Bad Kids of Crestview Academy (2017)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

There's nothing better than going into a movie with very low expectations, only to be blown away by how much you enjoy it. That was very much the case for me with 'Bad Kids of Crestview Academy'. It's so rare today that I enjoy anything horror related, let alone the low-budget, barely heard of films that are a sequel to an original that I have never heard of either.The film's biggest strength is that it is just straight up fun. It finds an almost perfect balance between being light-hearted and comical and yet at the same time taking itself just seriously enough so that the convoluted story never becomes tedious or boring. Say what you will, but that is a very hard balance to find that some very good film makers have failed to achieve over the years.The synopsis and opening scene (a scene that is a flash-forward to near the end of the film) imply that this will be a very simple film in approach. This really couldn't be further from the case. There are a couple of times when you think to yourself "OK, that was the film's big twist", only to find out (more than once) that that is only the beginning of things.I was really impressed by this film. It's easy for these types of films just to be lazy and do the bare minimum to keep their audience happy. 'Bad Kids of Crestview Academy' never takes the easy road though and the result is an audience that is going to thoroughly enjoy themselves. A great effort by all involved.

I just wasted 100 minutes of my life on this and these are the words that came to mind when I thought about describing it:disjointed, senseless, illogical, asinineThe cast was fine, but if you stick an accomplished actor like Gina Gershon in a load of crap like this you still wind up with a load of crap. The screenplay and plotting were what killed it. I really liked Farscape.

.... which, depending on your POV, may or may not be a compliment.Here is the scoop -- there is a theory in the biz that if you deconstruct enough films in the same script, you may possibly trigger a paradox in the (Hollywood) time-space continuum, Star Trek style, and end up with a film which is actually a legitimate successor to the genre you were trying so hard to satirize.Which is what I think happened here.Ben Browder seems to have learned a LOT of valuable lessons from his first "Bad Kids" attempt -- just a rambly B movie which gained cult status because of some clever tropes -- and came back with a film which (I kid you not) has a remarkably tight script, good performances and good production values.Which is not to say that the Coen Brothers are nervous, far from it. But the script is so interesting (with sly hints of Scream, Friday the 13th, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and even No Country For Old Men) that it actually engages and holds the attention.And Sammi Hanratty gives what can best be called a bravura performance, biting into each line of dialogue and each piece of mayhem like she actually believes what she is saying ... like her career depends on it (which it probably DOES!) ... and essentially picks the film up and carries it to the finish line.Gina Gershon does little more than offer a parody of herself, but her character ironically provides a "political angle" to the film which conveniently comes at a time when the world at large is starting to see politicians as potentially more dangerous than serial killers.Recommended. And I predict there will be more in the series.

Anyone who takes themselves seriously or the teen horror genre seriously will not like a comedy spoof on the genre.The movie at it's opening credits clearly sets itself up as a bloody comedy spoof on the teen horror movie theme. It throws in some modern tech jokes while keeping the familiar traditional killing formula.The cast looked the part and did a good job of acting...remembering it is a horror spoof they played their parts well. I did laugh in many places and enjoyed the off beat comedy choices.At the very end...i usually do not care who directed a movie but since this spoof was really well done i decided to go back and see who the directer was...Ben Browder ...LOL now i understand why the movie was so creative, not boring and had enough entertaining twists.Worth watching...just for fun!