2 out of 5

Director: Ti West

Look: its not really worth two gibbles. This movie was actually great in the sense that it did what it was supposed to do: it made me laugh at the dumb jokes, it made me cringe at the gross-out stuff, and it made me laugh while cringing at the worst of it. Ignoring the ending (which was obviously tacked on – read a bit of history about it if youre interested, but director Ti West tried to distance himself from the film due to tampering and reshoots from producers), this movie is exactly what I would have expected from a grind-houseish horror venue in the 80s. The way its shot, the way its acted, and the gonzo try anything goreness of it. But in this sense it is also true to the genre in that its not a very good movie… hence the two stars. If you dig over-the-top stupidity and blood, see it. What I liked best about this is that it lacked something that normally drags down the genre: a stand-offishness on behalf of the film-makers – something thats apparent only in the stupid extra ending portion. West is mostly respectful and true to his characters. They are mostly dumb high-schoolers, and teacher stereotypes and what have you, but where he could have opted for winking Im smarter than this humor, he stuck true to narrative and just kept telling the story. There are also some fun tributes for horror fans. Much better than expected!