It would be easy to dismiss the film as just another teenflick, because that's what it mainly appears to be, video jacket and all. But the cleverly written dialogue, which offers some sharp and amusing satire upon American life in general and the film genre in which it works in particular, indicates that the film at least wants to be teen-flick with a content. Albeit with echoes of Clockwork Orange, Re-Animator and just about every mad scientist-movie ever made. Suitably so, director David Nutter has produced as well as directed many of the better known episodes of TV's Millenium and The X-Files, so he knows how to create something watchable out of nothing. In fact, the X-Files links are so many it's silly. It has the same cinematographer (John Bartley), same musical composer (Mark Snow) and the sheriff here is played by old veteran Steve Railsback, who was so memorable as Duane Barry in the same series. And, if you look closely, there's also a supersmall cameo from X-Files regular Chris Owens. Back to this film, the main cast mainly consists of yet more young stars from TV, the best known being foxy Katie Holmes from Dawson's Creek. The drawback is that some plot-turns are a bit far-fetched and ill-conceived, especially towards the end, and there's at least a handful of annoying characters too many. Rarely less than entertaining, though, and those who enjoyed The Faculty can probably stick with this as well.

© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.