for throughout it.
also the twist into over the top hyper violence really feels at odds with the rest of it which seemed to be an engaging exercise in true realism...it just doesn't feel all that plausible by the end that the two boys would cause so much violence.
I was also overwhelmed by the odd and inconsistent shifts in moods of the main characters Gary and Tom towards their actions, because it seems as if the film one minute considers the awfulness of teen peer violence and in the next seems ready to make us laugh at the boy's rampant killing spree...
definitely worth a watch because the beginning is surprisingly well acted and worthwhile but as I've said it all gets a mite bit ridiculous somewhere after the first bit of violence
the resulting film is definitely better than I thought it would be, especially from the plot which concerns two college dropouts who perform a series of childish pranks designed to get back at those fellow college kids that they feel have wronged them.
however the abusive reactions of the people who have the pranks played upon them end up forcing them into murder.
the main objection I had against this film which was undoubtedly quite well acted, was the fact that unfortunately the two school boy like pranksters are supposed to be the people you're rooting for and yet they are easily as obnoxious and as childishly imbecilic as the people they are attacking, which means that as a viewer you struggle more than a little to know who to root for throughout it.
also the twist into over the top hyper violence really feels at odds with the rest of it which seemed to be an engaging exercise in true realism...it just doesn't feel all that plausible by the end that the two boys would cause so much violence.
I was also overwhelmed by the odd and inconsistent shifts in moods of the main characters Gary and Tom towards their actions, because it seems as if the film one minute considers the awfulness of teen peer violence and in the next seems ready to make us laugh at the boy's rampant killing spree...
definitely worth a watch because the beginning is surprisingly well acted and worthwhile but as I've said it all gets a mite bit ridiculous somewhere after the first bit of violence