Honestly, I was hoping for just a little more involving the actual shooting, but I also understand this movie was to help raise awareness to bullying and the repercussions that are associated with it. The acting is way far from the worst I've seen, although in reality school shootings end within seconds not an hour. This movie moved kind of slow and was sometimes just lagging. The end to me though made it worth watching. Almost gave this indie film a 6 just because of the end.
7 Reviews
Important message but poorly done.
XpocalypseSurvival28 March 2021
As entertainment goes, this is not a great movie. It is plodding and slow and makes little sense, but it really isn't meant to be about entertainment. It is about messaging, so that is how I will evaluate it. Unfortunately, the messaging isn't very good either. Most of the movie is essentially a series of skits stitched together which put on display a variety of issues faced by teens, a lot of them related to absent or poor parents. While these are important and real issues, they are treated very superficially, so you just get this smorgasboard of issues with no real depth or conclusions.
A bigger problem, though, for me, is that the whole point of the movie is essentially being against stereotpyes and not pigeon-holing people into subgroups and isolation, yet all of the characters are horribly stereotypical: the Hispanic janitor who gives inspirational encouragement to the stoner, the rich kid fondly reminiscing about trying on Versace shirts with diamond cufflinks with his dad, the gaming geek hackers, the random question out of nowhere asking the jock how long he has been using steroids, the list goes on.
Maybe it is just because I am in my 40's. Perhaps teens would find this relatable and engaging, but my gut feeling thinks that they will feel like this is talking at them and not to them, and that there isn't anywhere close to the depth of understanding to really provide any guidance for the things they are dealing with.
Another huge problem, for me, is that the school shooting part of the movie, actually isn't really necessary. Essentially it serves as the backdrop in which to stage these series of skits. Not only did it feel secondary, but it seemed very unrealistic, and being a topic of such importance deserves so much more than that.
I thought the young actors did a pretty good job with some tough material, and the ending was impactful, which is unfortunate, because I'm not sure everyone will make it that far.
A bigger problem, though, for me, is that the whole point of the movie is essentially being against stereotpyes and not pigeon-holing people into subgroups and isolation, yet all of the characters are horribly stereotypical: the Hispanic janitor who gives inspirational encouragement to the stoner, the rich kid fondly reminiscing about trying on Versace shirts with diamond cufflinks with his dad, the gaming geek hackers, the random question out of nowhere asking the jock how long he has been using steroids, the list goes on.
Maybe it is just because I am in my 40's. Perhaps teens would find this relatable and engaging, but my gut feeling thinks that they will feel like this is talking at them and not to them, and that there isn't anywhere close to the depth of understanding to really provide any guidance for the things they are dealing with.
Another huge problem, for me, is that the school shooting part of the movie, actually isn't really necessary. Essentially it serves as the backdrop in which to stage these series of skits. Not only did it feel secondary, but it seemed very unrealistic, and being a topic of such importance deserves so much more than that.
I thought the young actors did a pretty good job with some tough material, and the ending was impactful, which is unfortunate, because I'm not sure everyone will make it that far.
High school shooting thriller
Leofwine_draca13 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
DITCH PARTY is another indie thriller that tries to be controversial but doesn't really succeed. The backdrop to this one is a high school shooting with a psycho student patrolling the school corridors carrying automatic weaponry and shooting all teachers and students in sight. However, the focus of the story is a single location drama exploring the psychology of various characters holed up in the basement. While the social context is interesting and the shooting style better than expected, the script thinks that it's better than it is and the attempts at getting into the heads of the characters just don't work.
School Shooter Exploitation at Its Worst
corymeyman11 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The only horror here is the obvious ploy to use school shootings as a tool to sell video. I'm not a justice warrior out to be enraged about touchy subjects. But the story line was pretty much that concept on the wrong side.
I flagged this review as containing spoilers, but anyone within 10 minutes of watching it has already figured out 99% of the film. Essentially an obvious outcast of a young man decides to kill a bunch of people in his school. He creates a "Ditch Party" which involves the people he dislikes the most in the school to go down to the basement that apparently "no one knows about" to keep them hostage.
Besides the fact it is obvious that the killer is the one who invited them to the basement, none of the teens seem to understand it was a set up. Meanwhile you learn the outcast killed dozens of teens upstairs and kills anyone who tries to leave.
The climax involves the teens actively letting an enemy with a rifle and pistol into their safe place. At this point I was really hoping the shooter would kill everyone in the room for being so insanely stupid, but no such luck. You then have to listen to another 20 minutes of diatribe from the angsty teen about how no one likes him and ignores him. Meanwhile you have to try to hold back the feeling that maybe the reason everyone ignores and dislikes him is because he's a complete schmuck who goes out of his way to be annoying.
Then he shoots himself. The only redeeming part of the movie. As the credits start to roll, they try to make up for this shoddy ploy at capitalizing on current tragedies by putting a brief note that says "nearly half of all suicides are related to bullying or being ignored by their peers." Like that makes up for the dumpster fire that is the rest of this movie. Thanks for the social lesson, but the entire movie made me loathe the enemy and then you try and make me feel sad he shot himself? Anyone who watches this will want their time back.
I flagged this review as containing spoilers, but anyone within 10 minutes of watching it has already figured out 99% of the film. Essentially an obvious outcast of a young man decides to kill a bunch of people in his school. He creates a "Ditch Party" which involves the people he dislikes the most in the school to go down to the basement that apparently "no one knows about" to keep them hostage.
Besides the fact it is obvious that the killer is the one who invited them to the basement, none of the teens seem to understand it was a set up. Meanwhile you learn the outcast killed dozens of teens upstairs and kills anyone who tries to leave.
The climax involves the teens actively letting an enemy with a rifle and pistol into their safe place. At this point I was really hoping the shooter would kill everyone in the room for being so insanely stupid, but no such luck. You then have to listen to another 20 minutes of diatribe from the angsty teen about how no one likes him and ignores him. Meanwhile you have to try to hold back the feeling that maybe the reason everyone ignores and dislikes him is because he's a complete schmuck who goes out of his way to be annoying.
Then he shoots himself. The only redeeming part of the movie. As the credits start to roll, they try to make up for this shoddy ploy at capitalizing on current tragedies by putting a brief note that says "nearly half of all suicides are related to bullying or being ignored by their peers." Like that makes up for the dumpster fire that is the rest of this movie. Thanks for the social lesson, but the entire movie made me loathe the enemy and then you try and make me feel sad he shot himself? Anyone who watches this will want their time back.
Young Michael Meyers is now a school shooter
dizznmo13 October 2018
Daeg Fearch played you Michael Meyers in Rob Zombies Halloween remake, that caught my interest in what looked to be a bad B movie, it's not even that good sadly. Daeg is playing Michael Meyers again with the tilt of the head even. He's a cute kid but should take the thing out of his nose, go to acting school and hopefully find some better projects in the future! This movie is rediculous. I hope all these young actors find something better in their future.
Herein Lies The Lesson
wandernn1-81-68327426 December 2019
Very Mediocre really until the end as other reviewers have noted. This is a lesson movie about bullying and /or ignoring that we have all gone through growing up. Either as antagonists or victims or witnesses. I liked the ending though and the end on its own made the movie worth the time.
Not Bad.
Not Bad.
Beautiful boy against bullies
ahoosparkle-7316323 August 2022
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