The Final (2010)

The Final (2010) Dir. by Joey Stewart

An unknown outcast, Dane, leads a small group of other outcast on a mission for revenge against the classmates who tortured them their whole lives.

I was perusing through some movies that had come out recently, and landed upon this torturous gem. I was looking for something fairly new to break into, and this definitely delivered. I could spend two to three paragraphs trying to compare this to a movie that I have seen before, but the fact of the matter is that it is pretty original. It pulls from alot of other revenge torture horror film, but not enough to copy any of them. Although the death count is really small, I felt this movie scared me in other ways. I have been the bullied. I know what these kids were going through, and I would be lying if I said I never thought of ways to get even. These kids, on the other hand, take it entirely too far. The themes on this movie are overwhelmingly simple, yet carry alot of weight through the film. One seems to suggest that bullying is wrong, and everyone knows that, and people still do it. This movie might scare the crap out of some bullies, and get them to think twice before screwing with Urkel. Especially ones that enjoy the horror film genre. Two wrongs don't make a right is in here, but the evidence of breaking points is probably the largest seen. Everyone has a breaking point. How much can one get picked on before they snap and give us a C-bine? How far is one person willing to go to insure their safety? How much revenge is too much? This movie made me think alot about all the times I was bullied, or watched others get bullied. If you think about it, this movie is probably pretty believable. I really enjoyed this film far more than I thought I was going to. The gore was enough to make me queasy, but not enough to make me vomit.

First time feature Director, Joey Stewart, keeps it simple but interesting. None of the shots were too terribly inventive, and as a first time Director I think that is the way to go. The way he wins with this is because of the actors he has, and the script he has been given. He just tells the story, in a classic and straight forward manor, he tells the story. He has been an assistant director for some time now, but I look forward to him taking the lead in many movies to come.



This movie has the youngest cast of veteran actors I have seen in a long time. It was a great casting job on their part. Even though most of the actors are mid 20's or younger, they have all been acting for very long time. There are only a couple of exceptions. Marc Donato blew me away with his portrayal of Dane, the teams leader. Essentially in a dual role, Dane plays both the nerd and the rage filled leader very well. Even at 21 years of age, he is still a seasoned veteran when it comes to acting. He has been involved in over forty different TV shows and movies since he was four years old. A lot of people might recognize Travis Tedford as Andy. He was Spanky in the Little Rascals movie. This list goes on and on. Another I was pleasantly surprised by was Julin, as Heather. She had not done a whole lot of acting up to this point, but she held her own. From the looks of her upcoming movie, she has established herself as a bit of a scream queen. The acting on this movie is what truly carries it, and I am still super impressed by the casting job. Then again, sometimes its hard to do a bad job acting when you have such a good script. Jason Kabolati delivers a superb script with a great plot, and deep character involvement.

The only bones I have to pick with this movie are the overused cliches of High School jocks and nerds. A lot of the time schools are nothing like it. They always have a bit of separation, but bullying on this level would never be tolerated. The other thing was that each of the outcast all had problems with their home life as well. This was a little much, but used efficiently to help build character, and sympathy for their roles. Also, the ending was a bit abrupt, but when you spend that much time building up the story, then it doesn't leave you a whole lot of room for a strong finish. In the end, I would recommend this as at least one viewing for everyone. I know I enjoyed it.

Entertainment Value: 8/10 Bear Traps
Cinematic Value: 7/10 Bear Traps