This is another movie that I saw from the 8 Midnight Movies collection that is supposed to be about hatchets and cleavers. These one doesn't feature either. I also don't know if I'd consider this a horror movie either. I'm going to give this limited review as it is more of a drama with some thriller aspects as well. It does feature an interesting young cast with the likes of Matthew Lillard, Lori Heuring, Neil Patrick Harris and Amanda Peet. I could also include in a brief appearance by Catherine Hicks.
Now for this, the title comes from an experiment this high school is doing. There is a group of students that hang out with Doug Van Housen (Lilliard). I think his crew includes Pink (Ryan Payne Bell), Porky (Eddie Malavarca) and Eddie LeMaster (Brian Vincent). They are bullies and don't want to learn. Principal Jones (Stephen Pearlman) and the teachers agree to put them in a room in the basement to allow the rest of the students to learn. Professor Hinge (Dechen Thurman) is vehemently against this.
The reason there is a special student is lumped in, Arnold Mosk (Harris). There is something off about him and he uses hallucinogenic drugs which is why he is in there. Arnold is brilliant though. He just struggles with applying himself. He is bullied by Doug and his crew. There is a student that is breaking norms though. Gary Trancer (Gabriel Olds) protects him as they were friends growing up. They drifted a bit, but he's still there for him. He even scolds his girlfriend, Debbie (Peet), for mocking Arnold.
With that established, I did want to say that I think this has interesting things to say. This was made in the mid-90s. There are still issues like this happening. Maybe not to the extent of segregating them into their own classroom while we get here, but there are students that don't want to learn and instead of trying to reach them, they are forgotten. It is a fine line though. I will acknowledge that. The same vein, Arnold is being lumped in due to his drug use. He also has issues with connecting so there could be autism or something along these lines. I do like this exploring the idea of the system failing as it is something we should talk about.
The problem with this movie though is that I don't know if the message in the end works. There are elements here where I can see what they're trying to do, but it falls short. Doug is a rich kid. I like that he has more than some but still acts the way he does. He is even defiant at home. We see that he does some horrible things, him and Eddie, when they break into a person's house to steal a gun. This group forces Arnold to do something gross. This works in establishing how 'villainous' they are. Where it ends up though isn't satisfying. The ending is bleak and not in the best way. It feels empty and incomplete. I don't need the antagonists to be completely punished and it be wrapped up by a bow, but with what they were building to, it feels pointless.
I would say that other than that, the acting is fine. I think it borders on being too over the top at times. The filmmaking is around the same for me. We get some interesting enough cinematography. There aren't a lot in the way of effects, but it isn't that type of movie. What I will say there is that they do well in hiding things. The soundtrack is also fine. We do get a song from the Misfits which I found interesting as they make a cameo as well. Not a good movie by any stretch, but there was promise here that fails to fulfill.
My Rating: 4 out of 10.
