Initiation

After an unspecified sexual transgression at a frat house party, a vengeful killer stalks the party-goers.

Long time since I've tested the dried-out husk of the teen/college slasher genre - and this reminds me why. Basically a Scooby Doo-style conceal/reveal plot using a mask, with no psychology, no humour, and no life-like motivation. The suspense is supplied strictly to formula, hammered home by the thunderous music, and the only slightly innovative aspect is the onscreen phone messages, which clog things up worse than subtitles with their endless 'you OK?'s.

The performances are fine, and there is an attempt to build the story in a thoughtful way, but that just drains the pace to the point where the drawn out climax tempted me to fast forward. I guess the fact the victims are all male is a first, but that's just a function of the prevailing political correctness that left me wondering why the villain didn't have a Russian accent and drive a pick-up.

To be honest, I've always thought this genre limited, but in the '70s and '80s at least it was done for visceral thrills. Even Scream in the '90s had the benefit of an awesome opening scene to offset its dreary parody. This has none of that, and then some. Yet, to judge by the quality of cinematography, it obviously enjoyed a budget that could finance a dozen better indie movies. Jeez.