Boarding School

This is quite an off the wall, oddity of a movie, that jumps all over the place storyline and tone wise, with terrible gimmicky cliche characters, doubly made weird by bad performances. It's a group of children that consists of a crossdressing boy, a sociopathic girl, a boy with (badly acted) tourettes, a really fat boy who is claimed to not be able to speak, but does a few times and nobody cares, and a set of twin boys who serve zero purpose in the film, forced to be in a retreat with some religious teacher. You get overacting performances, scenes that feel mildly wrong to be watching, scenes that force drama without feeling, plot points that render previous scenes nonsensical, oddly placed music, really bad camera cutaways due to lack of practical effects, it's just such a badly made film that it's enjoyable to watch through and laugh at the absurdity.

In this period of stagnant and generic Hollywood trash, it is sometimes refreshing that a talented director comes along with a fresh idea. The film has a very talented newcomer: Luke Prael, who plays the central character. Also seasoned and versatile veteran actor Will Patton who is my personal favorite, gives another powerful performance. The rest of the cast blends in wonderfully. The plot of the film consists of a boy caught cross-dressing with his dead grandmothers old clothes. He is immediately sent to a boarding school run by an eccentric headmaster(Will Patton) and his wife. At the boarding school he encounters similarly disturbed children like himself. Watch the film to find out what happens next... The film is beautifully photographed and directed. The sound-effects are on par with a film. The script holds up well and we gradually see the plot developing before our very eyes. More thrillers you may like: The Silence of the Lambs(1991), Copycat(1995), Bone Daddy(1998), The Bone Collector(1999). Thank you for reading my review. May you live long and prosper.

I was quite surprise by how much i liked this movie! The performances overall are very strong, especially by a few of the students. Nadia Alexander as usual gives a very strong performance as Phil & Sterling Jerins is haunting as Christine. I was most impressed with Nicholas J. Oliveri the actor who plays the intellectually-delayed Elwood. His characters scenes were quite disturbing an he really had me feeling for his character. I have never seen him in anything before so i looked him up and it turns out he is a singer as well. I look forward to seeing what he does next. Will Patton is great as well. Boarding School is very inventive for an american horror flick but i think the director had one too many ideas and it would have helped to edit out one of them. Would recommend to horror fans and non-horror fans alike. If not for the beautiful imagery, then for the quite incredible acting from most of the cast. 8/10

This movie tried really really hard to do something interesting, unique, with some class. It failed pretty bad, but it went for it. A boy becomes infatuated with his dead grandmother and is psychicly entwined with a moment from her past. He is sent to a boarding school with troubled kids and kids with disabilities. We don't really get an idea of what this boarding school is supposed to do. There are a lot of twists. Not great twists but as dumb as a lot of the characters and story lines are, at least they make sense sort of. The characters are rediculous. Not really in a great way. This movie has the logic of maybe a Disney channel original film, but with lots of swearing and adult themes and language. Yeah, I don't know. I saw it in the theatres, used my AMC a list so I didn't have to pay anything so that was fine. If I was watching this at my house I don't think I could have gotten through it. But it was an okay viewing in the theatres.

This is a remarkably done and elegantly delivered thriller, which is distinguishable by superb acting, splendid directing and - most importantly - an intriguing story that keeps you captured till the very end. As if all of this is not enough, Boarding School offers numerous extras that add a nice flavor to the film such as the themes of parental hatred, child loneliness and alienation, and allusions to the Holocaust; artistic depiction of the duality of good and evil; as well as a charming La Cumparsita tango score. Very enjoyable and entertaining indeed. A bit of advice to all US movie makers: try to find for a part of a Jewish character someone who looks at least remotely Jewish (this applies both to the boy and his mother).

Situations are unpredictable. It makes you think deeper. Different story that has lot to say and would open your mind to a different perspective. Totally psychological.