The Final (2010) is a low budget movie. What it succeeds in doing is not failing completely in any way, while providing a unique and almost universal unspoken perspective. There's an undocumented struggle in high school between the 10 percent that "get it" because they had parents clueful enough to explain how the world actually works, and the rest of the student body that has no idea what's going on. The kids with smart parents have the cheat codes, and are prepared. That's what it really boils down to. If your parents were going nowhere or too busy, they did not have the presence of mind to explain how high school works to their kids or had already worked hard to forget high school because of how painful it was for them.
This movie is about the tortured masses banding together, and exacting righteous revenge on their tormentors. Not something I endorse, but I get it. Any of us, no matter what side we found ourselves on in high school KNOW how bad it can get. We can see how deep and hard the psychological torture is. That is why deep down inside, when we hear about a school shooting, we aren't all that surprised. We understand. We knew the people that got hurt/kicked/abused daily by the rising stars, and were ignored by the school staff. We wondered when they'd crack. We worried they'd find automatic weapons. We joked about it. That being said
In this movie, the "uncool" kids have had enough. They plan a trap. They draw their tormentors in by taking advantage of their egos. They divide and torture them. They single out the abusers that have been tormenting them since grade school, and they exact precise revenge. You can tell the author is either unaware of how the world works, or is being intentionally obtuse. He either never figured out the magic trick for belonging, or is trying to appeal directly to the majority that never belonged. And he failed to hit upon the major gulf between the disparaged:
While the down trodden take everything VERY seriously and equate things to life or death, the "cool kids" never take it very seriously. These kids are repeating taught behavior. Their parents beat it into them. That's WHY they became winners. In their own messed up way, they are unintentionally trying to teach the people that don't fit in how life works, and that's the big secret to why they go out into the world and make it their own.
The truly sad thing is, the party that the outcasts threw as a trap would have been a great vehicle to boost their popularity. If they had just took the masks off at the end of the night and said, "hey, we did this" it would have been enough. That's kinda how it works. That's what the unpopular and uncool don't understand. Their tremendous pain at not being accepted or loved is easily remedied by making a token effort to do something awesome.
Still, as a platform for horror, despite the obvious budget deficiency, and some admittedly shaky acting, it works. It works because the kids would have been shaky. It works very very well evinced by the sheer volume of babble I've felt fit to emit. And there is a message at the end. One that has already been shown to be true. Kids that aren't taught properly how to function in the world will lash out, and sometimes they'll hurt or kill their abusers and they have only their inept parents to blame for it. Too many parents make no effort to ensure their children will adjust socially, and the blame for school violence falls squarely at their feet.
See this movie. It's one of a kind.
This movie is about the tortured masses banding together, and exacting righteous revenge on their tormentors. Not something I endorse, but I get it. Any of us, no matter what side we found ourselves on in high school KNOW how bad it can get. We can see how deep and hard the psychological torture is. That is why deep down inside, when we hear about a school shooting, we aren't all that surprised. We understand. We knew the people that got hurt/kicked/abused daily by the rising stars, and were ignored by the school staff. We wondered when they'd crack. We worried they'd find automatic weapons. We joked about it. That being said
In this movie, the "uncool" kids have had enough. They plan a trap. They draw their tormentors in by taking advantage of their egos. They divide and torture them. They single out the abusers that have been tormenting them since grade school, and they exact precise revenge. You can tell the author is either unaware of how the world works, or is being intentionally obtuse. He either never figured out the magic trick for belonging, or is trying to appeal directly to the majority that never belonged. And he failed to hit upon the major gulf between the disparaged:
While the down trodden take everything VERY seriously and equate things to life or death, the "cool kids" never take it very seriously. These kids are repeating taught behavior. Their parents beat it into them. That's WHY they became winners. In their own messed up way, they are unintentionally trying to teach the people that don't fit in how life works, and that's the big secret to why they go out into the world and make it their own.
The truly sad thing is, the party that the outcasts threw as a trap would have been a great vehicle to boost their popularity. If they had just took the masks off at the end of the night and said, "hey, we did this" it would have been enough. That's kinda how it works. That's what the unpopular and uncool don't understand. Their tremendous pain at not being accepted or loved is easily remedied by making a token effort to do something awesome.
Still, as a platform for horror, despite the obvious budget deficiency, and some admittedly shaky acting, it works. It works because the kids would have been shaky. It works very very well evinced by the sheer volume of babble I've felt fit to emit. And there is a message at the end. One that has already been shown to be true. Kids that aren't taught properly how to function in the world will lash out, and sometimes they'll hurt or kill their abusers and they have only their inept parents to blame for it. Too many parents make no effort to ensure their children will adjust socially, and the blame for school violence falls squarely at their feet.
See this movie. It's one of a kind.