BKGTH Productions, Bad Kids, Spiderwood Studios,
Judd Nelson, Ben Browder, Cameron Deane Stewart, Ali Faulkner, Roger Edwards, Marc Donato, Augie Duke, Amanda Alch, Jeffrey Schmidt, Chanel Ryan
It was a dark and stormy Saturday, and six students of the prestigious Crestline Academy show up to serve their detention at Saturday School. Only the principal and a maintenance man are there, and the kids are locked alone in the library to serve their sentence. As the eight hours ticks by slowly, one by one the bodies start to pile up as one by one the students fall to mysterious accidents. Based on the popular comic book series and graphic novel, this is The Breakfast Club mixed with horror/supernatural.
Gee, I have to say I hated this movie. I held on to it all week, and decided to watch it late on Friday night. I popped it in the DVD player, and hit play. What I got was a mess. Essentially the movie just starts with the jock showing up very early at the school requesting to serve his detention even though he’s not on the list for that day. Then the rest come in, and it just got worse and worse. The gimmicks in this film are really corny, and I didn’t get into the story in the least. I didn’t care about any of the kids, and couldn’t wait for some of them to get killed to shut them up. Now I am not familiar with the “work” that this is based on, and I’m obviously not a comic book fan, or even acquainted with that world. So if you’re a fan of the series, then from what I heard the movie was pretty close to the comic books. But I’m judging it based on a stand alone motion picture, and I really didn’t enjoy it in the least. This was one of the worst horror films I have ever seen, really. The print wasn’t very clear, and there were no subtitles on the DVD, so I was having trouble hearing what was going on a lot of the time, but the look just wasn’t very good. Some very low budget Japanese horror films look so much better than this. I just did not get any enjoyment from this film. I don’t recommend it, unless as I said, you are familiar with the comics and a fan of the series. I’d be glad to hear from anyone who really liked this movie. Comment below, and let me know what I’m missing!
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Movie Review - Bad Kids Go to Hell (2012) {R},
MovieGuy said
April 15 2013 @ 1:31 pm
The sure signs of a bad review is when it begins with confusing a black guy with a white guy. The jock would be Craig. He was on the detention list. He’s the black guy you are confusing with the white kid, Matt. Further, Bad Kids Go to Hell is not a horror movie. It is a comedic thriller. So I’m not even going get into how out of touch you are with the movie you saw. And I can’t say your age is the reason as my parents loved it (and they’re probably your age if the picture is indicative of your age). Did you pick up a pirated version? I paid for mine and the quality of the movie looks pretty good and of obvious high production value. And my DVD has English subtitles. It also has a great special features section with galleries of behind the scenes footage, commentary from the creators, editor, and a really cool visual FX breakdown section.
EdG said
April 15 2013 @ 2:56 pm
Thank you for your comments. They are respectful and well thought out. My biggest mistake here is calling the white kid a jock. Ok, he came in with a chip on his shoulder with a lettermen’s jacket and was obviously frequently in trouble. That doesn’t make him captain of the football team, but he had a sports guy kind of feel too him. So i did screw that up. I also think I agree with you on the genre of the movie. I called it horror because it definitely has its share of ghosts and blood, but I do see it listed as “dark comedy” and “indie thriller”, so I guess I could go along with that classification. Calling something horror is a bit tricky, because I guess it’s different for different people. I guess supernatural is not necessarily horror. I will also say that I did rent it from NetFlix, so I do pay $22 a month for my membership. I have been a member since 2001 and have rented nearly 5,000 films from there, so I have to say the vast majority of films I watch are either on DVD from NetFlix or in the theater. (I try to get out to the theater as often as possible). I have long complained about the practice of having two DVD’s of a movie, one for the rental folks with all the special features and stuff ripped out but the menus left in there to try to entice you to buy the movie to get the blooper reel! The DVD I got did not have subtitles.
It is interesting how different things appeal to different people. My age probably doesn’t enter into it, as even as a young person I never was a huge fan of comic books and superheroes. I’m not sure why, but most of those types of films have to be really good to get me interested. I just didn’t think this was. When I write a review, as I’ve said for years, my purpose is to share my “everyman” view of a film, and I do try to point out if I didn’t like it, why I suspect the right type of person probably would. Needless to say, a lot of the guys who hang out with Sheldon and Leonard at the comic book store are going to like this. Especially if you’re a fan of the work it’s based on, but it did not appeal to me, and therefore I probably didn’t put the thought into my review that I normally would if I got into it. I appreciate your remarks, and your feedback.
Katie Loew said
April 15 2013 @ 1:48 pm
Matt is the white guy, you old fart. Try sticking to your real job and leave movies – just MOVIES in general – to real critics. This flick obviously isn’t for your old ass. But I hear there might be a MATLOCK reunion special!! So give that a viewing! xox
EdG said
April 15 2013 @ 3:15 pm
I have a requirement to approve any comments, and frequently have to deny comments that are simply advertising, or are really crude and lewd. But I will certainly approve this one to help people understand why I spend my time doing this. There is an “about” link on the main page http://www.edsreview.com/about which gives my background and purpose, so I’m not going to repeat it all, you can read it, but you will see that, yes, I am old, and have been known to pass gas now and then (done that since I was a kid though). I never claim to be a professional critic, and those guys are paid good money to bash most everything that comes out. Also, Hollywood is very good at throwing big parties and handing out awards for greatness to each other. I’ve often wondered why Lawyers don’t have awards for “best defense of an obviously guilty client” or plumbers having awards shows for “best clearing of a stopped up toilet” too, but that’s the way it goes. My purpose has always been to offer my opinion on what I watch, and that’s all I do. You’re right, this movie was not for me. No hard feeling to Matt or Craig. Robert Pattinson is white, and Denzel Washington is black, so I can tell the difference between races. If you’ll read my other comment, I explained why I “assumed” the kid who came early was a jock, but obviously he was too much of a tough guy to bother with football, so I own that one. I don’t get paid for writing here, and it doesn’t really matter if anyone reads it or not. It’s obviously not required reading on any campus that I know of, so feel free to disagree and if you find we have vastly different taste, then just ignore me. Don’t let it ruin you day because i didn’t enjoy a movie you like though. I’ve had the experience (and talked to many other people that have had the same experience) of loving a movie and trying to get someone else to watch it, and being sorely disappointed when they don’t like it like you did. That is very frustrating when that happens. A lot depends on your mood, or the time when you watch something too. I don’t like to watch a film when I’m preoccupied or self absorbed and unable to really concentrate on something, and I try not to do that, but there’s no doubt your mood at the time affects how much you like something. But I don’t think this is the case with this film. It just did not appeal to me. I’d rather see “The Breakfast Club” in it’s original form and let this one be.
Tommy G Warren said
September 8 2013 @ 7:52 pm
Spiderwood Productions is in development for a new SiFi / Thriller feature film directed and written by, Tommy G Warren with producers, Tim Cunningham and Trent A Warren… The production will likely be produced in Austin, Tx. at Spiderwood Studios. A trailer is posted for review on the Spiderwood Production web site. http://www.spiderwoodproductions.com