Extracurricular review: The kids aren’t all right in this tale of teens with murderous intentions.
Signature Entertainment
Extracurricular has a rather simple premise: four overachieving teenagers decide to spice up their boring lives by going on a murder spree. These teens aren’t the ‘typical’ teen murderers seen on film. They aren’t the loners, they’re the popular kids. The smart kids. Their intellect not being sufficiently stimulated is one of the reasons why they turn to murder. Planning and executing a successful murder and getting away with it is a challenge, one that is worthy of their time and intelligence.
It’s a bold statement to make and given today’s socioeconomic climate, it’s a controversial decision to have a film showing teens killing teens, especially for as vapid a reason as they’re just bored. Sadly though, Extracurricular doesn’t capitalise on its taboo subject matter and the whole film is just, for want of a better word, a little dreary. None of the four characters are particularly interesting, and it’s hard for the audience to connect with them in any way, but then maybe that’s the point. There’s a distinct Patrick Bateman air to the group, as they hold the attention in the same way.
Signature Entertainment
A draw to film for many will be the fact that it features Luke Goss, but I’m sorry to report Bros fans that he isn’t in it all that much. He stars as Alan Gordon, father of two of the four teens, and a local policeman investigating the killings. He appears in a handful of scenes, but that’s about it. Given his involvement in the case and the fact that he is a parent to half of the group, it would make sense for his character to be more involved than he is.
Extracurricular feels a little like Funny Games, American Psycho and Heathers, but sadly fails to work in the same way as any of them.
Extracurricular was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest 2019. Extracurricular is released on Digital HD and DVD via Signature Entertainment on Monday 21st October 2019.
