Directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer
Starring Ronen Rubinstein, Grace Phipps, Spencer Breslin, Lexi Atkins and Sierra McCormick
I may or may not have mentioned this before, but here goes again: I'm just really, really not enthused about the current generation of movie "stars." And going by box office numbers, I'm far from the only one. It's a big problem that the movie industry at large is facing these days, as they have found no new crop of actors to replace Brad and George and Julia and Will and the Toms. Now, there are some that I do like. A great deal, actually. Bradley Cooper, for starters, who I think truly is someone that is worthy of paying money to watch because he projects himself like a superstar. Chris Pratt is also all kinds of kickass, and Emily Blunt is probably my favorite of the new bunch of leading ladies, as she can be tough or a girl-next-door with equal ease. Aside from them and a few others, though...yikes. Overall, I just think this generation of thespians comes across as way too nonchalant/emo to be taken seriously as stars. Even worse, I think there have been a lot of missed opportunities when it comes to some of the actors coming up. Seriously - why isn't Miranda Cosgrove in multiplexes right now? She's got it all - looks, acting ability, relatability, and comic timing. But nope. TV hell with you, young lady.
Which brings me to the movie in question today, Some Kind of Hate. In a swerve that is probably a little unexpected, this horror flick has better acting than any scary movie I've seen in YEARS. We've got a crop of good, motivated young actors giving this material their absolute best, including a couple Disney Channel starlets like you've never seen them before. And it makes me sad that pretty much everybody in this movie is going to be banished right back to the nothingness where we'll pretty much never hear about them again. Even better, this movie is legit thought-provoking and disturbing at points. Not SCARY so much, but it does stick with you and powers you right over. THIS is what horror should be all about these days; it hits home with a story that any teenager could find themselves in (although not QUITE in the setting that this movie chooses, but we'll get to that in a moment), and it's that kind of investment that's missing from this day and age of horror TV shows continually patting themselves on the back for how self-aware and nerdy they are. American Horror Story and Stranger Things, I'm looking at you. Anyway, let's get to the movie.
The flick starts off with cruelty and shame, as high school student Lincoln Taggert (Ronen Rubinstein, who I really hope to see more from - he's dynamite) faces the wrath of his alcoholic biker dad (played by Andrew "Lattimer" Bryniarski in a cool little cameo) before heading off to school and facing the wrath of his bullies. These scenes always get me in movies, although they're almost always exaggerated and it's no exception here, but bear with me. Long story short, Lincoln - a cool dude who listens to heavy metal practices the "less is more" approach when it comes to dialogue - lashes back at one of his attackers. With a knife, no less, and it's a move that lands him in reform school as the opening credits roll.
So, a few words about this school. If such a place actually exists, I would genuinely be surprised, and it's probably the weakest part of the script (by the amazingly named Adam Egypt Mortimer, who also directed). The school is located in what seems like the middle of the f**king desert, with not a soul around for miles. It's run by a couple of guys who operate more like cult leaders than teachers, along with a scorching hot sidekick/aerobics instructor of sorts played by Lexi Atkins. Without looking up any of the other reviews of this movie, I'm going to go out on a wild limb and say that a fair amount of reviewers have probably napalmed this aspect of the movie, as such a thing is pretty unbelievable. If you can accept this setting, though, hang on, you're in for a treat.
Shortly after arriving at the compound, Lincoln - who continues to maintain his stoic demeanor - meets a new friend in geeky tech prankster Isaac (Spencer Breslin) and runs afoul of a new local batch of bullies. A good portion of the first trimester of the flick consists of Lincoln's periodic verbal and sometimes not-so-verbal sparring sessions with this new bunch of assholes. The leader of them in particular is a thoroughly dislikable prick, and while these actors aren't quite worth mentioning by name or putting in my handy-dandy pre-review facts rundown, they all do a decent-enough job acting douchy that y the time the s**t goes down a couple of their deaths are stand-up-and-cheer moments. Of course, there's also a hot student/love interest for Lincoln here in bad girl/ex-cheerleader Kaitlin. And Kaitlin is played by Grace Phipps.
Time for everyone's favorite section of Lick Ness Monster Reviews: SKEEVY PARAGRAPH TIME. People...I absolutely adore Grace Phipps. I have ever since I found myself watching Teen Beach Movie one night out of sheer boredom (don't judge me!) and she was, by far, the most entertaining thing in that piece of drek. She's hot as liquid magma, she can sing, she can perform, and she has charisma in spades. Which means, of course, that Hollywood doesn't want to put this beauty in anything big, but that's just fine. More fun for us horror fans. From the few things I'd seen her in before, I didn't know if I would buy her in the "dark" role of Kaitlin, but nope, she vanishes into this character like a glove. When combined with Lincoln, this movie has a one-two punch of characters that we legit pull for.
You might be wondering how this is a horror movie. Well, I'm glad you were wondering. After a particularly nasty fight with the bullies, Lincoln runs off to a deserted part of the school and awakens a kindred spirit. Folks, Some Kind of Hate is a movie about a ghost. A real nasty ghost named Moira, with the power to kill people. Moira is played by Sierra McCormick, and she's AWESOME in this role. The bullies start to die, but Moira doesn't stop there. She wants acceptance, and she isn't leaving.
I've seen something like 50,000 horror movies in my life. As such, I occasionally feel all hoity-toity like I've seen it all and know what's going to happen before it does. I'll admit that this flick threw me for a loop on multiple occasions. Since I compare almost every evil ghost movie to Ju-On and the similarities were there, I thought it was going to play out like that with everybody dead. Nope. Then, I thought it was going to be like Let the Right One In, with a slow burn leading up to an emotional climax. Nope. From the time Moira shows up, this movie is just balls-out ballistic, and everyone must pay. There's a couple of not-so-surprising surprises in relation to HOW she died here that I won't spell out, but it's addressed. Even better? This movie is GORY. Yeah, baby.
If there's another complaint I can level at the movie, it's that Lincoln kind of fades into the background a bit once Moira shows up. The story becomes more about the ghost and his tortured, tragic girlfriend Kaitlin. It's a shame, because Rubinstein really is something else. I could see this guy playing great everyman heroes, and unlike Shia LaBeouf, watching him onscreen actually makes me want to do something other than stab out my own ears with scissors. Really, though, this entire cast was hitting on all cylinders, and you can tell that everyone involved - from Rubinstein to McCormick to Breslin to the red-hot Phipps - truly believed in this material and it shows. It's kind of an EASY subject to tackle as bullying is such a hot-button topic these days, but it's never presented in a way that takes you out of the action. And the action in the final trimester here is bats**t insane.
*** 1/2 out of ****. Check this one out, especially if you're a teenager.
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