Oh, dang it. That first two acts were really good. Why did they have to slash all those efforts with THAT finale?
I kept thinking, this would be a perfect double or triple feature with Red State and most definitely, But, I'm a Cheerleader. But, noooo, those are so much better. Watch those if you haven't seen them, or again if you have. This one...eh.
A group of youths attend a gay conversion camp and we get to know pretty much every character well and their struggles. Unfortunately, they're still at a gay conversion camp and yet, things are about to get a lot worse.
Let me backtrack a bit on my opinions above. I LOVED Kevin Bacon in this. In fact, I would go on record saying this is one of his best performances, start to finish. I even loved all the nods to Friday the 13th and some of his other movies I caught. And nicely enough, as much as I loved his acting and choices, this was much like his other movie I love so much, A Few Good Men: there were no bad actors or characters here.
ALL of the cast where great and I truly got invested in each. I was really digging the first and second acts as I got to know each individual, chemistry and charisma.
Also, I'm liking the trend of modern horror as the first half is solid character/story building, making us CARE for the characters. While this one followed that trend, it took it a little too far. This is supposed to be a slasher, but aside from the very few killer scenes sprinkled about, the movie doesn't kick it into high gear until the last 10-15 minutes. The slashing was such an incredibly small part of the first 75 (of 90) minutes, I started to believe it was just added on because Bacon starred in another camp-set, masked-killer film. In fact, by minute 75, I really just wanted to see a much longer movie exploring the villains developed in the first two acts.
And while I can appreciate the heart in the ending, including the monologue, but it just didn't fit. And it all felt so quickly and haphazardly thrown together. Even though there was only one writer, the third act HAD to be someone else's idea.
Sadly, I can't recommend this. If only they slashed the slasher aspects and just kept the heart of the story inside the character's bodies.
***
Final Thoughts: Oh, and I guessed way too easily who the killer was. Just an FYI, despite the grand number of slasher films I've seen and reviewed, I rarely ever guess the killer or ending. Truthfully, I'd rather NOT guess. I love to be surprised. This "twist" was absolutely not a surprise.
