The Final (film)

The Final is a 2010 horror film written by Jason Kabolati, directed by Joey Stewart, and starring Jascha Washington, Julin, Justin S. Arnold, Lindsay Seidel, Marc Donato, Ryan Hayden, and Travis Tedford.

Plot

A disfigured teenage girl visits a restaurant and gains the attention of surrounding people. She begins crying and a flashback begins. In high school, Ravi is bullied by two jocks, Bradley and Bernard. Emily, a Goth girl, is taunted and abused by three popular girls, Heather, Bridget and Kelli. Dane, another outcast, has an old, secluded house in the woods which he inherited from his late uncle.

Kurtis, a popular student and aspiring actor, invites his schoolmates to a video shoot. At the shoot, Bradley and Bernard insult Ravi in the washroom and break his camera. Dane stumbles in and Bradley intimidates him, revealing he has been bullying Dane as well. The next day at school, after learning of the incident, Kurtis confronts Bradley.

The outcasts, Emily, Jack, Ravi and Andy and Dane, decide to get revenge on the bullies and send a message to the community. Among their inspirations are horror films and lessons in class about deadly chemicals and torture methods of old cultures. They plan to spare Kurtis, as he doesn't mistreat them. They prepare a costumed party at Dane's secluded house and invite the bullies over. They prepare cameras, party accessories and weapons. At the party, they lace the punch bowl with a drug, causing everyone who drinks from it to fall unconscious. They see Kurtis among the group, but still proceed with the plan.

When the popular teens wake up, they find themselves chained together. The outcasts then declare their intention to make the popular teens suffer a fate worse than death, as revenge for the years they have suffered from bullying. In their first act of violence, Jack injures Miles, a loud mouthed teenager, with cattle gun shots to his face and knee. One boy, Tommy, flees for help, but steps into a bear trap in the woods. Three boys nicknamed "The Triplets", who help the outcasts, capture and bring him back to the house.

Immobilized and silenced by a drug, Bernard is then tortured with needles by Emily. Ravi secretly gives Kurtis a key and he escapes. Dane, obsessed with revenge, stabs and kills Ravi. The torture continues with Emily smearing a corrosive compound on Heather's face. Bridget apologizes to Emily, Heather tells her to cut off Bradley's fingers to spare herself. She is unable to do it. When the offer is given to Bradley, he agrees and cuts two of Bridget's fingers off. Emily then smears the compound on half of Bridget's face.

Kurtis encounters Deputy Henessey and asks for help, but the Triplets shoots the Deputy. Kurtis flees to a neighboring house and tells the owner Parker, an elderly ex-soldier, of the events in Dane's house. Parker goes to investigate, and is caught in a trap which severely injures his legs. Despite the injuries, he manages to kill two of the Triplets.

An increasingly psychotic Dane taunts Bradley, who attempts to apologize. Ignoring him, Dane severs his spinal cord with a switchblade, paralyzing him from the waist down. Kurtis, having called the police, returns to Dane's house. He saves a boy named Riggs from getting his tongue cut off. Andy attacks him, and Kurtis killed Andy. Dane then shoots Kurtis in the arm. Before he can kill Kurtis, Emily shoots him. Emily says her last words to Kelli, then has Jack shoots her dead. As the police burst in, Jack turns the gun on himself and tells the police, "there are more of us out there", then pulls the trigger.

The next day, a news reporter recounts how the popular kids were abducted and tortured without cause. Kelli, unharmed but traumatized the events, commits suicide. At school, Kurtis exchanges eye contact with the remaining Triplet. The final scene reveals that Bridget is the disfigured girl from the beginning of the movie.

Factual References

The film bears similarity to an actual 2009 plot by two Utah teenagers to kidnap high school classmates identified as jocks and bullies, then murder them with slow torture while videotaping the experience. As in the film, one of the Utah teenagers was an immigrant from Iraq who had been teased and bullied because of his ethnicity.^[2]

Cast

• Marc Donato as Dane
• Jascha Washington as Kurtis
• Whitney Hoy as Bridget
• Julin as Heather
• Lindsay Seidel as Emily
• Laura Ashley Samuels as Kelli
• Justin S. Arnold as Bradley
• Travis Tedford as Andy
• Eric Isenhower as Jack
• Vincent Silochan as Ravi
• Farah White as The Reporter
• Preston Flagg as Riggs
• Hunter Garner as Tommy
• Ryan Hayden as Miles
• Daniel Ross Owens as Bernard
• Matthew Posey as Parker

Release

The film is part of the After Dark Horrorfest 2012^[3] and was presented on November 23.^[4] The DVD was released on November 23 by After Dark Films.^[5]

Reviews

The Movie Spot gave the film a 3.5 out of 5 saying "The Final is a decent movie. And a great entry to the Horrorfest series." The film holds a 13% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 8 reviews.^[6]

References

External links

• The Final at the Internet Movie Database
• The Final at AllMovie
• The Final at Rotten Tomatoes