The AFM (American Film Market) is a very big deal. Every year thousands of people attend and hundreds of films are shown by hopeful indie filmmakers trying to get picked up by a studio for a distribution deal. The festival ended last week but the deals are still coming – one of those deals was between After Dark Films and Agora Entertainment for their horror film The Final.
The Final will join 7 other films in the After Dark Horrorfest 4: 8 Films to Die For which include Hidden, Dread, The Graves, Lake Mungo and ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction. Here is the official synopsis for The Final (as well as a trailer for the film):
“In the scenic and remote county of Rocky Branch, Texas, the Workley ranch house would become the infamous scene known internationally on the internet as “The Final.”
“Dane, an awkward student with a deadly vendetta and suicidal tendencies, leads a group of outcasts who plot to avenge the years of humiliation they faced by the popular students at Hohn High School. Employing ideas inspired both from their classes as well as from horror films they watched, the outcasts turn the tables on the popular students who made sport of them.”
“After receiving a lake-house granted to him in his uncle’s will, Dane and his friends, Jack, Ravi, Andy and Emily prepare for a single night that will leave their tormentors scarred for life… physically and emotionally.”
The Final Trailer from AGORA ENTERTAINMENT on Vimeo.
The film, like most never-before-heard-of movies, stars some relative unknown actors and actresses – Marc Donato (Degrassi: The Next Generation), Jascha Washington, Whitney Hoy, Lindsay Seidel and Justin Arnold. Newcomer Joey Stewart is behind the camera for the first time working from Jason Kabolati’s script, who also produced The Final. Serving as executive producers on the film were Edward Lewis Von Hohn and Bill Randle.
It may be hard to discern but the question the mask tormentor asks at the end of the trailer is “What did you do to deserve this?”
That’s my question as well.
Take a look at the poster for The Final; a group of students with guns standing in a school hallway with other kids laying dead or dying in front of them. Remind you of anything? It should; 10 years ago mass murderers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School with guns and homemade bombs then killed 13 people, injured 21 others and then turn the guns on themselves, all in the name of revenge for being bullied.
I realize this isn’t the first time a movie has been made that hearkens back to the events surrounding April 20, 1999. Gus Van Sant told a very similar story in 2003 with his movie Elephant but that wasn’t a glorification or praise of the massacre at Columbine. It was more of a story that told of the day’s events through multiple eyes. The Final is going in a whole different direction by justifying the violence against the teens’ tormentors. Director Joey Stewart said this about The Final in a press release:
“The Final is about being picked on, bullied, and tormented, and the retaliation and revenge that it incurs. As the characters feel that life has no meaning, they make a pact for revenge that will teach these kids a valuable life lesson. It’s about what happens when people are pushed to the brink of despair, and the consequences that the responsible parties must face.”
After Dark EVP Stephanie Caleb added this statement that I personally find chilling:
“This haunting and vengeful film is a perfect addition to this year’s line-up. Anyone who has experienced the difficulties of high school will find themselves empathizing with both the nerds and the popular kids alike.”
It’s almost like this studio is saying “If you ever had a bad word to say about someone in high school, don’t be surprised when they justifiably come down on you and your friends and kill you.”
I realize this is a fictional story of horror but is this really the message Hollywood wants to send to impressionable teens? Maybe the studio just didn’t see the connection – making a film that justifies teen on teen violence – but I would think that someone along the chain would have seen the connection. We already know that Harris and Klebold were recreating a scene they saw in The Matrix and that music and video games glorifying excessive amount of violence against people played a major role in their lives (yeah, yeah, violent video games don’t make kids violent – it was all part of the pattern here).
Would it be much of a stretch to think that After Dark and Agora Entertainment should have taken a step back, looked at the bigger picture and said “We should change the motive behind the killers’ revenge”? Where does Hollywood draw the line in what they’re willing to put on the screen?
It took 10 years before someone justified the bullying the Columbine killers received that made them snap. If the same timeline holds true, then in another 2 years someone is going to make a movie about the terrorists of 9/11 being heroes for striking back at their “tormentors.” Then the director will make a ridiculous statement about “what happens when people are pushed to the brink of despair, and the consequences that the responsible parties must face.” That would be followed by the EVP of a studio praising their decision to pick the film up for distribution by saying, “This haunting and vengeful film is a perfect addition to this year’s line-up.”
What’s next? Giving us insight on a child molester and why he’s justified in his actions because women ignore him? How about a film saying it’s OK to abuse a woman because she forgot to wash her husband’s clothes or make his dinner the right way? All absurd statements you say – and there is no way those stories would ever get told as a film. But 10 years ago people were saying the same thing about the story of teens killing teens in revenge for bullying.
What do you think?
Source: Twitch
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Wow…this is my first time on this site and this article makes me want to never return.
If you’re offended, don’t watch it. Our society is extremely f’d up but it’s not because of movies and video games.
What video game was Hitler playing? Or maybe it was those violent movies he watched as a teenager?
Wait, maybe it was the music he was listening to.
Stop being so damn sensitive. I just watched the film and it was great watching the bullies get theirs. If you don't want to see it then don't but quit crying about some very real problems that everyone refuses to fix let alone address. And to compare this to glorifying 9/11 and child molesting is simply a pathetic attempt at scaremongering. Stop it.
Thanks for the comment. I just happen to disagree with you.
Sometimes when it comes to horror movies.. There is always the impulse to one up the other movies.. or take it to another level. When Shock Horror doesn't shock anymore then there is something more devastating that someone feels the need to make. There's always those movies in their own modern era that “crosses the line”. In the 40's you'd never see a movie like Nightmare on Elm street.. In the 70's Chainsaw Massacre made people run out of the theaters vomiting all over themselves- it was canned by critics who were offended and disgraced by the brutally raw savage killing and gore. When those movies become passe and little 10 year olds watch it before bed with no qualms then something is going to give. someone is going to come out with something that is going to make people talk. This is what those film makers are trying to do. They are trying to unnerve and rattle people. When it comes down to it it's a gimmick. If some Goofball takes this message seriously then they would have done something twisted in the first place. Do you have to say the things these film makers are saying to send that message?- no you could show it like you see in horror films millions of times. Monsters are the anti-heroes in our horror movies. We root for them and we say “Oh this person needs to die.” “Oh she's going to get it.” “I don't like him I cant wait till he gets his”.. So, really. What is so vastly different then this? Maybe this is a garbage movie. But we can't come down on a film and tell them “no you went to far.” like we're going to revoke their right to make a film cause they're doing what they set out to do- press our buttons. They took a hot button issue and made you care enough about the content to talk about it. Violent ideas in movies- violent actions in movies. What about- Taxi Driver- or Carry?- or the Punisher War zone? Violence is violence period. We gotta look at ourselves a bit and notice that we as fans and contributors to the Horror movie industry create the vacuum that ends up being filled by films or concepts like this. Don't get mad when it happens.
I say, this is a film, for entertainment. It should be treated as such.
If you don’t look at it as such then you are silly. The reviewer, and writer of this article, seemed to write from an extreme personal outlook.
I wonder why?
The movie does not glorify anything. I think it was an insightful look into the minds of a lot of today’s youth.
The underlying lesson of the movie is true regardless of its delivery. Treat others the way you want to be treated. That is a concept that has been lost with time it seems…
Sounds like a great movie idea. There’s nothing wrong with sympathy for bullied kids, it’s not like they are killing innocent people.