The Final is a film about a group of outcast teenagers who decide to take revenge on the bullies in their school by subjecting them to horrific torture. I really liked this movie. While it has all the tropes you expect from a "torture porn" movie , it's not overly violent and plays with the audiences expectations in a pretty unexpected way. We spend a little time with the antagonists before the events begin to unfold and while they're sympathetic to a degree, they're all disturbed enough for their decision of exacting revenge in the manner they do to be believable.
You can tell its made by and for horror fans with the killers costumes being references to films like The Audition, Deliverance and Poltergeist. There's a scene that is literally ripped straight from Audition but it absolutely feels like a deliberate homage and not a rip off, the directors put it in there because they know those of us who love horror will notice it, and narratively it fits, real life atrocities committed by teenagers are often coloured with an influence from the things they watch and listen to. These teenagers were purposefully using the horror movies they watched to empower them in their act of vengeance.
The only downside is once they remove their costumes a lot of their menace is lost, the main antagonist has a deeply intimidating voice when he was wearing his mask, once its removed that aspect of his character is nearly completely lost, his performance Is still good but I would have preferred him to keep the mask on. Narratively I get what it was done, but they had a creepy villain going there for a second and I don't think it was necessary to humanise him. He described the mask as a reflection of who he is and it should have stayed that way.
It's a really enjoyable hidden gem.
check it out if you like this kind of thing.
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