Initiation

Director - John Berardo (The Labyrinth, The Grand)

Starring - Isabella Gomez (Modern Family, Big Hero 6: The Series), Lindsay LaVanchy (Scream: The TV Series, and Not so Union), and Froy Gutierrez (Teen Wolf, Light as a Feather)

Release Date - 2020

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Murder is trending"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm the worst when it comes to judging movies by the cover.  I've been writing reviews for almost ten years and I've been watched hundreds of movies I thought would suck because the title or artwork was bad.  A few weeks ago I received the press release for the 2020 horror film Initiation.  The artwork and tagline made me think of the slasher Smiley.  Smiley is one of the worst films I had ever seen so the thought of watching another film like it made my skin crawl.  However, I watched the trailer for Initiation and decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.  I request a review copy and I'm glad I did because I absolutely loved this one.  

     The film follows Ellery (LaVanchy) who is a college student who finds her world thrown upside down when her brother is murdered in his frat house.  She suspected he may have been involved with a sexual assault of one of her sorority sisters and soon finds herself fighting for her life other members of her brother's frat and her own sorority sisters are hunted down one by one by a masked wielding maniac.

     I absolutely fucking love the college slasher flicks of the mid-80s that would run their course at the end of the decade.  A few random college centered slashers would pop up now and then but none of them really capture that look and feel of the slashers from the golden age.  I didn't know what to expect when I received Initiation but I found myself loving it.  It was a great college centered slasher that didn't try to pay homage to the slashers of yesteryear.  Instead, it paved it's own way and created a slasher for the modern era.  I sincerely hope we get another flick.  The acting in this one is solid.  The characters are painfully cliched and most of the cast looked like they stepped off the set of a CW production.  The characters do fit the film and the cast does a decent enough job but when the movie was over the entire cast and characters were forgettable.  The story for this one is a modern spin on the classic slasher.  At it's heart we have a slasher where the killer is someone that was wronged and seeking revenge.  However, the film incorporates a lot of modern elements like social media bullying, women's rights and sexual harassment, and technology.  Honestly, it works and I found myself pulled in.  I enjoyed the story so much that it didn't bother me that the characters blended into the background.  Finally, the film had some extremely fun deaths that were perfect for a great slasher film.  We get a lot of blood and some decent practical effects.  It has some fun kills but don't expect gore.  Overall, Initiation was a fucking blast.  It was a slasher for fans of the sub-genre and it did not disappoint.  I highly recommend checking it out.