Triggered

Following a series of brutal murders, a teen fighting for equality in her small-town of perceived bigotry with her friend finds the perfect opportunity to take credit for the work of a psychotic killer around town, but when the real killer targets her she finds herself forced into an unwinnable position to get away alive.

This was a decent enough if problematic genre effort. What manages to hold this one up are the few-and-far-between notions of this one being a straightforward, simplistic slasher effort. The attacks here are quite fun, with the initial ambush on the gay couple around their house by striking the straggler first before launching a more sustained strike against the others inside is a great start to this one as the flickering lights create a sense of tension that's helped along by the paranoia about the killer potentially around and the slow walk-through of the house that features several shocking and gruesome kills that are integrated nicely alongside the attempts to fight back. The shorter ambushes against her friends and other co-workers in town are just as enjoyable with the shock attacks and generally brutal kills that arise out of it generate some tense moments as well. Combined with the final girl role-reversal twist present, these hold this one up overall although the film is held down by several factors. The biggest issue is the absolutely troublesome and utterly infuriating main lead who manages to make this one next to impossible to get behind in the early stages of the film. An aggressive, controversial busy-body in the cliched notion of every social-justice-warrior who believes she has to fight for people that have no voice when they're too blinded by the notion of joining a cause to realize that they're fighting for issues that aren't important to the people she's fighting for, the main lead is a bit much for some to take.as these seem to be her only qualities. The change into being a crazed, attention-seeking hypocrite that changes her appearance into a more feminine and attractive while forgetting her entire moral crusade just because she's getting attention is believable and rather enjoyable here since it comes about as a result of what she wanted the whole time and completing the hypocrite circle she started. As well, there's also the film's egregious and unnecessary overlong running time. There's no need for the film to go on just shy of two hours as too much here doesn't need to be shown. Not only are the constant attempts at getting equality for others or talking down to everyone else around here annoying and troublesome, the random incidents of the couple going around the town trying to find new things to inspire outrage about what's going on in the town don't have much interest going on. With visits to a brothel, constant iterations of social media pandering that comes about after she gets attacked and survives to the pointless interrogation scenes between her and the authority figures in her life, there's almost nothing here about the random killer striking until so late in the film that it feels quite underwhelming when it finally becomes more prominent after not being a part of this for so long instead of this other build-up. Otherwise, this one isn't too bad.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Male Nudity and a sex scene.

Triggered has what is, quite possibly, the most loathesome character I've ever seen on screen. Her name is Callee and all she does is complain about (mostly) made up bigotry and intolerance. She seems to think that being a crusader for social justice only entails following the most ridiculous of the far left on Twitter and shaming anyone who doesn't prescribe to her narrow vision of what's right and what's wrong. This gets her a decent amount of attention at her small town high school for a while until a serial killer from the past shows back up and she has to figure out another way to get attention even if it means murder.

You have to give actress Meredith Mohler and writer/director Chris Moore a hand for daring to create such a narcissistic and selfish character and placing her as the lead in a film. It's to their credit that she remains watchable and interesting even when she's doing the most wicked of things. If Mohler plays her cards right, I could see her having a big future.

The rest of the cast is good as well, but they're given less to work with and can come across more like cartoons, which does fit with the tone of the film, so that's not really a negative. The only ones who get fully fleshed out characters are Jesse Dalton and Amanda Wyss who play Callee's long-suffering gay BFF and her alcoholic school principal with a dark past of her own. They're the only two truly sympathetic characters in the film and they do a wonderful job of grounding the film when it starts getting crazy.

The film was obviously made for about 3 cents, but this is one of those times when a low budget helps a film and gives it an unpolished early John Waters feel which seems to be what the creators are going for and, more often than not, they succeed. There's also a surprising amount of male nudity instead of the typical female nudity found in films like this and it's also a positive portrait of a gay teen that's not the usual coming out story or bullying story.

This teenage slasher spoof was extremely fun! The main character Callee was nothing like I've seen before. Loved the low budget feel to this movie and it has the right amount of bloodshed! I personally loved the twist in this film as well that came into place around the end. Amanda Wyss was very good in this too! People say that the killer's mask and outfit was cheap and tacky, but for a satire it fit perfectly. Honestly not a bad teenage slice n dice em' flick either. Highly recommend!!

Callee is your average white, straight, cis-gender teenager and she's not too thrilled about it. In an effort to stand out, she's pretended to be British, a lesbian, and, now, she's taken up social justice causes. Due to her abrasive personality, she only has one friend - a gay kid named Ian who's already getting a bit weary of her theatrics himself. When a famed local serial killer resurfaces after 30 years, Callee uses this opportunity to fake an attack as an attempt to get the attention she so desperately craves, but she'll soon find out that this will come with a steep price.

Triggered is never what you think it's going to be. From the posters and trailers, I had assumed it would be the story of some wacky social justice warrior punishing everyone she disagrees with politically (like a revamped Serial Mom), but Triggered doesn't take the obvious route and is, instead, more of a satire on toxic friendships and the need for everyone to be noticed.

The performances are strong all across the board with special mentions going to Meredith Mohler, Jesse Dalton, and Amanda Wyss who get the best material to work with even if Keni Bounds threatens to steal the entire film every time she shows up as Callee's lush of a mother. The script is solid with some really great bits of dialogue, some good twists, and a surprising amount of dramatic heft when called for. The film does wear its budget on its sleeve at some points, but I was never taken out of the film. If I had a complaint, it's that some of the horror/slasher elements feel underbaked and take a backseat to the comedy and friendship drama.

I doubt Triggered will suit everyone's taste, but it's worth giving a shot if you like movies like Heathers, Jawbreaker, or Drop Dead Gorgeous.

From Beginning to End this film had my attention!!! Normal I do not care for New Horror Movies, But This One is a Rare Gem! The plot of the film is very original and did not try to be a carbon copy of the golden age of the slashers! The actors are amazing and fully embodied their roles!!! I will be telling all my friends about this film!! LoVE It!!!!