“On a stormy Saturday afternoon, six students from Crestview Academy begin to meet horrible fates as they serve out their detentions. Is a fellow student to blame, or perhaps Crestview's alleged ghosts are behind the terrible acts?”
It's no secret I'm one of those 80's nostalgia freaks. Listen to any episode of the podcast I was on where something 80's related was discussed and chances are I loved it. But what's important to understand about my love of the decade is that, though I survived puberty amidst it, it took the grungy 90's and the discontent 00's to actually realize I did enjoy those years. What was even more disturbing than that revelation was that I discovered I had never stopped loving the films and music of my Toys R Us years. In fact, I loved them even more as today's films and music paid homage to the visions and sounds of my youth, especially when they recognize the times for how ridiculous they really were. Granted, I have admonished such things as the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and other such remakes. But keep in mind that those were remakes, they didn't actually pay homage to the horrible fun that was the originals, they tried to take them seriously, and you can't take the 80's seriously. Trust me, it took me forever to realize that myself. What I am referring to his an honest to Hughes' homage. A film that takes the quintessential collection of brat pack characters, locks them in a library to contemplate their wasted youth, and kills them off one by one. You know, like we horror freaks have often imagined. Oh c'mon I know I'm not the only one...
So you can imagine my excitement when Matthew Dean (writer/director The Devil Within: Rise of Evil) told us to check out Matthew Spradlin's Bad Kids Go to Hell because it was like the The Breakfast Club (1985) with The Grudge mashed into it. He wasn't kidding either. This independent feature is surprisingly well thought out with all its twists and turns that leave you with so many unanswered questions by the end you might start making up your own plot points to fill in the answers. I know I did. Oh, and we can't forget that one of The Breakfast Club kids makes a very convincing alter ego to his greaser punk self by donning a suit as the strict, no nonsense School Master. It also took me a second to recognize Ben Browder without the Farscape or Stargate SG-1 cast and it took me the length of the film to understand why he was so, well, slow. OK, I'll be honest, using the same word the School Master did, he seemed “retarded.” Speaking of retarded, this movie is full of retarded funny moments. I'm especially fond of the guy in the wheelchair scene. But before I get into the meat of the film I will round out the cast by saying I can't claim to recognize any of them although I'm sure they could have been on any CW show. If they aren't then they've proven they should be.
Alright, now for the fun stuff... Bad Kids is really a horror, mystery, thriller, comedy. It's horror because of the murder and mayhem with the threat of the supernatural. Now I can't say this movie scared me any. To be honest I predicted most of what should have been scary in advance. But then I'm jaded and have seen way too many of these movies. It is thrilling to see it all play out though and sometimes, damn you Mr. Spradlin, you fooled me into thinking something else. It's a mystery because there's a lot of twisting turns that start to make sense after awhile but still leave you wondering about a few loose threads. Remember what I said earlier about needing to start filling in plot points that aren't really there? This is both a blessing and a curse, I love the guessing game but now I have questions that three viewings haven't answered yet, argh! It's a comedy because, well, you can't farce a film like The Breakfast Club and take yourself seriously. Spradlin and crew are well aware of this and don't waste time trying to pull the wool over our eyes. They do a very good job laughing at their similarities. One of my dozen or so favorite lines is when Matt (Cameron Deane Stewart) tells his friend Carlos (on the phone) that he's trapped in a library with the kids from Less Than Zero (a common confusion I'm sure). There is also obvious borrowing from the source material like the opening sequence when all the kids start arriving for detention, the counselor talking to the janitor in the hallway, the fact the kids have to write a paper, and the library even looks like the same library. All that was in the first 20 minutes or so. It isn't until Tricia (Ali Faulkner) actually makes the statement that this experience was not going to be one of those feel good movies where they all learn to put aside their differences and be BFF's (cue Don't You Forget About Me) that she turns out to be right. That's when we deviate from 80's farce and it turns into The Grudge with a murderous twist. Honestly I could write pages about this movie but instead I will cut to the proverbial chase.
Matthew Spradlin and crew have done a fine job putting together a farce of the iconic 80's with Bad Kids Go to Hell. As an independent film it definitely rises above most. As a horror film I'm sure it holds some fear for others but fell a little flat for me. But it didn't fail in being entertaining, had a few surprises, and helped me burn my nostalgic idols.
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